MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW, Oregon, WI, December 2003

Black-and-white photographs pepper The History Of English Setter Showdogs In America, a historical account authoritatively written by Craig S. Sparkes who is an experienced and successful breeder of champion English Setters. Down-to-earth interviews and insights, as well as first hand testimony from professional handlers, fill the pages of this excellent read which is especially recommended for anyone involved with the breeding, training and showing of English Setters

       AKC GAZETTE, January 2004, Sue Johnson - English Setter columnist

English Setter fanciers have been blessed with a wonderful addition to our libraries.  It is “The History of English Setters Showdogs in America...   I highly recommend every fancier get a copy of this book.  It is an easy read, but you will spend hours pouring over the photographs and studying the lists of the top dogs.  Mr. Sparkes has tied all the generations together so that rather than names floating around my head for years, I now see where they all fit in the big scheme.

       ESAA NEWSLETTER, October 2003: Dr. Carl Sillman, ESAA Historian

“The History of English Setter Showdogs” is an absorbing book – and an important piece of history in its own right. I haven’t checked, but I daresay that no other breed is lucky enough to have a similar work devoted to its history. If you are a student of English Setter Breed history (and if you aren’t, you should be), this book belongs on your bookshelf right beside “The New Complete English Setter”… This book is about the “best of the best” and their accomplishments in the show ring. These are the breeders, handlers, and the dogs that went into the ring and won, sometimes dominatingly so, at the highest levels of competition. These are the All-Stars and they all come to life in the pages of this fun book.

       DOG NEWS, August 22, 2003: Marsha Hall Brown

The History of English Setter Show Dogs in America is the first book devoted to the reporting and analyzing of English Setters in competition.  It is also the first book since 1982 that has chronicled the breed in terms of Davis Tuck's concept of the "winning strain."  This book about winners is a winner.  …  it provides interesting comparisons and contrasts over time between English Setters and top winners from other breeds.  The analysis of show statistics tells how this breed fared on the all breed charts of wining show dogs.  And the time span of this history includes one hundred years of the twentieth century.  Interviews with English Setter breeders, judges, and handlers breathe life into the fascinating records of modern times.  The role of handlers and of owner-handlers is included.  The appendix has lists and charts for quick reference and the bibliography provides a valuable starting point for new research.