Product Description
Michael Chabon’s Pulitzer Prize-winning bestseller, The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier & Clay, sprang from an early passion for the derring-do and larger-than-life heroes of classic comic books. Now, once more mining the rich past, Chabon summons the rollicking spirit of legendary adventures–from The Arabian Nights to Alexandre Dumas to Fritz Leiber’s Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories–in a wonderful new novel brimming with breathless action, raucous humor, cliff-hanging suspense, and a cast of colorful characters worthy of Scheherazade’s most tantalizing tales.

They’re an odd pair, to be sure: pale, rail-thin, black-clad Zelikman, a moody, itinerant physician fond of jaunty headgear, and ex-soldier Amram, a gray-haired giant of a man as quick with a razor-tongued witticism as he is with a sharpened battle-ax. Brothers under the skin, comrades in arms, they make their rootless way through the Caucasus Mountains, circa A.D. 950, living as they please and surviving however they can–as blades and thieves for hire and as practiced bamboozlers, cheerfully separating the gullible from their money. No strangers to tight scrapes and close shaves, they’ve left many a fist shaking in their dust, tasted their share of enemy steel, and made good any number of hasty exits under hostile circumstances.

None of which has necessarily prepared them to be dragooned into service as escorts and defenders to a prince of the Khazar Empire. Usurped by his brutal uncle, the callow and decidedly ill-tempered young royal burns to reclaim his rightful throne. But doing so will demand wicked cunning, outrageous daring, and foolhardy bravado . . . not to mention an army. Zelikman and Amram can at least supply the former. But are these gentlemen of the road prepared to become generals in a full-scale revolution? The only certainty is that getting there–along a path paved with warriors and whores, evil emperors and extraordinary elephants, secrets, swordplay, and such stuff as the grandest adventures are made of–will be much more than half the fun.


From the Hardcover edition. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (112)

Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure
If you liked Fahfrd and the Gray Mouser, or adventure stories about faraway places with strange-sounding names, you'll like Michael Chabon's "Gentlemen of the Road: A Tale of Adventure".Instead of fantasy adventure, it's historical adventure, set in the 10th century central Asian Jewish kingdom of Khazaria.Chabon's witty dialog and descriptive prose add spice and humor to a rousing adventure story.

Where is the story?
This is an adventure story, but Chabon buries it in unnecessarily ornate language.As a result, the plot line, which is crucial to the development of suspense-action novel, gets constantly lost.Where is the plot?Chabon burdens this novel under strains it can't support.The result at best is tedious.At worst, it is just poor writing.

A New Twist on Adventure
It's been sometime sense I've finished a work of fiction.Not for lack of trying, but for lack of getting into a really good story.I happened upon Michael Chabon's Gentlemen of the Road on a free bookshelf in Fort McCoy (this will develop into a theme at some point).It was certainly the reintroduction to fiction that I needed.

Chabon provides a fast, paced and action-filled journey through the Khazar Empire as a moody, physician (Zelikman) and a weary African warrior (Amram) become unwillingly tangled in an adventure that doesn't seem to end.The book seems to have no intended direction instead following the lead of the characters who are guided by their past demons and desires to avoid further involvement in the affairs of others.

The already complex, lives of Amram and Zelikman descend into a tumultuous chain of events involving bloody battles, plundering, and the occasional coup upon the introduction of Filaq (a weak and defenseless prisoner whom they are charged to protect).Filaq's rather dubious origins and shifting connections to royalty manage to seal Amram's and Zelikman's fate and link them to an unavoidable destiny.

Chabon offers no shortage of plot twist in his beautifully descriptive short novel.He drops the reader dead into the center of the Khazar Empire and builds the environment in which the characters reside as the story progresses.Gentlemen of the Road hits the ground running leaving the reader to catch up with a story that has been ongoing for some centuries before the story picks up.

Excellent, fun and quick read.
I loved Gentlemen of the Road. It was a captivating and wonderful, "swashbuckling" historical adventure. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and didn't want it to end.

Two Jews with Swords
This is a fun book to read.The story is pretty simple, but it is well done and, in places, surprising.I liked the working title, 'Two Jews with Swords,' but the author was right to change it.The new title is not so funny and is still very descriptive of the story.
Amram and Zelikman are the gentlemen of the road in some distant era, say between 1200's to the 1600's.They are traveling in Armenia or Kazakhstan area.They are introduced as con artists who are really only providing entertainment for the folks in the hostel they are at.They are accosted by a disreputable person for the purpose of conveying an unruly teenager, Filaq, to his relatives further on up the road.They agree to it, but in the meantime the fellow is shot by an arrow, so off they go, with the teenager.The going is never easy because the teenager is temperamental and always trying to go back where he came from, and so the adventure begins.
Zelikman is a physician of sorts, he is ahead of his time in many ways and he is always looking for ways to not hurt others in the execution of their job.It became such that I got to wondering how they were going to pull off various actions without hurting others.They mostly do, but there are times they fight like deamons in pursuit of their goal.
Amram is a soldier of fortune and, whatever his circumstances are, he never seems to feel he is in danger, even when he is led out to be beheaded.
In the end, of course, everything works out for the best. ... Read more

