Drums In The Hills

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Summary: The Dashing Austrian Captain & the Lovely Senorita Clara
Review: For its type, this one is a classic. The author's father, also Frank, is the main protagonist. As a smitten young Austrian educated in Berlin of the late 19th Century, Frank falls in love with a faithfully married woman whom he impregnates because of her husband's infertility. Then, seeing no alternative, he enters a Roman Catholic monastary to become a priest and is promptly thrown out and cursed for disobeying orders when he takes Church property to feed the poor. He becomes an artillery officer in the Austrian Army, receiving the Iron Cross for bravery, and subsequent honors to include a position, at age 22, as military liason on behalf of Austria to the Belgium government. From this point, our hero joins the multitude of those seeking fortune and honor in the new world, embarking as a ship's electrician on a German registry vessel from Bremerhave to Alcapulco, where he almost immediately survives yet another attempt on his life, killing a Mexican desperado in a bar fight. This is the setting for "Drums In The Hills," the ancient communication medium of that day in Old Mexico, a time of elegant chivilry of the landed European aristocracy and repressive rule over their indentured serfs, banditry, wild lawlessness and disorder, little regard for human life, Pancho Villa and the Mexican Revolution of 1910, ... and Frank is centrally located in the epicenter of it all. Before the first World War, Frank rides a German submarine from Mexico to attend German military intelligence school in Berlin! This is an important story on so many levels, religious, historical, military, hazards of the day, courtship in Old Mexico, bullfighting (yes, Frank is even gored and survives), and Native American order and justice in the seized lands. The only real suggestion I have for the author is to use a spelling and grammar checking program on the next edition.

Rating:
Summary: Drums in the Hills
Review: I thoroughly enjoyed this book! I is a wonderful story that both entertained me and taught me a great deal about Mexico before and during the revolution. I was amused at how Frank entered the bull ring to impress his love, and amazed that he survived a firing squad of determined professional soldiers. It is a story that should be made into a movie! It would be very exciting and involve many colorful character actors. It has plenty of action, enough information for the intellectual and romance for the heart. It is easy to read and has convenient chapters. I fully recommend this book for any one to read!

Rating:
Summary: Drums in the Hills
Review: This book is a wonderfully informative and historical book that blends in romance, humor, excitement and tragedy amid the road to the Mexican revolution. The chapters are short, bitesize installments that lend themselves well to reading sessions. The vocabulary is simple enough to read without a dictionary and there is a great deal of dialogue which enlivens the characters' personalities. The auxillary characters are richly developed and I came away with a much greater understanding on what went on during this fascinating period of history.