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Showing posts from 2016

BIG HERO 6: THE JUNIOR NOVELIZATION by Irene Trimble

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Published by Disney and Blackstone Audio in October of 2014 Read by MacLeod Andrews Duration: 2 hours, 18 minutes Unabridged Big Hero 6 is, in my mind, one of the best superhero movies that has been made in this time of the renaissance of the superhero movie. It is fun and colorful, but it also has loss and shows the power of friendship and love. It also demonstrates how love can be twisted into something evil. Hiro Hamada is a teenaged robot-building prodigy who competes in robot fighting contests. His brother attends the local university in the future city of San Fransokyo and also builds robots in a high-tech lab in the school with several other talented young engineers. When his brother dies in a horrible explosion at the lab, Hiro is thrown into a profound depression. He re-discovers Baymax, a health care robot built by his brother, and he and Baymax discover clues that his brother wasn't killed in an accident, but was murdered instead. Baymax, Hiro and his brother&

A DISEASE in the PUBLIC MIND: A NEW UNDERSTANDING of WHY WE FOUGHT the CIVIL WAR (audiobook) by Thomas Fleming

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Published in 2013 by Blackstone Audio. Read by William Hughes Duration: 11 hours, 42 minutes. Unabridged Thomas Fleming readily admits that he mostly writes about the era of the American Revolution (such as his excellent book Liberty! The American Revolution ) but he felt compelled to make a long commentary on the origins of the Civil War by writing this book - a lengthy commentary that is interesting Fleming's take on the causes of the war are based on a comment from James Buchanan's that the furor over slavery was a "disease in the public mind." Fleming is quite confident that this disease was mostly caused by the North. Shelby Foote alludes to this, in a way, in the Ken Burns Civil War documentary when he notes that there was a war "because we failed to do the thing we really have a genius for, which is compromise...our whole government's founded on it and it failed." An exhibit at the Lincoln Museum in Springfield, Illinois. Photo by DWD

MARVEL'S GUARDIANS of the GALAXY: THE JUNIOR NOVEL by Chris Wyatt

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Published in 2014 by Disney. Read by Chris Patton. Duration: 1 hour, 39 minutes. Rocket Raccoon Unabridged (sort of). This is the sanitized, unabridged version of the abridged book of the movie. That means that not all the movie is in this book, but the audiobook version that I listened to does have everything that the abridged book has in it. We picked this up to listen to on a short family trip. We are all fans of the movie but we were interested in a version with no cursing and less sexual references when we were listening in the car. Some scenes are edited and lots of great dialogue has been added that was not in the movie. It makes me wonder if the author was working from an early script. The reader, Chris Patton, does a good job of voicing each of the Guardians, especially Rocket and Drax. But....despite all of these good things the book ends at just past the halfway point - the point where the Guardians just lost the Infinity Stone to Rona the Accuser. The story just

NEVER GO BACK (Jack Reacher #18) by Lee Child

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Published in 2013 by Random House Audio. Read by Dick Hill. Duration: 13 hours, 43 minutes. Unabridged. Lee Child Admittedly, I bounce around as a I read the Jack Reacher (so far I have read #8, #11, #14 and #18) but I was very pleased to note that #14 and #18 are tied together so that I had sort of a seamless experience while still skipping around. In #14 Jack Reacher meets, via telephone, Susan Turner. Susan Turner has Reacher's old job in the military police and they make a connection. Reacher decides to hitchhike across the country to meet her only to find out that she has been arrested and he is not allowed to see her. To top it off, he has been recalled into the army so they can file charges against him - a person he investigated for selling stolen military weaponry in Los Angeles more than 15 years before has passed away from injuries that he claims Reacher inflicted during an interrogation. Of course, Reacher won't stand for this kind of silliness and he sta

