Book Reviews by Wayne T. Dowdy Captivates Minds
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S.S. Garwood and Dr. Jonathan M. Jackson takes readers back into the Civil War era with this well written piece of historical fiction: The Last Confederate Coin
The Last Confederate Coin
Horace Lawson Hunley designed a murderous device during the American Civil War: the H.L. Hunley, one of the first hand-cranked submarines, the very craft that took his life. The South led the race to create the first hunter-killer submarine.
Authors S.G. Garwood and Dr. Jonathan M. Jackson, capture the reader’s attention with graphic details of America’s bloodiest and most gruesome war, the War Between the States, as they take you into the confines of the H.L. Hunley during its missions.
Historically, on February 17, 1864, the brave men of the H.L. Hunley sunk the U.S.S. Housatonic off the coast of Charleston, South Carolina. Something went wrong during the process and Lt. Dixon went to the bottom of the ocean with the Hunley and its crew, to lay at rest for 136-years; the vessel did not resurface until August 8, 2000.
The submarine took the lives of thirteen other men before its final voyage in 1864, where it took the lives of its last eight brave men, claiming a total of twenty-one men throughout its brief history; five on its first voyage and eight each on the last two.
Reading the novel and seeing the numerous photos, assists the authors at telling a story about the lives of its main characters and the story behind the H.L. Hunley, most all based on historical facts, with a love story woven into its fabric.
The Last Confederate Coin falls within the historical-fiction category, but there is a lot of truth in this fiction: A Confederate coin discovered inside the H.L. Hunley tells a story in itself and helped to identify its owner. That is a fact!
The plot and scenes create a vivid image of what life was like for many of those trapped in the American Civil War, and of those heroic men who lost their lives fighting for a cause, but the authors take the readers deeper than that, below the surface and into the depths of the ocean with those last eight men on the final voyage of the murderous device.
Stand Up For Your People
In STAND UP FOR YOUR PEOPLE, Grey Bear screams for help to fight an oppressive prison system: GEO Group, a for-profit-prison, and the Arizona Department of Corrections, as well as others across the nation that squeeze the life out of Native American religious rights and freedoms. He releases a battle cry to gather warriors in a fight for incarcerated Native Americans. His people are very much in need of help from those in the community to provide essentials for their spiritual quests, such a firewood to use in sweat lodge ceremonies, and visitors from outside to share their path to their Creator. Without the firewood that the prison administration refuses to provide, the Native Americans cannot use the sweat lodge to practice their beliefs at the prison. The book is somewhat of an autobiography and a self-help guide for Native Americans who want to walk the Red Road. It contains legal references and a variety of source materials to support his position. A great book to send as a gift to Native Americans trapped inside the hundreds of oppressive prisons throughout the United States. https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/439974