U Books

This is a great book on the fundamentals of leadership. Bo and the author use football for examples of different challenges a leader might face. As a Michigan fan it was wonderful to read how this legendary coach made his way to Michigan, and how he formed his philosophies on coaching. After reading this book, the reader will have a better appreciation of how and why Bo coached the way he did. If anyone knows a person or if they themselves coach anything, this book is a MUST read. But you can still enjoy the book even if you don't coach or lead anything.

Bo's life was a reminder to me about the things that are important - integrity, friendship, leadership, honest communication, and giving your all every single day. Although a football story, I think it's more an inspirational guide to attainment of the highest human values disguised as a football story. Put this on your list to read!

This is the best book by/about Bo. Many of the stories are familiar, but most of the ones that have appeared before have a somewhat different slant on them here. If you have been in a leadership position, you will recognize much of what Bo says as simple truth. You will also recognize examples where you didn't follow his principles, and regretted it later. People like him who see life as simply are rare, and are an inspiration. I'm not sure how much of the effect of the book would be lost on someone who did not have a familiarity with college football, but if you have even a cursory exposure to it, you should find the stories enjoyable and educational.

This book was written as though Bo was talking. Oftentimes after I closed the book I was motivated and charged. It had a lot of great advice and pointers about leadership. I good book for a leader. A great book for a Michigan fan.

This was an excellent purchase! It arrived in a timely fashion and in great condition!

Barry Goldwater's "The Conscience of a Conservative" was one of the seminal manifestos of the modern-day conservative movement, defining conservative positions in both economic policy and foreign policy. It was published in 1960, when, just as today, many conservatives seemed ashamed to identify themselves as such.

Reading this book will give conservatives a sense their movement's roots and the ideological confidence that comes with knowing that their ideas have a long and distinguished pedigree. I sometimes wonder how America would be different today if Goldwater had beaten Johnson in 1964 and the ideas in this book, not those of the Great Society, had been implemented.

Being a conservative is something a person should be proud of. It gives you a perspective of one's ideology. The way our media and our universities are indoctrinating our society is scary. The only way to counteract this marxist point of view is to be informed and this book will actually make you think.

This book is clear and to the point. Mr. Goldwater doesn't waste any time laying it all out on the line about what true conservatism is. My wife and I are adding it to our home school library of required additional reading.

I had heard this book mentioned numerous times on talk radio shows as a major starting point for the conservative movement. It is definitely that and more. Goldwater's overriding idea is the most liberty for the individual balanced by the rule of law. I found his critique of union still on spot for today. His views on dealing with communism are from a position of strength, still a good idea for today dealing with radical Islamic terrorists. I may be unusual but I read the afterward by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and had to chuckle. The first part of his afterward was fine, a tribute to Barry Goldwater, the man. But the last half of it I could see the spittle flying from his lips as he went into a diatribe against the current administration. A short paragraph on how he thought the current crop of conservatives aren't following Goldwater's ideas would have been fine and expected from a Kennedy but half of the afterward? The vitriol used showed me something else I have heard is definitely true. For the political left everything is political, even praising an old enemy.

THE CONSCIENCE OF A CONSERVATIVE represents the touchstone of modern conservatism. In 1960, clearly and articulately, Barry Goldwater made the conservative case on many modern issues: the role of the federal government, federal fiscal policy, tax policy, foreign affairs (although dated now), the welfare state, and many others.

Goldwater believed that economic, political, religious and social freedoms were intertwined and dependant upon one another. For example, free markets were as necessary to a free society as the right to vote and infringement upon one was infringement upon them all. Goldwater was not alone. Towering intellects like economists Hayek, Friedman, Hazlitt and others argued the very same case with profound results.

In the late sixties, another voice would take up these arguments: Ronald Reagan. Building upon the conservative foundation of Goldwater, Reagan would initiate the Tax Reform Act of 1982 and America would enter a period of economic growth never before seen in the world. The principles that Goldwater espoused and the policies of monetarism, lower taxes (supply side economics), and fiscal restraint fueled an economic engine which is still running.

Goldwater was not a policy wonk. He was a conservative with a heart for others and compassion and love for his country. His battle cry was. "Extremism in defense of liberty is no vice and moderation in the pursuit of justice is no virtue." But he didn't let his passion for freedom blind him to the beliefs of others. He valued debate and respected the conflict of differing opinions; he was a gentleman about discourse and politics.

Goldwater issued a warning about America's enemies when he said, "The real cause of the deterioration can be simply stated. Our enemies have understood the nature of the conflict and we have not. They are determined to win the conflict and we are not." These words are as chilling a warning today about America's enemies as they were about Communism fifty years ago.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and George Will both pay tribute to Goldwater in this 2007 version which are worth reading. As for Goldwater, I pray we will see his like again.