OFF the GRID (Joe Pickett #16) by C. J. Box

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Published in 2016 by G.P. Putnam's Sons This installment in the saga of Joe Pickett starts out with a bear encounter in the mountains and ends up in a violent confrontation in Wyoming's Red Desert. Adobe Town - a part of the Red Desert. Photo by Randy C. Bunney; Great Circle Photographics. Joe Pickett's special relationship with the Governor is coming to an end because the Governor's term is coming to an end. But, that doesn't stop him from going on one last special mission to the Red Desert area of Wyoming. Meanwhile, Nate Romanowski has been approached by men from a secret group of government agents who are worried about national security issues. They know all about Nate and his delicate legal situation and promise to clear all of that up if he goes on a special assignment for them in the Red Desert area of Wyoming. Also, Joe's daughter Sheridan goes for a weekend camping trip to volunteer to help an unknown activist group in (you guessed it) the Red

GOOD TALK, DAD: THE BIRDS and the BEES and OTHER CONVERSATIONS WE FORGOT to HAVE by Bill Geist and Willie Geist

Published in 2014 by Grand Central Publishing. Bill Geist has been a favorite of mine for years on CBS's Sunday morning show. His son, Willie is a relative unknown to me because I don't have cable or satellite television. They team up in this book to talk about the topics they, perhaps, should have spoken about while Willie was younger with a lot of humorous insights and commentary.  They talk about "the birds and the bees" as the title suggests and they also discuss such topics as "what really happened at summer camp", how Willie lost a lawn mower while working on a mowing crew, Bill's love of Elvis, weird extended family, Bill's experiences in Vietnam, teenagers and alcohol and Bill's announcement that he has Parkinson's. Full of cute stories, this book is fun if not particularly profound.  This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Good Talk, Dad: The Birds and the Bees and Other Conversations We Forgot to Have . I rate this book 4

UNHOLY NIGHT by Seth Grahame-Smith

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Brilliant! Published in 2012 by Hachette Book Group Seth Grahame-Smith is, perhaps, most famous for his books  Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter and Pride, Prejudice and Zombies , two books that I have never read and probably never will because I care not one wit for vampire or zombie tales. But, this book intrigued me and I am very glad that I read it. As in the other books I mentioned, Seth Grahame-Smith has a talent to take an existing story and put a twist to it. This book takes the traditional Christmas nativity story and makes this little change : What if the Three Wise Men were actually not three learned scholars but three criminals posing as three learned scholars? That's it - that's the heart of the book. But, what a twist! Here is all anyone really knows about the the Three Wise Men from the Biblical account, from Matthew 2, verses 1-12: In the time of  King Herod , after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem, asking,

THREE CENTS a MILE (audibook) by Mark Mooney

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Published in October of 2016 by Mark Mooney Read by the author, Mark Mooney Duration: 5 hours, 57 minutes Unabridged CNN Money editor Mark Mooney's Three Cents a Mile tells the story of his 2 year trek across the world as a vagabond traveler more than 35 years ago. He left New York City and headed east, visiting Ireland, England, France, North Africa, Greece, Turkey, Iran, Pakistan, India, Thailand and even more destinations with nothing more than a few dollars in his pocket and a typewriter and a notebook to compose travelogue articles that he sold to newspapers back in America. Along the way he met playwrights, authors, poets, star-crossed lovers, thieves, hippies, drug burnouts, farmers, beggars, mystics, and he turned down the chance to meet Mother Theresa. He slept on beaches, in flophouses, on buses, above a bookstore with other aspiring writers, in an apartment building filled with strippers/prostitutes and in a barn. He traveled by plane, by ferry, by bicycle, b

THE GENERALS: PATTON, MACARTHUR, MARSHALL and the WINNING of WORLD WAR II (audiobook) by Winston Groom

