Product Description
General Books publication date: 2009Original publication date: 1831Original Publisher: Rind's PressSubjects: Christian lifeJuvenile Fiction / Religious / ChristianReligion / Christian Life / GeneralReligion / SpiritualityNotes: This is an OCR reprint of the original rare book. There may be typos or missing text and there are no illustrations.When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. You can also preview the book there. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A great account of a G.I. at Guadalcanal
This was a great book.It really enhanced one's respect for medics, stretcher-bearers, wire carriers (of whom I knew nothing prior to reading this), and all G.I.'s in general.I saw THE THIN RED LINE afterwards, andunderstood it much more than I would have been able to thanks to this book. It was excellent. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An inside look at the week of President Ford
I had heard about this book from someone interviewed on CSPAN after President Ford had passed away.

The book itself is as much about the process that is being President of the United States.People may change, but interestingly enough, issues remain the same, as does the decision making process.John Hersey was given the opportunity to follow President Ford's daily routine... with some exceptions, i.e. conversations with Henry Kissinger.... and what we see is a President trying to deal with the after effects of Watergate, trying to address issues that come across his desk, all the while in a very suspicious environment in DC.... sound familiar?

What struck me is how little time the President actually has to decide, delegate then execute on whatever the issue is.As he is doing this, he has to consider the political ramifications.

Aside from a few references, there is no real discussion of President Nixon's pardon.What we do see is a President trying to position himself in debates like high gas prices, minimum wage hikes, Cambodian funding, windfall profits, and the US economy.Of course, many in the cast of characters are household names... Dick Cheney, Donald Rumsfeld and Alan Greenspan to name a few.

Hersey also covers not so momentous occasions as meeting such dignataries as Ms. American, Actor Richard Falk, and the barbershop quartet, The Winning Hand.We also get a glimpse into his exercise routine, his standard lunch (Cottage Cheese cover in A-1 Steak Sauce), and his close marraige to Betty Ford.

Finally, at the end, when Hersey gets a chance to sit down with the President and ask him a series of questions, there is this nugget -

When asked what he would like to be remembered for as President, he replied -

..if I can be remembered for restoring public confidence in the Presidency, for handling all these transitional problems responsibly and effectively, for acheiving decent results domestically as well as internationally, regardless of how long I serve, whether it's two and a half years or six and a half years, I think thats what I'd like on my tombstone....

Anyhow, a nice little read for someone looking for insight into the Ford presidency.It tells well of the man, despite Hersey concerns about the Presidents politics, and certainly gives a good glimpse of one of the most complex jobs in the world. ... Read more

Product Description
This is an EXACT reproduction of a book published before 1923. This IS NOT an OCR'd book with strange characters, introduced typographical errors, and jumbled words.This book may have occasional imperfections such as missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. that were either part of the original artifact, or were introduced by the scanning process. We believe this work is culturally important, and despite the imperfections, have elected to bring it back into print as part of our continuing commitment to the preservation of printed works worldwide. We appreciate your understanding of the imperfections in the preservation process, and hope you enjoy this valuable book. ... Read more

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seven good classics in one book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (4)

"This is what makes authority so infuriating: It always hides its eyes"
I started this book while in a waiting room for a dentist visit.It's a wonderful book that depicts the plight of the modern person and the frustration some of us feel.

Waiting in lines
The story takes place during the course of a day where the protagonist is standing in line to present a petition (for more space, naturally).The line is blocks long and four columns wide, and people are so tightly packed that one cannot turn and can see only the persons on either side (and the backs of the heads of those in front).The book chronicles this person's interactions with the people around him.The presentation of the petition is almost secondary to the relationships formed in line.It is not a great book but it is a quick read with some interesting insights into increasingly superficial relationships formed with neighbors of circumstance.

an effectively claustrophobic work
My Petition for More Space is a quiet book that effectively conveys the results of overpopulation. Hersey's greatest accomplishment in this work is the amazing creation of a claustrophobic world in which people literallycannot get away from one another.With simple, strong language, Herseyportrays this world and its suffocating influence on everyone, as seenthrough the eyes of the troubled yet insightful narrator.For a novel thatdoes not feature much action, Petition packs a lot of tension and drama. My chief complaint: the ending, though darkly witty, is a bit weak.Overall, this is a short, enjoyably taut work.