Before approaching the text of Alexis de Tocqueville's Democracy in America, I had little realization as to the proper content of his prophetic work. To my former understanding, the text was merely a collection of adulation and reflections upon the American way of life by a French observer in the nineteenth century. Upon reading this abridged version of Democracy in America, I found a much more prophetic text which reflected more upon the cultural impact of democratic institutions than upon the praise which should be attributed thereto. While one may fault de Tocqueville for approaching the democratic world with the cutting eye of a small aristocracy, it is quite evident that he accepted the fact that the human spirit was led to greater democratic tendencies and that such was to be taken almost a priori as the state of the world in his era.

The truly important reflection of the work as a whole comes in the considerations which he places upon the consequences of equality which follows from democratic revolutions. The phenomena of hardy individualism and its potential devolvement into individualism were not lost in his reflections. From this hardy individualism, de Tocqueville feared that humanity in democratic times may tend more toward equality and stability than toward liberty. In this, he not only foresaw the simple tendencies of utilitarian artwork and literature but also the potential destruction of civil associations and the devaluation of individual accomplishment and differentiation. It is this latter point, which seems somewhat paradoxical at first glance, which is perhaps the most prophetic of his reflections. In the process of cultural homogenization and individuation, de Tocqueville foresees that centralization of power will become much more likely as the populace views itself to be nothing more than an accumulation of nearly-identical citizens. Beyond this, his fears of the tyranny which could result by the abandonment of liberties by the people are well founded, for a society which wholly forgets the fact that some human beings can stand out is one which can easily allow itself to be subjected to the capricious desires of a powerful state as liberty is wholly forgotten.

These prophetic words should be read by all reflective Americans as we continue to move toward a larger centralized state and clamor with greater intensity for security in all forms (be it physical or social), for such equalizing security can only come at the cost of the liberties which allow the individual to actually have the worth which we intellectually affirm that he or she has.

As an American living in Europe, I read with great interest Alexis de Tocqueville's book about a European experiencing America.

Like most people, Mr. de Tocqueville started out with a characterization of the United States, believing that the country's early 19th century prosperity was a function of its distance from rivals in Europe. But after his famous trip, he concludes that the real difference comes from each side's view of risk taking. It's an insight as relevant today as it was when it was written.

Mr. de Tocqueville predicted that the growing issue of state's rights would lead to bloodshed (it led to the Civil War -- though he wrongly predicted it would eventually lead to a breakup of the union, he was very nearly right on that point as well); he predicts the fledgling country's industrial rise and its emergence as a true world power; he recognized the symbiotic role between industry and democracy at a time when they were believed to be unrelated. His insights into the American psyche, optimism, and ambition at times seem timelier than most op-ed pieces.

More than a century and a half after it was written, I am hard pressed to conjure the name of a better commentary about America and Americans. It is an astonishing feat considering the brevity of Mr. de Tocqueville's four-month visit, his youth (he was in his early 20s), and early stage of development the country was in. But the result is something that shouldn't be skipped by any serious student of the political and social essence of the United States.

I have three complaints about this edition of Tocqueville:
1) Nowhere in the book is the translator credited. This violates basic principles of publication and scholarship.
2) This is in fact an abridged version of the original English-language translation by Henry Reeve, dating from sometime before 1862. Unless you want to re-create the experience of a modern Frenchman confronted with de Tocqueville's somewhat archaic French by reading the text in somewhat archaic English, I would seek out any of the more recent translations: there are at least three.
3) The ellipses, that is, the abridgements, have sometimes been made to conceal some of the author's less flattering views America. In fact I suspect this is a "patriotic" abridgement. For example, in the second chapter of part one, Heffner has omitted references to some of the excesses of Puritan law in New England which the notoriously even-handed Tocqueville had cited.

Praising this book is a bit like saying Huckleberry Finn was one of the great American novels - it's a profound statement of the obvious. Even so, it must be said: Alexis de Tocqueville's magnum opus is a brilliant sociological analysis of America, with his genius made all the more evident by how applicable his observations about 1830s America are to its twenty-first century counterpart. Everything from the solidity of America's political infrastructure to the disquieting trend toward anti-intellectualism are explored in this massive work, and his gift of analysis is matched only by his gift for prophecy (can you believe that he predicted a conflict between America and Russia before the rise of Communism?). An amazing book, and necessary reading for anyone who wishes to understand America, rather than merely talk about it.

As a former reviewer has stated this edition takes quite a bit of liberty in excising the less flattering aspects of Tocqueville's views of America. In fact the entire section on race-relations has been excised --perhaps it was deemed too controversial? This kind of editing is even more unacceptable in our age of open communications and hopefully open minds. Find another edition.

