Events Books

It is wonderful for use as a Bible School teacher.It condenses, stays true to the scriptures and adults as well as children will enjoy it. I use it constantly.Makes a wonderful gift.

It is wonderful for use as a Bible School teacher.It condenses, stays true to the scriptures and adults as well as children will enjoy it. I use it constantly.Makes a wonderful gift.

Words could never express the gratitude that I have that this book was made available to me as a child, for it has brought the most important positive impact that any book has ever had upon my life, enriching it in every area of my life (spiritually, mentially, emotionally, financially) in ways that I could have never imagined.

This is not just another "Children's version of the Bible", but a straight-forward retelling of the chain of ALL historical events (and thus their lessons) of the Biblical record from beginning to end, in all of it's vivid detail. Youths (and men/women of any age) will easily learn here priceless lessons from both the positive and the negative choices and experiences of many well-known people of the past, because all of the events are told, not just the sweet and most beautiful. (The only accounts that are left out are those of a sexual nature.)

If this rating system had 1,000 points, I would unquestionably have to give it 1,000 out of 1,000. Thank You, Thank You, Thank you, Mr. Hurlbut, for this wonderful service rendered to me.

While we were young, our family read a story each evening together. Hearing the book several times gave me an overall picture of God and man's history and relationship. That's a treasure from my family that will never die. Now my children and grandchildren are appreciating the stories and truths that will enrich their spiritual growth and knowledge. Recently I began using it with international women in Bible studies. They find the larger print and simplicity of language a great help. Yet the Bible's message is unchanged. It is something they can share with their children who often pick up English faster than they have.

This is the best book I have ever read by a child advocate. Our system does not do right by abused children. If we don't get our system in better shape all these foster children will be in our prison system. And did you know it cost more to pay for prison than it does college!!

Thanks Gay and keep up the great undying work you do!!!

P.S. Everyone in the GAL office in Putnam County is reading your book and Ashley's

This chronicle of the author's experiences as a Guardian Ad Litem in Florida will alternately enlighten you, frustrate you, inspire you, and make you angry. Much, I would expect, like being a Guardian. Besides giving others a blueprint on "how to help," and serving as an education on some of society's problems that most people wish they could ignore, this book is great reading, chock full of emotionally-involving, often heart-rending stories. Prepare to be engrossed.

As a freshman in college, I stumbled upon this book in the library, and soon after dedicated myself to improving the child welfare system. Courter's account is incredibly inspiring, emphasizing the responsibility we all have to speak up for kids who have been wronged by our systems. I have now been a court appointed special advocate myself, and it is the most heartbreaking (but rewarding!) volunteer experience of my life.

If you're looking for a book that will be difficult to put down, and stories of kids who are difficult to turn your back on, then this book is for you.

I picked up the book by Gay Courter and could not put it down. Inspiring! I can't say enough about it!

This is a novel,to me every word was channeled from Jesus himself it was enlightening and gave me peace and hope. It is the truth that has been lost for so long ,the message is God is here for all of us we don't need anyone to get us to God. He is love we are one with him or her.

All I can say is that book is truly inspired (if not Divinely). It is a beautifully and realistic tale of Jesus' journey and initiation through the mystery schools of the Middle and Far East. Dolores' portrayal of Jesus is human, compassionate and authentic. She did a great job of describing the process through which he may have been prepared to transmit the world's truths. I love that Jesus is educated by life's experience, humble, "average" people, as well as the great teachers of his age. She shows him as he grows in wisdom, knowledge, underatanding and COURAGE!!! WONDEROUS!!!!!

This book is a work of complete love. Delores Pevehouse has captured the person and personality of Yeshua (Jesus) in an unparalleled masterwork. This book is not for Bible literalists, but is for those interested in the totality of who Jesus was and is today. "I, the Christ" chronicles his "lost" years ('tho it's difficult to consider anything about him as being "lost") from age 12 to age 30, describing the world and her people, as he saw and learned from everything and everyone who crossed his path. It is written from the first person, which is breathtaking for the reader and incredibly courageous for the writer. However, it becomes very clear early on that it is He who is the writer; Ms. Pevehouse the channel who prepared herself for His story to come through. Read this and be changed forever.