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George Patton (1885-1945) Published in November of 2015 by Blackstone Audio, Inc. Read by Robertson Dean Duration: 16 hours, 2 minutes Unabridged George Marshall (1880-1959) Winston Groom, forever associated with his iconic character Forrest Gump, has written an interesting and solid history of three equally iconic World War II generals: George Patton, Douglas MacArthur and George Marshall.  Douglas MacArthur (1880-1964) Groom's triple biography format works quite well as all three of these men's life stories were on parallel tracks once they entered World War I and they all knew one another and had worked with one another in one capacity or another through the years (the story of Patton and MacArthur meeting up and working together on the front lines of World War I is a great one). The histories of these men during peacetime only served to reinforce my impression that both of these men were eccentric, sometimes to the point of being bizarre - especiall

THE WORLD ACCORDING to STAR WARS (audiobook) by Cass R. Sunstein

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Published in May of 2016 by HarperAudio. Read by Kaleo Griffith Duration: 5 hours, 44 minutes Unabridged Besides being a Law Professor at Harvard and a former member of the Obama Administration, Cass R. Sunstein is a massive fan of all things Star Wars.  In a wide-ranging and mostly interesting discussion, Sunstein uses Star Wars as a way to explain aspects of the American and world political scene, economics and family dynamics.  He starts with a little history of how Star Wars came to be, including George Lucas's struggles in writing the screenplay, the way the actors all thought they were acting in an interesting movie that was certain to be a big flop and the reluctance by the studios to really push the movie. But, despite the odds, Star Wars became a massive phenomenon - the series is the all-time leader in multiple categories and the hits just keep on coming. Sunstein explores why it became a big hit, looking at the timing of its release, what was going on in Am

THOSE GRAND OCCASIONS at the END of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

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Published by Random House Audio in 2009 Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 15 minutes. Abridged This book focuses on town celebrations, thus the references to "Grand Occasions" in the title. The quirky town of End of the Road, Alaska puts its own twist on everything. If you follow this series, that is no surprise. If you have not followed this series, do not start with this one. It is excellent but it depends on the listener actually knowing who the characters are beforehand. Adolescent Norman Tuttle struggles with being treated like a kid when at Thanksgiving and in other family activities. Meanwhile, the town gets a town Christmas tree thanks to finally getting a public park and, of course, this somehow becomes controversial. New Year's celebrations become more than a bit weird due to the weather.  Perhaps the funniest story is about how the town tries to open a safe that was used as a time capsule. Why? In their excitement to put important doc

THE END of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

Originally published in 1989. Audio edition published in 1999 by Bantam Doubleday Dell Audio Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes Abridged This is the first of Tom Bodett's excellent "End of the Road" series and it is a joy to meet the quirky people who live in this small town in Alaska. It starts with the annual town parade and festival in the local quarry (it's easier to clean up a quarry, at least that's the theory), complete with fish tossing and a pistol shooting contest and ends up with a great story of two friends who travel from Alaska to Florida to pick up a brand new fire truck and then drive it back to Seattle to ship to Alaska by ship. It is the road trip of a lifetime. Great quotes from the book: "Men share some of their most intimate moments leaning against vehicles with their arms crossed, looking at anything but each other."  "I don't think there's a man in America who didn't spend at lea

DIES IRAE: DAY of WRATH: A Novella by William Forstchen

Published in 2014 by Spectrum Literary Agency William R. Fortschen notes in his introduction that he felt compelled to write the story after a long discussion with a couple of friends about ISIS and the porous nature of America's southern border. What he came up with is this novella that is jam-packed full of action and very short on things like character development and a real resolution. But, it was written as a warning more than anything else. The main characters are Bob Peterson and his wife Kathy who live in Maine. Bob is a middle school teacher. ISIS-backed terrorists have invaded America to launch a series of attacks on schools in smaller towns across the country, including Bob's. Bob breaks school rules and state laws by carrying a pistol on his person in the school, and on this day that is a good thing... Fortschen's descriptions of the ensuing death and mayhem are over the top but effective. To be honest, this book reminded me of Stephen King's orgies of b