Product Description
As a boy in Brooklyn, James McBride knew that his mother was different. But when he asked about it, she'd simply say, "I'm light-skinned". Later he wondered if he was different too, and asked his mother if he was black or white. "You're a human being", she snapped. "Educate yourself or you'll be a nobody!" When James asked what the colour of God was, she said, "God is the colour of water". As an adult, McBride finally persuaded his mother to tell the story. Her story was of a rabbi's daughter, born in Poland and raised in the South, who fled Harlem, married a black man, founded a Baptist church, and put 12 children through college. This is James McBride's tribute to his eccentric and determined mother, and an exploration of what family means.Amazon.com Review
Order this book ... and please don't be put off by its pallidsubtitle, A Black Man's Tribute to His White Mother, whichdoesn't begin to do justice to the utterly unique and moving storycontained within. The Color of Water tells the remarkable storyof Ruth McBride Jordan, the two good men she married, and the 12 goodchildren she raised. Jordan, born Rachel Shilsky, a Polish Jew,immigrated to America soon after birth; as an adult she moved to NewYork City, leaving her family and faith behind in Virginia. Jordan metand married a black man, making her isolation even more profound. Thebook is a success story, a testament to one woman's true heart, solidvalues, and indomitable will. Ruth Jordan battled not only racism butalso poverty to raise her children and, despite being sorely tested,never wavered. In telling her story--along with her son's--TheColor of Water addresses racial identity with compassion, insight,and realism. It is, in a word, inspiring, and you will finish it withunalloyed admiration for a flawed but remarkable individual. And,perhaps, a little more faith in us all. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (601)

the color of water.... james mcbride
a well written true story of an american life that is full of inspiration and challenges. i enjoyed every chapter and was especially motivated to see how this story ended. a victory for hardwork, dedication, values and overcoming a past that could have caused others to simply give up. loved it... jim mitchell

Sooooo slooooow
Ugh. This book had a good message but I had to trudge through it. I'm actually surprised I finished it. The best part of the book was the last page because I knew it was almost over! Overall, if you like biographies about a person you've never heard of that matters nothing to you, you'll love it. :(

Puts alot of things into perspective
You hear alot of people complain about how hard thier lives are, especially now in these economic times. You especially hear alot of people complain about how hard it is to raise children these days, with the rise in college tuition and cost of living.

Then you read "The Color of Water" and the story of Ruth McBride; A white jewish woman who raised 12(!) inter-racial children in inner city NYC during the civil rights movement. Born in eastern europe, she immigrated to the US as a toddler just before WWII. She grew up in the segregated south, where her father abused her. Then she ran away to NYC where she married her husbands and raised her children.

Not only did she raise her children largely on her own (Both her husbands died) but they all stayed out of trouble and all but one completed a college degree. Two even became doctors.

If Ruth McBride can suffer and survive through all of that, then people today can manage thier own affairs, including thier two or three children.

The Color of Water
Thank you!This book arived timely & in great shape.

Kathleen S Vaccaro

The Color of Water by James McBride
I thoroughly enjoyed this book.James McBride tells us the touching story of his white Jewish mother, black preacher father and how life was for himself and his eleven siblings growing up in a housing project of Brooklyn. When you read how he pulled his mother's history from her, bit by reluctant bit, you're heart will soar at her determined spirit to raise her kids alone.Her struggles as a Jewish girl coming of age in Virginia, her life as a lone white woman in a black neighborhood with 12 children of color, being widowed not once, but twice will have you rooted to the pages of this book to see how she coped and survived.All of her children went on to finish college and pursue professional careers.She went to college herself and received her degree in her sixties.This is a book of what love and a determined spirit can accomplish.I'd like to share a couple of passages in the book that stood out from all the rest; these words really touched me and made me think we should ALL teach and preach this truth:


James asks his mother, "Am I black or white?"


"You're a human being," she snapped.
...


"What's a spirit?"
"A spirit's a spirit."
"What color is God's spirit?"
"...God is the color of water..."


I wish we would all remember this.


This is a book I highly recommend.You will broaden your horizons with this book, and learn. ... Read more

Product Description
Detective Alex Cross and Bree's wedding plans are put on hold when Alex is called to the scene of the perfectly executed assassination of two of Washington D.C.'s most corrupt: a dirty congressmen and a scheming lobbyist. Next, the elusive marksman begins picking off other crooked politicians, sparking a blaze of theories--is the marksman a hero or a vigilante?

