European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Reviews on Tho Tiger s Back by Bernard e. Grady Biddle. This Vietnam War Book tells one Soldier s Side of his 1966 tour through Short stories about american South vietnamese and Viet Cong soldiers and of the Farmers fishermen and merchants in the local population. That s the strategy that makes this Book a five Star one sitting read. The stories Are True As remembered by Grady who three decades ago was a Green army office when he arrived in country As part of the St in airmobile7th Cav regt 1st Cav div. Grady does t make judgments. He lets the Reader do  there s no selective memory. American Viet Cong and North vietnamese soldiers Are on an even playing Field. All Are right and wrong in their own  remembers one personal mistake Early in the  company was out winning the hearts and minds of the people that Day chasing Viet Cong in order to destroy them and give these poor Folk someplace of mind that was the gospel according to Westmoreland Grad writes. His outfit came across a Village with a rare fully functional clean water  were of interest to me Grady writes. I was intrigued with the army training manuals on counterinsurgency which depicted the Viet Cong s underground Tunnel systems sometimes the Tun Nels had an Entrance in the Side of a Well hidden be Neath the water  looking at the options Grady dropped a grenade into the Well to blow up his suspected Tun Nels and the Viet Cong in them. The re weren t  an old Man nearby started jabbering excitedly and making angry threatening gestures at me Grady writes. I did t comprehend his anger just then did t realize i had been successful Only inflowing out the Bottom and Side of the Well i had Cut off their water source for a Long time perhaps forever in time i would realize that i had found the enemy that Day. The enemy was ignorance the enemy was  not available in bookstores on the Tiger s Back can be ordered from the publisher for $12.95 plus$2.25 shipping Cost. The address is Biddle publishing co., . Box 1305-103, Brunswick Maine 04011. Cindy Killion staff writer wild High and tights the life and death off Billy Martin by Peter Golenbock St. Martin s press one reads of the mess Billy Martin called his life and wonders How he Ever found time for baseball the game that put his failings on a National stage when they were Best suited to some squalid Anonymous trailer Park. He was a relentless Boozer a sucker puncher and a Chippy Chaser and the sum of his personal ugliness overwhelmed whatever Good he did for the new York  after Martin died in an appropriately Messy Drunken driving Accident on Christmas Day 1989, his evil could still be Felt. He had anticipated his ,it seems by plotting against a sister who had some How offended  she dared Tosho up at his funeral he wanted his daughter to spit in her  s the Way it was Pard Martin used to say when he was alive to Tell stories on himself in the Cowboy patois he adopted to match his  no doubt he would have had the same response if he had been around for someone to ask about Fri request for a great expectoration. He revealed in his Public image As a stand up Guy who took the hear and backed Down to no Man. But that was All part of the testosterone fuelled my a that Consul Nedythe. Feral creature who was born Alfred Mamie Martin or. If you make it through Golenbock s Book you will find a decidedly different Martin one who  strength to prevent his own emasculation at the hands of a tyrannical Boss and a scheming  did t need George Steinbrenner warped inspiration when it came to self destruction. He was so out of control in fact that it is impossible to to Bern Tutt e. Pm Jav Best Sellers cent Golenbock s Contention that he ranks wit Casey Stengel and John Mcgraw in the holy Trinity of baseball managers. His obsession with off Fiel Battles kept him from managing More than one world Champion the 77 Yankees and the 1,253 games his teams won in All Are cheapened by the tales Golenbock tells tales of Martin s drinking Dur ing games of his slipping off to a bar before the final out was recorded of his Campaign to get fired by Oakland so he could wind up Back in Steinbrenner s clutches one last time. And Here s the kicker Martin was even worse in his personal life. He punched boyhood friends marshmallow Salesman and anybody else who crossed him. He persuaded his. Stepfather to quit work some could claim he was his family s sole support and weasel his Way out of the army. He had a 16-year-old Girlfriend when he was 48, married her two years later and slipped off with one of his mistresses two Days into the honeymoon. But maybe it was expect ing too much for him to do right by his child Bride. He ignored his own children  yet Golenbock tries to Muster a defense for Martin by pointing out that he was an alcoholic and that his Mother fed his brutality and his paranoia. In an age when no one is held accountable for misdeeds there May be buyers for such twaddle but they Don t live at this address. All you will find herein someone who will gladly give you the following scouting report about wild High and tight and Billy Martin bad Book worse  s the Way it is Pard. John Schulian los Angeles times playing for the ashes by Elizabeth George Bantam. George made