ENDANGERED (Joe Pickett # 15) by C.J. Box

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Published in 2015 by G.P. Putnam's Sons Technically, this is a Joe Pickett and Nate Romanowski novel but they have no interaction throughout the book. Nate has been released from prison because of a complex deal between the feds and Joe Pickett's boss, the Governor of Wyoming. But, one of the conditions of his release is that he cannot have any contact with Joe Pickett - a part of the deal that was tossed in out of spite by the FBI agent that negotiated the deal. Romanowski agrees and heads off to a new life with his new love interest.  They have opened a business in which he will use his hunting falcons to clear out smaller birds from barns and the like. But, Romanowski soon discovers that he was mostly let out of prison to become bait for the people that he testified against in prison so that the FBI can have a chance to nab them - maybe before they kill Nate, maybe not. Meanwhile, Wyoming Game Warden Joe Pickett is dealing with troubles of his own. His adopted daughter

61 HOURS (Jack Reacher #14) (audiobook) by Lee Child

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Published by Random House Audio in April of 2011. Read by Dick Hill Duration: 13 Hours, 43 Minutes Unabridged Jack Reacher is on a tour bus with a lot of retired folks who took advantage of a discounted tour price to tour South Dakota in the winter time. Reacher paid the driver to hop on and skip the tour. They are on their way to Mount Rushmore when the bus skids on an icy patch on the interstate and gets hung up. Normally, that is not such a big deal, but a massive series of snowstorms is coming in and the temperature is dropping in a hurry. Photo by DWD The tourists, the driver and Reacher are evacuated to a small town with a big problem. A little old lady witnessed a local biker gang member selling meth to a big-time dealer and the trial is quickly approaching. But, the old lady has been threatened and the local police are expecting an outside hit-man to come to town and kill her so she can't testify and they suspect Reacher just may be that man. Meanwhile, the s

1944: FDR and the YEAR THAT CHANGED HISTORY (audiobook) by Jay Winik

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A Review of the Audiobook Published in 2015 by Simon and Schuster Audio Read by Arthur Morey Duration: 21 Hours, 10 minutes Unabridged Josef Stalin (1878-1953), FDR (1882-1945) and Winston Churchill (1874-1965) at the Tehran Conference in 1943. The premise of 1944: FDR and the Year That Changed History is that 1944 is the most important year of World War II - the year that the Allies grew certain that they were going to win the war, the year that post-War plans were laid out, the year of the D-Day invasion and more. This effort by Jay Winik is very readable and was an informative and entertaining listen. There are times when he creates fabulous images in the listener's mind that are worthy of any novelist. His description of the extent of anti-Jewish operations throughout Europe and particularly in Auschwitz and other death camps are so vivid and so striking that I can readily recommend this book as a good place to start for anyone who wants a serious look. The book

THE DUCK COMMANDER FAMILY: HOW FAITH, FAMILY and DUCKS BUILT a DYNASTY by Willie and Korie Robertson with Mark Schlabach

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A Review of the Audiobook Published in 2013 by Simon and Schuster Audio. Read by the authors, Willie and Korie Robertson. Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes Unabridged Part of a flock of books from the Robertson family (excuse the pun), this book by the CEO of the family businesses (Duck Commander and Buck Commander), Willie Robertson, and his wife, Korie, looks at how they both got to where they are now and what life is like among the Robertsons. The book focuses on the much more interesting story of Willie's family, which is appropriate considering their prominence in the hit reality TV show Duck Dynasty .  If you have never seen the show, this book will be of little interest to you. I have seen a few episodes, but my carpool partner, my high school-aged daughter, is a fan of the show and has watched multiple seasons. She picked this audiobook for us to hear in the car during our morning commute. Willie Robertson in 2015. Photo by Gage Skidmore. Willie Robertson relate