I am a patient that has had heart problems for awhile now. I just had surgery in 2006, so reading this book really helped me to understand where heart surgery all started. It brought it all home for me at the end. There is something about this surgeon that I now have a close connection to, and I didn't even realize it until the end! Those of you who have read "King of Hearts" would understand! This book has taught me a lot, but it also has a lot of great stories intertwined within. Totally worth the read!!

The medical history related in this book is one of the boldest and most amazing one. If it wasn't for these highly risk taking individuals, open heart surgery would not be possible today.

When a friend gave me this book to read, I thought I'd skim a few chapters and either get bored with the technical details or be bothered by them since I have had heart surgery for congenital heart defects myself.

I thumbed though the first chapter and I was hooked! The writing demonstrates the intensity found in intense pediatric cases very well and uses that and the determination of Dr. Lillehei to move the story along at a fast clip. I finished it in about 36 hours!

I had gotten to the point there I was trying to take care of myself well as an adult with congenital heart disease (treated defects), but I hadn't quite grasped the details of my own surgeries nor did I want to. After I read this book I ordered my surgical records immediately and was excited to read them! The book filled the descriptions of the surgeries with such excitement that it carried over into my own personal education about my health.

I like how they told the story of Dr. Lillehei as a person who did great things, but was also human being as much as his patients - with faults of his own - but also clearly, great gifts.

For more information about the long-term outcome of patients with congenital heart defects/disease and how we continue to lead the longest and healthiest lives possible for us, please visit the Adult Congenital Heart Association's website at www.achaheart.org

Once I picked up this book, I couldn't put it down. What a fascinating subject and such wonderful storyteller. From the mom of a "heart baby" it just amazes me how far we've come in such a short amount of time.

It's a good story, and Dr. Lillehei blazed an amazing trail, but this man appeared to be a sociopath who destroyed everything and everybody he touched - except, of course, his patients. I can't believe nobody addressed this yet, or maybe they were so fascinated by the story that they missed - or dismissed - it completely. This was more than a massive ego; this guy could have been a Dr. Swango had things been just a wee bit different.

I realize the book was about Dr. C. Walton Lillehei, but his brother Richard was also a transplant surgeon, as are his sons Craig and Kevin.

I liked this book. I give this book 5 stars. This book gave me the chance to read some of his thoughts that he had recorded in his personal journal(daybook). One quote that I really liked is " I know there is a God and that he hates injustice. I see the storm coming and I see His hand in it. If He has a place and part for me, I am ready". For me, it has renewed my sense that I as well as my country need to get up from the sleep or the spell we our under that has led us down the wrong path, and get active again in trying to get this country on the right path.

Robert Kennedy is one of my heroes. I believe his death did not take away the meaning of his life, which is excellently expressed in this book. I have about 20 books on RFK and this is my runaway favorite. If you own only it should be this; you will learn everything you need to know about how and why he lived his life.

This is an excellent selection of Robert F. Kennedy's words. It's amazing how applicable RFK's ideas are to our own times.

Anyone who is ever at a point in their life where they are doing any type of soul-searching would find the thoughts and words expressed here invaluable. After experiencing the worst tragedy, Robert Kennedy makes an incredible change....inside and then outside. Those of us who were not alive or old enough to remember do have books and videos to try and tell us his story. But his son goes beyond that and really gives us something more by sharing all the ideas that made up the man.

If you are looking for info about RFK, well, you'll get something here....BUT...even more, this book will help you grow and become a better human being...and maybe even become that "tiny ripple of hope" in your world.

For those who missed the time in which those now called "Reagan Democrats" and those opposed to the ongoing war in Vietnam were inspired by the same voice, especially who cannot even begin to imagine how that could be, this small book is a must-read that will enable you to experience what is possible through inspiring [rather than angry divisive cynical] leadership.

Some quotes from the book, which seems as if it could have been written this morning:

"An understanding of what America really stands for is going to count far more than missiles, aircraft carriers, and supersonic bombers."

"Insurgency aims not at the conquest of territory but at the allegiance of man. ... Counterinsurgency might best be described as social reform under pressure...any effort that becomes pre-occupied with gadgets and techniques and force is doomed to failure."

"Thus does false principle destroy the credibility of our wisdom and purpose that is the true foundation of influence as a world power."

"America was a great force in the world, with immense prestige, long before we became a great military power. That power has come to us and we cannot renounce it, but neither can we afford to forget that the real constructive force in the world comes not from bombs but from imaginative ideas, warm sympathies, and a generous spirit.
These are qualities that cannot be manufactured by specialists in public relations.
They are the natural qualities of a people pursuing decency and human dignity in its own undertakings without arrogance or hostility or delusions of superiority toward others, a people whose ideals for others are firmly rooted in the realities of the society we have build for itself."