a stunning debut several years ago proving to literary critics that top notch writing can be gracefully combined with detective fiction. In fact beginning with a great deliverance George s work has provided solid evidence that some of the Best writers of our  sometimes deprecated As Mere mystery  but George s  is tarnished in her newest and seventh mystery. Playing for the ashes. Although George s books have been always been lengthy they have also been highly readable a compliment that cannot be paid to the seemingly endless playing for the ashes. George tries something new in ashes interspersing sections of narrative with the Interior thoughts of an often fascinating curmudgeon named Olivia Whitelaw. It s not a bad idea but George gets carried away with it  Reader frustrated and overwhelmed. Karen Macpherson Albuquerque Tribune new York times list hardback fiction 1 the gift by Danielle steel last week 1 weeks on Lisl 4 2 the be Leitem prophecy by James Redfield last week 3 weeks on list. 253 the Clumber by John Gresham last week 2 weeks on list 11 ,. 4 politically Correct bedtime stories by James finn Garner last week 5 weeks on list 9 5 the Bridget of med ton county by Robert James Waller last week 4 weeks on list 106 6 the alienist by Caleb Carr last week 7 weeks on list 19 7 everything to gain by Barbara Taylor Bradford last week 6 weeks on. List 5 i Disney s the Iton King adapted by Don Ferguson last week 9 weeks on list 2 i undue influence by Steve Martin last week 10 weeks on list 4 10 the crossing by Cormac Mccarthy last week 8 weeks on list 9 11 Dixie sky Jem by James Lee Buike first week on list 12 until you by Judith Mcnaught first week on list 13 storming heaven by Dale Brown first week on list 14 playing for the ashes by Elizabeth George last week 12 weeks on list 4 15 the waterworks by  Doctorow last week 15 weeks on list 8 nonfiction 1 embraced by the Light by Betty j. Eadle with Curtis Taylor last week 1 weeks on list 67 2 the Agenda by Bob Woodward last week 2 weeks on list 9 3 Midnight m the Garden of Good Anil evil by John Berndt last week 4 weeks on list 24 4 the Book of Virtues by William j. Bennett last week 3 weeks on list 35 5 Motherless daughters by Hope Edelman last week 6 weeks on Lisl 4 8 Moon shot by Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton with Jay barbed and Howard based let last week 5 weeks on list 6 7 the Catcher was spy by Nicholas Dawidoff last week 13 weeks on list 2 i life of the party by Christopher or Den last week 9 weeks on list 10 t fear of fifty by Erica Jong first week on list 10 october 1m4 by David Halberstam first week on list 11 saved by the Light by Dannion Btl Kley with Paul Petty first week on list 12 the tribe of Tiger by Elizabeth Marshall Thomas last week 14 weeks on Lisl 2 13 soul males by Thomas Moore last week Al weeks on list 32 14 Gal a True Lite by Ruthie Bolton last week 15 weeks on list 3 15 the Kennedy women by Laurence learner first week on list miscellaneous 1 in the Kitchen with Rosle by Tosie Daley last week 1 weeks on list 17 2 men Are from Mere women Are from Venus by John Gray last week 2 weeks by. List 65 3 Meglic Eye ii by . Thing enterprises last week 3 weeks on Lisl 17 4 magic Eye by . Thing enterprises last week 4 weeks on list 31 paperback fiction 1 the client by John Gresham weeks on list 27 2 without remorse by Tom Clancy weeks on list 8 3 Forrest Gump by Winston Groom weeks on list 5 4 Clear and present danger by Tom Clancy weeks on list 19 5 a Case of need by Michael Crichton weeks on list 9 6 the shipping news by e. Annie Proulx weeks on list 10 7 sacred clowns by Tony Hillerman weeks on list 4 8 pot of Gold by Judith Michael weeks on Lisl 4 9 nightmares and dreams apes weeks on list 1 10 Finnegan a week by Joseph Wambaugh weeks on list 4. 11 snagged by Carol Higgins Clark weeks on list 4 12 guardian by John Saul weeks on list 4 13 a simple plan by Scott Smith weeks on list 5 14 pleading guilty by Scott Turow weeks on list 13 15 like water for chocolate by Laura Esquivel first week on Lisl. Nonfiction 1 care of the soul by Thomas Moore weeks on list 32 2 the Road less travelled by m. Scott Peck weeks on list 563 3 mama makes up her mind by Bailey White weeks on list 16 4 where Angels walk by Joan Wester weeks on list 32 5 i know Why the caged Bird sings by Maya Angelou weeks on list 79 8 girl interrupted by Joan Wester Anderson weeks on list 1.5 7 Reenal Neering the corporation by Michael Hammer and James Champy weeks on list 13 8 listening to prozac by Peter d. Kramer weeks on list 14 9 a boo of Angels by Sophy Burnham weeks on list 5 .10 the last brother by Marc Cerasini first week on list. 11 Young Man and fire by Norman Mcle an weeks on list 20 12 a year in Provence by Peler Mayle weeks on list -149 13 race matters by Cornel West weeks on list 16 14 the Tao of Pooh by Benjamin Hoff weeks on list 42 15 the silent passage by Gail Sheehy weeks on list 63 miscellaneous 1 the seven habits of he Flory Elle calve people by Stephen r. Covey weeks on list 179. 2 Rand Mcnally Road Atlas weeks on list 123 eat More weigh lets by Dean Ornish weeks on list 4 4 what to expect when you re expecting by Ailiene Eisenberg Heidi a Murkoff and Sandee e. Hathaway weeks on list 41 a August 21,1994 sunday Page 25