NPR AMERICAN CHRONICLES: THE CIVIL WAR (audiobook) by NPR

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Published in 2011 by HighBridge Audio Multicast performance Duration: 2 hours, 59 minutes Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865) NPR has searched through its archives and found 29 stories that make for a very interesting listen if you are a student of the Civil War. There are interviews with historians, including James McPherson and Shelby Foote and authors like Tony Horwitz, Jay Winik and E.L. Doctorow. Sam Waterston reads the Gettysburg Address (so good!) and Hal Holbrook talks about a project of his about the impact of the Civil War on Iowa. There are also interviews with regular people, like the African American family that comes to see the original Emancipation Proclamation and turns it into a profound and moving educational event. None of it is very deep, but all of it is deeply interesting. This is a must-listen for all amateur historians of the Civil War. I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. This audiobook can be found here: NPR American Chronicles: The Civil War .

THE BETTER PART of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

Re-published in 2009 by Random House Audio Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 9 minutes Alternate title: The Better Part of the End of the Road Tom Bodett's "End of the Road" series continues in this edition with Ed Flanigan learning how to get along with just one arm thanks to a horrible accident with heavy equipment. His struggles seem real and Bodett manages to convey them without being patronizing or voyeuristic. City Manager Emmitt Frank is convinced to move out into a cabin on the edge of town. Emmitt is a former resident of Chicago who came to the End of the Road a city slicker through and through, but is slowly becoming an Alaskan. Calling this cabin rustic would be kind. No running water, no electricity and all of the heating comes from a homemade wood stove and the bathroom is an outhouse. And, sometimes bears show up outside. Two of the towns older residents find love. This is the best part of the story, by far. Norman Tuttle, the adole

NPR LAUGHTER THERAPY: A COMEDY COLLECTION for the CHRONICALLY SERIOUS (audiobook) by NPR

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Published in 2013 by HighBridge Multicast performance Duration: 2 hours, 19 minutes As NPR readily acknowledges in the description of this collection, they are hardly known for their humor. NPR tends to run a bit stuffy but, from time to time, they do some funny stuff. Or, to be more accurate, NPR is at its funniest when they interview some funny people and let them be themselves. This is hardly a CD full of comedy routines. In fact, there are a few tracks that are re-plays of a series of April Fools Day fake news bits that NPR has run over the years and they are mostly cute at best and definitely go on for way too long. But, the interviews with Drew Carey, Paula Poundstone, Fred Willard with Martin Mull, Eugene Levy and Mel Brooks are simply great. The interviews with Phyllis Diller and Joan Rivers are a cut above. Very good stuff from two ground-breaking comic masters. I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. This audiobook can be found here: NPR Laughter Therapy .

A LITTLE HISTORY of the WORLD (audiobook) by E.H. Gombrich

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Published by Blackstone Audio in 2006 Translated by Caroline Mustill and E.H. Gombrich Narrated by Ralph Cosham Duration: 9 hours, 14 minutes Unabridged E.H. Gombrich (1909-2001) As the title states A Little History of the World is a small history of, well, everything. Sort of. This history was originally written in 1935. The author was an unemployed art historian and was asked to write a history of the world for children for an Austrian publisher. The first edition was written in six weeks and it sold well and has sold consistently ever since. Gombrich retained the rights and after World War II set out to keep it updated and translated it into multiple languages. He was working on translating it into English when he died in 2001 at the age of 92. The work was finished by others and no one is quite sure how exactly he was planning on ending it. The chapter on early man is quite memorable in that it gives early men and women a lot of credit for figuring out a lot of importa

THE LAST DECENT PARKING SPOT in NORTH AMERICA (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

Re-published in 2009 by Random House Audio Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 30 minutes Tom Bodett's "End of the Road" series is my absolute favorite audiobook collection. It dates from the 1990's and features an eclectic cast of characters from a fishing port town in Alaska named End of the Road because you literally can't drive any farther once you've gotten there. The series is simply the telling of life in this small Alaska town - the kind of drama that one gets in everyday life. Kind of like a more realistic Andy Griffith's Mayberry set in Alaska. This series speaks to everyone's life experiences in one way or another. This is probably the weakest of the series that I have heard so far, which means it is merely really, really, really good and one of the most enjoyable audiobook experiences that I have had this year. In this edition, we learn about Clara, who is also the mayor's older sister and her coffee shop and how the