"Whatever the costs to us, let us think of the young men we have sent there: not just the killed, but those who have to kill; not just the maimed, but those who must look upon the results of what they do."

[AND, to remind us not to sink into frustrated despair at our current mean-spirited divisive administration, RFK's words spoken in courage during the dark days of Apartheid in South Africa:]
"Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance."

"Few will have the greatness to bend history itself; but each of us can work to change a small portion of events, and in the total of those acts will be written the history of this generation."

A very deep map indeed, the second of Heat-Moon's three literary tours-de-force is the story of a county in Kansas. In his first excursion, the best-selling BLUE HIGHWAYS, the author reported on a ten thousand mile sojourn along the old Federal Highways (blue on most maps). PRAIRYERTH grew out of three years of hiking, conversation and archival research in Chase County, Kansas and the result is a living history of both the particular locale and the European invasion of the west. From Knute Rockne's death in a commercial plane crash to Sam Wood's murder to Native medicine, dream walking to newspaper accounts of life on the prairie, and fossils to legends to The Land Institute where Wes Jackson explores the looming demise of the liquid fuel era, this volume casts a wide net. Heat-Moon is clear eyed enough to see the facts and then see beyond the facts to the life between the lines of old courthouse documents and pioneer diaries. He is open to less tangible subtlety as well, admitting susceptibility to hunch, daydream or the message from another's Ouija board. He tells a tale of hawks, buffalo, cowboys and beef, notes the profound damage wrought on the American prairie by McBurger mania and the possibility of recovery in a place of vast flatness and endless wind and sky. He lunches with the dead in old cemeteries and stakes out to observe life in a dying town where nothing happens. There are midnight moonlight hikes and journalistic experiments, pertinent quotes by the truckload and poignant still lifes of moments of love and loss. Such a deep map makes for a long read, but well worth the effort as pieces click into place in later chapters and a pastiche emerges, a hologram in which you can walk between the hills and dip a cupful from a clear flowing spring.

In Blue Highways the inimitable William Least Heat Moon drove across the backroads of America. In River Horse this courageous, spiritually-venerable man floated in a barge across this nation's waterways. In Prairy Erth, he does his exploration mostly on foot. Confining himself to a microcosmic canvas, Least Heat Moon spends over 600-pages describing how he spent months delving into a single county in the heart of Kansas. Packed with maps of Chase County, its hills, waterways, roads and farmsteads, the author tells a sometimes dry but often rich story of one remote but improbably charming spot on planet earth. He meets many of the county's 3,000 residents, hears and tells of the folklore, the history, the textured layers to life in such a location. By the book's end an unknowingly begun spiritual journey reaches its conclusion, which is the way with all of William Least Heat Moon's writings. If you have the time to put into Prairy Erth, it is a compelling book that challenges the nature of individual outlook.

New to William Least Heat Moon, I wasn`t quite sure what to expect with Prairyerth. Having heard about the critical acclaim of Blue Highways, I thought a lesser known work would be the place to start. And I am glad I chose Praityerth.

With Prairyearth, William Least Heat Moon has dug down to the heart of a specific place, in this case, the Flint Hill country of Chase County, Kansas. Not unlike Thoreau`s Walden, Prairyerth is an exhaustive chronicle of one man`s journey to the bottom--historically, geologically and geographically speaking--of one particular and rather insignificant place in the American landscape. Prairyerth, like Walden, is impossible to lump into one clean-cut literary category. Neither pure history, nor pure geology, nor `storytelling` per say, it is rather a brilliant concoction of all three. It is, as the author pens it, a `deep map` of one tiny piece of the New World. And deep it is. Least Heat Moon delves into every square inch, every prehistoric layer of his subject. The result is a stirring and fascinating ride through the discovery, settling, exploitation and ultimate destruction of the American prairie. Half Native American himself, Least Heat Moon walks through the tall grass of the American Sea with much the same spirit of his ancestors. Here was not emptiness as thought the first Europeans, but rather a vast ocean of endless natural wealth. Home to the once vast bison herds, the tall-grassed hills of Chase County were once giant mountains of the Kansas range that were slowly worn down into the Flint Hills of today. Least Heat Moon follows the tracks of the Osage and the Kansa, `people of the wind,` who traversed this area long before Zebulon Pike and John Fremont made their tentative forays across the prairie towards more secure landscapes. The author vividly captures the reverence that the Osage and Kansa held for the `prairie.` Tracking down the stories of the few remaining pure-blood Kansa, Least Heat Moon paints a metaphor for what looms in the future for us, lest we ignore the lessons of the past. Not only does the author richly expose the layer of Native Americana within Chase County, but he does justice to the natural elements of the place as well. Some of the most fascinating parts of Prairyerth are the sections on two of the county`s most enduring denizens, the Osage Orange tree/bush and the Wood Rat, aka Pack/Trade Rat. Least Heat Moon has an ultra sharp eye for interesting detail and oddity and knows how to bring such things to life.

