The second of three volumes of John Neal's collected works. "Ancient metrology - once the playground of Newton, but now largely ignored even by archaeologists - ought to cease to be a pariah subject and regain its place at the centre of the study of antiquity. In the past, the widely attested variations in ancient linear measurements have been put down to sloppiness on the part of our ancestors. But Neal is able to show that such variations belong to a logical, elegant and cohesive system partially based on divisions of the Earth's surface at different points on the longitudinal meridian." Professor Michael Vickers, University of Oxford, review of Neal's work in Nature: International Weekly Journal of Science. 2001.

The 50-mile stretch of the River Tamar forms a unique county boundary between the counties of Devon and Cornwall. The Tamar's source is East Youlstone near Bude less than 4 miles from the north Cornish coast. But instead of flowing northward into the Atlantic Ocean it flows slowly south. through reed-fringed mudscapes passing the towns of Launceston, Gunnislake, and Saltash before widening out and eventually meeting the English Channel at Plymouth Sound. In the sound the river merges with the rivers Tavy, Plym and Lynher to form the Tamar Valley, an area of outstanding natural beauty. The river has some 20 road crossings, including some medieval stone bridges, and the famous Tamar Bridge, opened in 1961 which carries the A38 and the Royal Albert Bridge built in 1859 by Brunel ,to carry the railway from Devon into Cornwall. The natural wonders of the environment contrast sharply with the manmade industrial relics which are strewn along the middle reaches of the river. The cries of the raven and the peregrine falcon echo around the site of abandoned mines in which men toiled for more than two centuries. The Tamar has always played an important role in the region's economy with mineral extraction a key industry in the Tamar valley. The Tamar has also served naval interests since 1691, when William of Orange commissioned a new dockyard at the mouth of the river in Devon.

Bonnie and Clyde were responsible for multiple murders and countless robberies. But they did not act alone. In 1933, during their infamous run from the law, Bonnie and Clyde were joined by Clyde's brother Buck Barrow and his wife Blanche. Of these four accomplices, only one--Blanche Caldwell Barrow--lived beyond early adulthood and only Blanche left behind a written account of their escapades. Edited by outlaw expert John Neal Phillips, Blanche's previously unknown memoir is here available for the first time.

Blanche wrote her memoir between 1933 and 1939, while serving time at the Missouri State Penitentiary. Following her death, Blanche's good friend and the executor of her will, Esther L. Weiser, found the memoir wrapped in a large unused Christmas card. Later she entrusted it to Phillips, who had interviewed Blanche several times before her death. Drawing from these interviews, and from extensive research into Depression-era outlaw history, Phillips supplements the memoir with helpful notes and with biographical information about Blanche and her accomplices.

The third of John Neale's books looking at Cornish rivers takes us down the Fowey, from its source on Bodmin Moor to its estuary at Fowey itself. Beginning near Brown Willy, the river soon flows near the famous Jamaica Inn and on to Golitha Falls, passing age-old slate caverns before turning abruptly to make its way toward Lanhydrock House, Boconnoc House and Restormel Castle and on to Lostwithiel with its ancient church, historic buildings and fourteenth-century bridge. Soon the Fowey widens as it is joined by Lerryn Creek and flows on to St Winnow and Golant before greeting Bodinnick, Polruan and Fowey itself. Along the way we meet ghosts, old characters, an oddball vicar and a star of the silver screen; discover churches and old houses; learn of literary associations, myths and legends; and unravel a mystery or two! The River Fowey is the golden thread which weaves many facets of landscape and seascape together as we explore one of Cornwall's magical rivers.

One of the most sought-after criminals of the Depression era, Ralph Fults began his career of crime at the improbable age of fourteen. At nineteen he met Clyde Barrow in a Texas prison, and the two men together founded what would later be known as the Barrow gang. "Running with Bonnie and Clyde "is the story of Fults's experiences in the Texas criminal underworld between the years 1925 and 1935 and the gripping account of his involvement with the Barrow gang, particularly its notorious duo, Bonnie and Clyde.

Fults's "ten fast years" were both dramatic and violent. As an adolescent he escaped numerous juvenile institutions and jails, was shot by an Oklahoma police officer, and was brutalized by prison guards. With Clyde, following their fateful meeting in 1930, he robbed a bank to finance a prison raid. "After "the ambush of Bonnie and Clyde, in 1934, he joined forces with Raymond Hamilton; together the two robbed more banks and eluded countless posses before Hamilton's capture and 1935 execution. One of the few survivors among numerous associates who ended up shot, stabbed, beaten to death, or executed, Fults was later able to reform himself, believing that the only reason he was spared was to reveal the darkest aspects of his past-and in so doing expose the circumstances that propel youth into crime.

Author John Neal Phillips tells Fults's story in vivid and at times raw detail, recounting bank robberies, killings, and prison escapes, friendships, love affairs, and marriages. Dialogues based on actual conversations amongst the participants enhance the narrative's authenticity. Whereas in books and mms, Fults, Parker, Barrow, and Hamilton have been romanticized or depicted as one-dimensional, depraved characters, "Running with Bonnie and Clyde "shows them as real people, products of social, political, and economic forces that directed them into a life of crime and bound them to it for eternity.

Although basing his account primarily on Fults's testimony, Phillips substantiates that viewpoint with references to scores of eyewitness interviews, police files and court documents, and contemporary news accounts. An important contribution to criminal and social history, "Running with Bonnie and Clyde "will be fascinating reading for scholars and general readers alike.