THE BIG GARAGE on CLEAR SHOT: GROWING UP, GROWING OLD , and GOING FISHING at the END of the ROAD (audiobook) by Tom Bodett

Book version originally published in 1992 Read by the author, Tom Bodett Duration: 2 hours, 14 minutes Published by Random House Audio I am an unabashed fan of Tom Bodett's cast of characters in the fictional town of End of the Road, Alaska. I first found these stories more than twenty years ago on cassette and was pleased to re-discover them because they had been re-released in digital format. To be honest, most of the time in these stories not much actually happens except for life just going on as normal. There is no big plot to rob the bank that gets foiled, no crime to be solved. Nothing like that. It is regular life stuff being experienced by some eccentric folks in an Alaskan fishing town - literally at the end of the road, thus the name of the town is End of the Road. But, when Bodett relates the story of middle school student Norman Tuttle being bullied and his first time going hunting and his experience at the big dance - well, we've all been there. Maybe not ex

NPR DRIVEWAY MOMENTS for DADS (audiobook) by NPR

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Published in 2012 by HighBridge Audio Multicast Performance Duration: 1 hour, 38 minutes. Billed as "Radio Stories that Won't Let You Go", the premise of this audio series is that each of these stories is so compelling that when they were broadcast over the radio you would have waited in your car in the driveway to hear the end of the story rather than going on in to your house. There are 21 tracks in this collection and, as in all collections, they are of varying quality. Some seem to have been included only because they fit the theme but not because they are particularly riveting. However, most are really good and a couple are very touching. The story of the dad and son who go with the Boy Scouts precisely because the dad has no real outdoor skills was quite funny.  The "Driveway Moments" series is pretty strong and this is a solid entry. I rate it 4 out of 5 stars. This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: NPR Driveway Moments for Dads .

SELECTED SHORTS: EVEN MORE LAUGHS (audiobook) by Symphony Space

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Humor, Like Food, Is Highly Subjective Published by Symphony Space in October of 2010 Multi-cast performance Duration: 3 hours, 6 minutes Here is the premise behind Selected Shorts: Even More Laughs - get a collection of funny short stories and have them be read by great performers such as Stephen Colbert and Alec Baldwin. There are eight stories of varying quality. As I noted in the title of this review, humor is very subjective. What I can really tell you is that this set is designed to appeal to a wide variety of tastes - not by being middle of the road but by bringing a true eclectic mix to the production. That is certain to guarantee that the listener will not enjoy everything. Stephen Colbert begins the collection with "The Lie",  the story Jerry Zaks (b. 1946), one of the performers in this collection. of a man who is just overwhelmed with being the father of a new baby. In fact, he is overwhelmed with everything - his dead end job, his wife's new confiden

GATEWAY to FREEDOM: THE HIDDEN HISTORY of the UNDERGROUND RAILROAD (audiobook) by Eric Foner

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Published in January of 2015 by HighBridge Read by J. D. Jackson Duration: 9 hours, 3 minutes Unabridged I am torn by this audiobook. On the one hand, I am absolutely fascinated by Civil War, including all of the controversies leading up to it. On the other hand, this audiobook has real issues, including some stretches of tedious writing and stumbles from the reader. Eric Foner. Photo by Luath. Perhaps the most annoying thing about this book is the way that the title of the book does not really describe the book. The title, Gateway to Freedom: The Hidden History of the Underground Railroad , implies it is about the Underground Railroad across the country. Instead, this book is exclusively about the Underground Railroad's activity in New York City. Other locations are mentioned only in relation to how they tie in to the story of the Underground Railroad in New York City. His decision to make the title so inclusive while making the actual book so exclusive is either a c