Continues Hersey's fine journalistic skills. . .
in fictional form. This is what the world will be like when it is allfilled up. Here are Hersey's statements about over population problems, asthey were debated in the 1970's. ... Read more

Product Description

"Hersey's book is based on months of personal investigation and contains evidence never before made public. He ransacked every available piece of documentation. Thus armed, he tried to work out a tentative scenario of events and, more important, used his data to build up what may be the truest picture yet of the white policeman's role in the ghettos... His collage of interviews, fact, and intuition... jells into a forceful dossier against racism in the U.S. system of justice." -- R.A. Sokolov, Newsweek

Thirty years ago, three black men were killed and nine other people brutally beaten by, as John Hersey describes it in The Algiers Motel Incident, an "aggregate of Detroit police, Michigan State Troopers, National Guardsmen, and private guards who had been directed to the scene." Responding to a telephoned report of sniping, the police group invaded the Algiers Motel and interrogated ten black men and two white women, none of whom were armed, for an hour. By the time the interrogators left, three men had been shot to death and the others, including the women, beaten.

Customer Reviews (4)

A little-known Civil Rights incident -- brilliantly written!
John Hersey is most widely know for his terrific fiction writing in books such as: A Single Pebble. But at the pinnacle of the American Civil Rights movement, in 1968, he came through with an astounding nonfiction detailed summary of the heinous Algiers Motel incident.

The short of the story is that three black men were murdered by Detroit police officers and/or National Guardsmen at the Algiers Hotel during a time of riots in the Motor City. The three victims were Carl Cooper, Aubury Pollard, and Fred Temple. There were plenty of witnesses including a couple of part-time prostitutes from Columbus, Ohio but, when the smoke cleared, no murder charges against the assailants were ever pursued to a logical conclusion.

If there were ever a case of sweeping a case of multiple murders under the rug, this is the poster example. Much of the commentary is follow-up on Hersey's part with the living principals of the incident and he did a terrific job with his interviews.

John Hersey (1914-1993) was born in Tientsin, China, to missionary parents. When he was ten years old he returned to the United States with his family. Then he attended the Hotchkiss School, Yale University, and performed his graduate study as a Mellon Fellow at Cambridge. He worked as a secretary for Sinclair Lewis during the summer of 1937. Later that year he began work at Time Magazine. Two years following that, he was transferred to Time's Chongqing bureau. He wrote many excellent novels during his lifetime, but his Magnum opus was non-fiction: Hiroshima.

The incident at the Algiers Motel smacked of a prior multiple murder, occurring four years prior near Philadelphia, Mississippi and the case was similarly documented at that time by William Bradford Huie: Three Lives for Mississippi.

If you have the slightest interest in the American Civil Rights movement, you'll find "The Algiers Motel Incident" compelling reading indeed. Highly recommended.

A work of fiction!
As the wife of one of the police officers in the book, I can say that this is pure fiction. Portrayals of the officers involved were backwards. Incidents were recognized strictly by date and location, certainly not actual facts. I lost all respect for Hersey after reading this.

Detroit Racism Comes Alive
John Hersey needs no raves from me. At chronicalling the major events of the 20th century in living prose he has absolutely no peer. In this book he focuses in on the entire racist system acting in one chilling incident of the Detroit Riot of 1967, in which the police, trapping several people of mixed ethnicity tortured some of them, murdered others, and could not be brought to justice.

The book told the untold truth about what happen that night!
I am the niece of Carl Cooper, and I am glad that John wrote the book!I was told that John may have been killed over the book. The book told the truth about white cops in those days. My grandmother (Carl Cooper's Mother)has never been the same since my uncle's death. When he died it took apartof her that she will never beable to regain. ... Read more