The case explodes and FBI agent Max Siegel battles Alex for jurisdiction. As Alex struggles with the sniper, Siegel, and the wedding, he receives a call from his deadliest adversary, Kyle Craig. The Mastermind is in D.C. and will not relent until he has eliminated Cross--and his family--for good. With a supercharged blend of suspense, action, and deception, CROSS FIREis James Patterson's most exciting Alex Cross novel ever. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A LOVING TRIBUTE TO MOM...
This book is, indeed, a tribute to the author's mother. In it, the author, a man whose mother was white and his father black, tells two stories: that of his mother and his own. Tautly written in spare, clear prose, it is a wonderful story of a bi-racial family who succeeded and achieved the American dream, despite the societal obstacles placed in its way.

The author's mother was a Polish Orthodox Jew who migrated to America at the age of two with her family during the early nineteen twenties. They ultimately settled down in Virginia, where she led an isolated and lonely life; shunned by whites because she was Jewish and shunned by blacks because she was white. She was raised in a predominantly black neighborhood, where her father, a despicable and harsh man who brutalized his handicapped wife, ran a local grocery store, where he priced gouged his black clientele.

She left home and moved to New York when she was nineteen and never looked back. She met and married the author's father, a black man, when mixed race marriages were still frowned upon by both whites and blacks. Still, she always felt more comfortable around blacks than around whites. When he died sixteen years later, she married another black man who nurtured her eight children by the author's father and proceeded to give her four more children.

The author tells of his childhood, of his family, and of the issue of race that ultimately colored his life while growing up in predominantly black neighborhoods, where his mother stood out like a sore thumb because of the color of her skin. It was always an issue his mother avoided discussing with him, as for her it was not an issue. It was not until the author wrote this book that his mother discussed the issue of race within the context of her own life. From this dialogue emerges a fascinating look at the issues of race, as well as religion, and how it impacts on an individual's identity within our race conscious society.

It is also a very personal story. While the author's family was economically disadvantaged, his eccentric and independent mother always stressed education. She was a strict disciplinarian who brooked no nonsense from her twelve children. A convert to Christianity through her first husband, with whom she founded a Baptist church, she provided her children with the will to succeed. Consequently, all twelve eventually went to college and did her proud. The story of this unique family is told from two distinct, parallel perspectives: that of the author and that of his mother. While both are interesting, it is his mother's story that dominates this beautifully written book, which is, indeed, a tribute to her. It is truly a story told from the heart, as the love that the author has for his mother is evident with every written word. ... Read more

Product Description
Playaway is the easiest way to listen to a book on the go. An all-in-one format, the player and content are combined in one 2 ounce unit and it comes with everything you need to start listening immediately. No separate player needed, no CDs, no downloadsjust press play!

Who was Ruth McBride Jordan? Not even her son knew the answer to that question until he embarked on a twelve-year journey that changed himself and his family forever. Born Rachel Deborah Shilsky, she began life as the daughter of an angry, failed orthodox Jewish rabbi in the South. To escape her unhappy childhood, Ruth ran away to Harlem, married a black man, became a Baptist and started an all-black church. Her son James tells of growing up with inner confusions, chaos, and financial hardships; of his own flirtation with drugs and violence; of the love and faith his mother gave her twelve children; and of his belated coming-to-grips with her Jewish heritage. The result is a powerful portrait of growing up, a meditation on race and identity, and a poignant, beautifully crafted hymn from a son to his mother. ... Read more

Product Description
ESPN Classic has put together a worthy documentary of black boxing (ending in the '50s) complete with a well-rounded compilation of interviews and riveting clips.As one boxing historian said, some boxers' lives were "like blues songs." George Dixon had to fight in the middle of the ring because white fans would club his calves when he neared the ropes. Johnson, considered "uppity" for dating white women, a flashy lifestyle and not kowtowing to whites, had to fight a succession of Great White Hopes. He faced more trouble outside the ring: A conviction for transporting women interstate for immoral purposes, the only charge the authorities could pin on him. Louis, more acceptable to whites, became a legend when he beat German Max Schmeling for the heavyweight title in 1938.Many of the best black boxers never got their chance -- Panama Joe Gans had to take dives. And Archie Moore, like Sugar Ray Robinson, got a shot late in his career because he wouldn't play ball with the mafia.Andre Braugher narrated the ESPN Classic Original production by Across the Street Productions Inc. ... Read more

Product Description
This digital document is an article from Shakespeare Bulletin, published by Johns Hopkins University Press on December 22, 2008. The length of the article is 2618 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Hamlet between the lines.(Theater review)
Author: Yu Jin Ko
Publication: Shakespeare Bulletin (Magazine/Journal)
Date: December 22, 2008
Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
Volume: 26Issue: 4Page: 108(8)

Article Type: Theater review

Distributed by Gale, a part of Cengage Learning ... Read more