This compilation of essays and reviews, gathered posthumously from the New York Times Book Review and other publications, solidifies John Gardner's legacy as a consummate teacher and controversial critic with a provocative sense of humor. Writing about his fellow craftsmen, John Gardner offers piercing insights into those whose works he admired and those whose works he didn't. In exacting unapologetic evaluations upon such writers as Saul Bellow, Vladimir Nabokov, Philip Roth, John Cheever, Larry Woiwode, Joyce Carol Oates, and John Updike, Gardner separates genuine fiction from...

Human civilization has evolved to the point at which we can consider tapping space resources and expanding beyond Earth s atmosphere. The Introduction surveys possible motivations for large-scale human emigration to space. Since our early ancestors began to move out of Africa, humans have constantly expanded their range. Today, the pattern of human settlement extends from pole to pole. Humans regularly visit the upper troposphere and ocean floor and technology has enabled a few to even reside above the atmosphere in space stations.

For the next few millennia at least (barring...

The lives and adventures of some of history's most prominent Pirate Captains. For the past few years, while researching for this series of books, the dust bins of history have been co-mingling with the breaking news of pirates, terrorists and killers. The first two volumes of PIRATE TRIALS dealt with a selected few cases of pirates who were caught, tried and sentenced to death for their murderous deeds. Those two volumes were brought to life from handwritten accounts kept among the historical artifacts of the Library of Congress. While they were tedious for some readers, they were authentic...

Shadow of the Plantation focuses on descendants of slaves in one rural Southern community in the early part of this century. In the process, Johnson reviews the troubled history of race relations in the United /States. When reread half a century after it was first written, Shadow of the Plantation is clearly revealed as a remarkably perceptive and fresh comment on race relations and the triumph of individuals over circumstances.Charles Johnson's book is significant for its use of multiple methodologies. The research took place in an ecological setting that was a dynamic element of the life of...