The structure of the work is as ambitious as it is groundbreaking. Every other chapter covers another quadrant of the county. Least Heat Moon spends most of his time analyzing the present inhabitants of the county, trying to distill the essence of `Kansasness.` He chats with the weathered old farmers and ranchers who`ve survived every tornado and flash flood over the last half-century and who entertain no thoughts on living anywhere else. Every voice in the county gets its chance. Feminist cattle ranchers give him the lowdown on castrating bulls, local high schoolers divulge their dreams and the regulars of the Emma Chase Cafe unload gossip unaware of who`s writing it all down. Kansasness, according to the author, is a baffling mix of progressive politics and constrictive convention. A place of often violent contrasts. Kansas was the first state born out of the fires of abolition, first to stimulate integration (Board of Education vs Topeka), yet the `n word` is still commonplace all over the county. The forefather of the county, Samuel Wood, was one of the most eloquent voices among the abolitionists, yet he stopped short of pushing for full integration. Kansas was a place where all people had freedom of opportunity (especially to better oneself economically), as long as everybody kept to his/her own. One of the first states to allow women`s suffrage, it was also one of the first to embrace Prohibition. It also kept its archaic and puritan sex laws on the books until the recent Supreme Court ruling overturned such laws.

In between his quadrant explorations of the county, Least Heat Moon has interspersed chapters comprised of nothing but various epigrams and short passages regarding the state. Coming from sources as disparate as Horace Greeley and Black Elk to graffiti found at the KU library, these chapters are some of the most entertaining and enriching of the book.

William Least Heat Moon is one of the greatest prose stylists I have ever encountered in modern American letters. His writing is rich with metaphor and digression, begging second and third readings of certain passages. While sometimes he expands profusely, Faulkner-like, for paragraphs, clarity is rarely forsaken. It just means reading carefully and slowly. Prairyerth is definitely a book that needs digesting. I took me almost six months to finally devour it up and when I did, I had the distinct feeling of having consumed something grand and very nutritious, albeit a bit heavy. In fact, those without persistent natures would best choose something else to read. Prairyerth is meat and potatoes and requires a lot of chewing. And perhaps that is where the work falls a tad short of its possible ancestor. Whereas one can open Thoreau`s Walden anywhere and revel in the beauty and wisdom (albeit often cryptic) found therein, Prairyerth is nothing if not taken in its entirety. Its just too dense, with too much stuff packed into its innards. In fact, a little editing could have helped the book. Some chapters are a bit superfluous and leaving them out would have only helped the work as a whole. Moreover, Least Heat Moon`s astute observations serve his examination of the natural world far better than they support his delving into the human realm. Somehow a lot of the `characters` of Chase County never fully come to life in Prairyerth. Rather, they seem two-dimensional and oddly trapped on the page. Yet, taken as a whole and for what it is, a grand archaeological and sociological dig through the layers of New World settlement, Prairyerth succeeds grandly. Never has one tiny and often ignored section of the American quilt come to life so vividly and richly as does Chase County, Kansas in Prairyerth. A place so seemingly devoid of life, is, in actuality, overflowing with the past, present and future. All you have to do is look,look carefully. The author himself says it best: `A traveler(who cannot even remotely detect the thousand-mile-an-hour spinning of the planet he rides through space at sixty-seven thousand miles an hour, to say nothing of its solar and galactic movements and its precession) writes in his notebook, ~nothing is happening~. Man muses, God guffaws.` Next time you feel that nothing has ever happened or is happening now or will happen where you`re at, pick up Prairyerth and be amazed.

If only every county in the United States had as passionate and articulate a chronicler as William Least Heat-Moon.

I came to "PrairyErth" after having read and loved "Blue Highways." This tome--though longer and less expansive, geographically--possesses many of the qualities I admired in Heat-Moon's earlier work: the narrative tone (there's none of that stuffy, impersonal, third-person prose one finds in some travelogues; the author is himself part of the story), the occasional dips into philosophy and history; the candid interviews with "locals"; and the intense search for meaning in the most ordinary of places.

I have never been to Chase County, Kansas, but after spending a month or so accompanying Heat-Moon through the pages of his book, I feel as though I have. The book is subtitled "a deep map," and that is indeed what the author provides here. Square mile by square mile, the reader is introduced to the prairie, its topography and history, its residents and its wildlife. Heat-Moon correctly understands that the essence of a place is often best captured through anecdote and observation. There is nothing sweeping or grand about his narrative, and that's what makes "PrairyErth" such a delight. It's a detailed, intimate read; one almost has the feeling of looking over the author's shoulder (and back through history) as he ambles and rambles about the quadrangles of Chase County.

If there's one criticism I would offer, it's that Heat-Moon sometimes lapses into needless digressions about himself and the challenges he faced while writing the book. It struck me as a bit self-absorbed--as did the occasional Faulknerian stream-of-conscious, punctuationless prose. These stylistic excesses add little to what is otherwise a magnificent and fascinating travelogue.

If you want to experience Kansas, with its excruitatingly boring places that slowly creep up on you and leave you blissfully satisfied and in awe of beauty; if you're willing to read long passages of flat text just to discover the beauty of burning fields; I highly recommend PrairyErth.

I grew up in Kansas, about 2 hours from Chase county and was always facinated by the hills, the people, and just the auroa that came from Strong City and Cottonwood falls. After reading "PrairyErth" I am even more mesmorized by the locale.

I have been out of the state for 2 years now, and long to go back. Many friends have complained about the long drives through Kansas, the flat scenery, and boring people. PrairyErth brings to life these flat lands and opens up new worlds of community and life.

For me, reading Moon's book was much like experiencing life in Kansas. I did find some of the chapters long, dry, and dull.. but, that's how some Kansas life is. Moon always concludes these sections with a gorgeous snapshot of the land. He shows us what it is like to be in relationship with the land just as we are in relationship with one another.

He concludes the book with a beautiful journey down the Kaw Trail.
"How do you know when the Prairy is in you?"
"When you see a tree as an eyesore."

Clearly written, well thought out, well supported and utterly infuriating.Takeover: The Return of the Imperial Presidency and the Subversion of American Democracy

Never before has a VP of the USA been so influential and so power hungry. USA citizens should take heed. An intellectually challenged president manipulated by the VP. This is scary stuff!

This Pulitzer-Prize winning book by Charlie Savage should have received five stars. I give it only two. To learn why -- read on.

Savage is a good writer and his trenchant analysis of how the neocons have nearly destroyed our Constitutional system is basically correct. His story is also important and needs to be told.

The problem is Savage's naive acceptance of the official yarn about 9/11. In the very first chapter Savage displays his personal ignorance when he reviews the events in the White House bunker -- and gets it wrong. What is incredible is that Savage didn't bother to research this himself. It appears that he simply accepted as bible the version of events reported by Bob Woodward in the Washington Post.

There is no excuse for this lapse of critical thought.

The problem is that the version of 911 reported by Woodward in his 2002 series was largely fabricated -- a lie. It does not reflect what actually happened. It was fabricated for a reason: because Secretary of Transportation Norman Mineta just happened to be present in the bunker with Cheney on 911 and witnessed what transpired.

Check out Mineta's testimony before the 911 Commission in May 2003 -- and you will discover what I am referring to. Mineta places Cheney in the bunker as early as 9:20 am. What is more, he actually overheard Cheney give the treasonous order to stand down -- as Flight 77 was approaching Washington. Mineta told how a young man, probably a Secret service staffer, came in and warned of the approaching plane. "It's 50 miles out" the young man said. Then it was "thirry miles out" -- then "ten miles out." The young man asked Cheney if the orders still stand. Cheney shouted: "Of course they still stand...Have you heard any different?" Mineta told the commission this was Flight 77 -- no mistake about the ID of the plane. In short, his testimony was incredibly incriminating. No doubt, is why there is not one word about it in the 911 Commission Report.

For this reason -- it was obvious in the immediate aftermath of 911, long before Mineta testified before the commission, that his presence in the bunker posed a grave problem for Cheney. The White House had little reason to think it could count on Mineta's loyalty. He was a civil servant, after all, not a neocon---the only Democrat in Bush's cabinet. It is now clear that the White House responded to this "threat" by proactively attempting to head off trouble. How? By rewriting history. What else?

Late in 2001 the well-known journalist Bob Woodward was invited to conduct a series of interviews about September 11, as seen through the eyes of the president and his staff. Woodward (a glory hound) was only too eager to oblige. As we know, he thereafter served as court historian. The result, beginning in January 2002, was a series of retrospective articles in the Washington Post about 9/11.

This is the version of 911 history that Savage relied on for the first chapter of his book.

How could Savage be so naive? In fact, Woodward simply wrote what he was told. His series in the Post presented a White House-friendly version of events. No surprise that one of the stories Woodward recounted was the famous episode in the bunker. In Woodward's redacted version, however, Cheney is the man of the hour who rises to the press of terrible events. The same young man approaches the VP and warns about the incoming airliner. But, of course, in this revised history the timeline has been pushed back: Now it is almost 10 am -- and the plane is Flight 93, not Flight 77. Now the plane is 80 miles out, not 50.

There is another BIG difference. This time instead of a stand down -- it is a shoot down order. When the young man says, "There is a fighter in the area. Should we engage?" Cheney responds by giving the difficult command to shoot down the plane. But the young man hesitates. As narrated by Woodward the tension in the room mounts. The plane is closing fast and is now only 60 miles out. The young man repeats the question and again Cheney gives the command. But the young man still hesitates. "Does the order still stand?" he blurts out. Cheney finally snaps and says, "Of course it does!"

Woodward's revised version of 911 is more colorful, but there is a problem. It is a fabrication -- a complete lie. In fact, it deviates just as sharply from the official narrative presented in the 9/11 Commission Report as it does from Mineta's account, since at no time on September 11 did Flight 93 approach anywhere near as close as 60 miles to the White House. This crucial detail is the fly on the windowpane that exposes the fraud.

Someone please inform Charlie Savage that he got his 911 history all wrong -- backwards. There is no excuse for this. He is a fine writer. It is simply incomprehensible that Savage -- a strong critic of the neocons -- would swallow hook, line, and sinker their version of the 911 "attack." If half of what Savage reports in his book is true -- and I have no doubt that much more than half is true -- then the neocons are easily capable of murdering 3,000 Americans in a false flag attack on 911 to vastly increase the power of the White House and catapult America into two unnecessary wars.

This is exactly what they did -- and shame on Mr Savage for not figuring it out. He's lucky I didn't give him one star. So readers - please beware. You must view the analysis in TAKEOVER through a critical lens, making allowances for Savage's failure to comprehend who was behind 9/11. There is no question that Cheney and Rumsfeld and others were personally involved in the attack.

Well written (sic) liberal tripe promoting a biased opinion with half-truths and exaggerations. Previous reviewers must have had a meeting to compare notes at a local Democratic Caucus. Skip it.

A lawyer and journalist, Charles Savage, writes like a journalist and summarizes complex legal issues clearly. He demonstrates how Dick Cheney , since being President Ford's Chief of Staff, has worked constantly to expand presidential power, and as Vice President has consistently and effectively argued that neither Congress nor the courts may check imperial presidential power. An excellent book.

This book was an awsome book.I might be a guy but all these stories just fills your heart with good things. This book has fantastic real life stories that mean alot of things. It was so good that i read this book in 4 days. This book is great for any chicken soup lovers or people who likes touching stories.

I read this book in 2 days flat!! I love it. Brought back some memories of times in my life... made me cry mostly. Who doesn't love a good cry? I'm on track to improving my personal development and have since changed my reading material to awe-inspiring stuff. I encourage all women ages 21-100+ to read this book.

I have grown up with Chicken Soup For The Soul Collections. I can remember buying my first book at a book sale while I was in elementary school. I than moved on to Chicken Soup For The Teenage Soul. I recently took a box of books to a book exchange shop and that's where I saw Chicken Soup For The Woman's Soul. I than remembered how much I had loved these heart warming short stories and since I had just turned 20 years old, it was about time I exchange my teenage collection in for the woman's collection. I am 20 years old, married and in college so sometimes I find myself stressed out and emotional so I like to sit down and enjoy a few of these stories. These are great books to own and there is a large variety so that anyone can find one that fits them. My husband and I like to read Chicken Soup For The Couples Soul together and I am looking forward to the day when I can read Chicken Soup For The Mothers Soul.

There are so many Inspiring and touching tales that fills our hearts with emotion. One wonders 'why' things happen as they shouldn't or 'How' do miracles change the course of our lives. There are moments in everybody's life where at a point you encounter obstacles, where your self esteem gets low, attitude differences opine or whatever be, awe-inspiring stories of this book glues you to stir your heart to be more wiser. It rekindles the spirits undoubtedly when we read the emotional narrations of others and wonder - We too come across lot of experiences in life. Should we not pen it down? Easy it may seem, needs inspirations like these stories to share alike tales. This book sure is a great 'light up spirits' book for woman, self inspirations you can say. Topics on Love, Attitude & self esteem, Special moments, Dreams, Truth & wisdom n more are widely covered which makes it a special read. I cherish this book and read n re-read at times. Good pick

I read this book in 2 days flat!! I love it. Brought back some memories of times in my life... made me cry mostly. Who doesn't love a good cry? I'm on track to improving my personal development and have since changed my reading material to awe-inspiring stuff. I encourage all women ages 21-100+ to read this book.

This monster book is fun, not scary at all. It tells about all the loving things Mama Monster does for her Monster children. When I was an elementary school librarian I used it for Story Time. And now my grandchildren--ages 2 and 4, love this book too!

My kids (ages 3-7) all love this book. It has a great rhythm and after reading it regularly for five years, they still giggle through the entire book. Because of that, we have given this book to many friends who have loved it as much as us.

I bought this because my son has been waking up scared of "things" in his room at night. He has been waking up a lot less lately, since we started reading this and another book. I really think this among other things has helped. It insinuates that monsters are scared of little boys and girls which is just what he needed to hear!! It is also very cute and makes monsters seem just like people!

My little boy is 19 months old and this is one of his favorite bedtime stories. The illustrations are bright and colorful and the story makes us laugh every time we read it!

I loved this book and read it to my precious grandson, Connor. The book is written in rhyme and it is very sweet and interesting to kids.

Night of the Living Dummy is a Goosebumps book by R.L Stine. It's a great book because it's kind of scary, because a girl named Lindy and her sister Kris were walking around the block and they swear they saw a kid hanging out of the dumpster. As Lindy walked closer she realized that it was a dummy. So when she got home she named the dummy Slappy. That night it came to life and started to cause trouble. I recommend this book third through fifth grade, because it would be too frightening. I give this book 5 starS because I like scary fiction stories.

This book isn't to bad. it was very enjoyable. It's a good book for kids 12 and over. I love R.L. Stiens's books whaen i was a kid. I still will read goosebumps when i can't find nothing else. This is probably the best kid's sereis books out there. Night Of The Living Dummy was pretty intense. It Is a good book.

Wow, this book was awsome really awsome toatally triple awsome! I thought this was better than Night of the living dummy 2! I wonder why it shows Slappy on the cover of the book but the main ventriloquist dummy is Mr. Wood which on the other hand isn't as cool and evil as Slappy. YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK!!!

The books in the Goosebumps series regularly seem to take the vein of a morality tale (of a twisted sort) where one virtue, evil, personality flaw, or issue is taken up as the focus of the story, and Night of the Living Dummy is no exception. The order of the day here is competition...in this volume we meet twins Lindy and Kris Powell who are constantly competing, arguing, trying out do, out wit, and one-up one another. Their parents are frazzled and fed up with these beautiful twins who seem to frequently cross the line into cruelty and viciousness, and often behaving without sympathy toward one another and others.

As we join them, the twins are exploring the house across the way from theirs when Lindy discovers a ventriloquist dummy in the construction dumpster...even better he appears to be in excellent shape. To Kris' horror, Lindy keeps the dummy, which Kris initially distains as stupid, gross, and boring. Shortly after finding him, Lindy manages to gain some skill and when her act becomes popular with their classmates...popular enough to get her some gigs doing birthday parties with her act, Kris decides that she too MUST have a dummy. Her parents initially rebuke her, dummies are expensive and try to get the girls to share which outrages Lindy...she becomes quite cruel toward her sister calling her a copy cat and really wanting this one thing for herself.

When their father manages to conveniently stumble upon a second dummy in a second hand shop for a good price, it seems like the problem is solved...but Lindy is still angry at her sister for trying to steal her thunder and begins to pose the dummy so that it appears to be alive, frightening her sister terribly...when the secret is revealed, Kris is crushed...but shortly after the dummy DOES come to life and the twins are left without their parents support (they are just fed up with talk and whining about the dummies to hear a single thing more about them). Will the girls be able to stop Mr. Wood? Will he make them his slaves? You'll have to read to find out...what you get is always different than what you expect with these stories, and Night of the Living Dummy is no exception, it does have a signature "got ya" moment at the end.

Overall, Night of the Living Dummy is well written and the characters are simple but adequately written. The girls are sympathetic in some instances and not in others...there are times in the story when you think they are getting what they deserve for the way they behaved...but in the end, you want them to pull out of it and save themselves from Mr. Wood. At the very end, just when you think it's all going to be ok, boo...an abrupt shock at the end and the story is over, leaving the reader wondering how the girls will get out of their predicament...this one reeks of sequel, which I understand there are several of. I give it five stars, this is much better written than some of the other books I've read in the series and for taking something that's already kind of creepy (the dummy) and making it horrific several times over.

Lindy and her sister Kris discover an old dummy in a dumpster walking home one day. The dummy is in perfectly good shape and they can't understand why somebody threw the dummy away. Lindy decides to keep it so she names it Slappy. Lindy tries Slappy out on two of the kids her and Kris babysit. Slappy is an instant success. Kris becomes extremly jealous so Lindy decides to keep him. Lindy and Kris's dad buys Kris a dummy of her own which upsets Lindy causing her to play a mean practical joke on Kris. But soon after Kris gets her dummy, strange things start happening. No way it could be Mr. Wood (Kris' dummy) right?