I, The Christ, is Dolores Pevehouse's first book, and what a treasure it is. She says that the novel came to her in a "burst of inspiration."

The book is presented as a journal written by "Yeshua the Nazarene." He is a student at the School for Initiates and is required to write an account of his life before he can graduate.
He begins when he was twelve years old and traveled to Jerusalem with his parents, Yosef and Miryam, for his bar mitzvah. He then records the details of meeting Rabbi Hillel, the first of his many teachers. He spends the next fourteen years traveling and studying with great teachers from Egypt, Palestine, Persia, India, and Tibet. Along with his travels, Yeshua chronicles his inner journeys, and his unswerving devotion to God.

Finally, when he's twenty-nine years old, he's ready to graduate. Not only has he completed his journal, he's accomplished the one task the other Initiates are afraid to even try--he's raised himself from the dead. The priests honor him with an elaborate ceremony in which he is Christed.

Moments later, they all turn against him and he flees for his life. The reason? When asked to declare his life's work, Yeshua replies, "my chosen mission is to make known to all men all mysteries now separating them from God." He wanted people to have a direct relationship with God, and not have to rely on intermediaries.

Yeshua is, of course, the man we know as Jesus Christ.

"Pevehouse has written a powerful, radically new story of the 'lost years' of Jesus. . .[giving] us a rich portrait of the inner life of Western culture's pivotal figure." Readers will find I, The Christ interesting and informative.

The book is an eye opener for sure. It really puts the war on drugs (the people) in the real world. It's a got to read kind of book, do your self a favor and read it!

Ibogaine, the illegal, boycotted and most effective treatment for addiction known to man. The ibogaine story reveals the behind the scene story of ibogaine and the bogus war on drugs. Ibogaine is a broad spectrum anti-addictive natural substance that has been used for thousands of years by native people. The attempt by the US government and pharmacutical companies to keep it off the market (and information about it from the public) is cruel and criminal. Being safer than asprin and not subject to any abuse potential it does not qualify as a schedule 1 controlled substance with the likes of heroin and cocaine, yet it is so scheduled. Why? Could the government actually want drugs on our streets? Could it be a threat to many billion dollar medications? Read the book for the answers.

The in-depth information on the theoretical/pharmacological actions of addiction (and Ibogaine's role on resetting the mind's regulatory systems) alone should be enough of a motivation to buy this book. OK, the story line gets a bit muddled here and there - as the authors weave many independent threads into this contemporary account of growing public awareness of the importance of Ibogaine - but don't let this stop you from reading this book. The research covered by this presentation is about as exciting as REAL science gets. After all, scientific discovery is truly a human drama.

Since the overt suppression of research on "psychedelic" (mind-manifesting) drugs, few animal studies - and far fewer human studies (almost none) - have been authorized by the FDA. This book clearly emphasizes the importance of on-going research based in these important chemicals.

Anyone truly interested in the mechanisms of human consciousness and behavior should absolutely read this seminal work. Our potential as individuals (and by extension as a race) is eternally tied to our ability to understand (and ultimately control) the mechanisms governing individual consciousness. As this book clearly illustrates, addiction is a malfunction of the biomechanics of consciousness - as well as the result of bad decisions. Yet, it appears that it may take more than self-help programs to permanently reverse the damage done. When it comes to curing individuals - and by extension society - of addictive behavior, Ibogaine appears to be just the tool we need to tackle this problem at the source.

I might append "The Ibogaine Story" with this epilogue. The maintenance of our own bodies is an individual responsibility. Learning to do so intelligently is nothing less than a primordial right. Put another way, "big brother" has no authority inside the soul's temple. When it comes to the eternal "war on tyranny," if information is power, than THIS BOOK IS A WEAPON OF MASS ENLIGHTENMENT.

The topics of ibogaine and the drug war in America are covered nicely in this book, with an emphasis on historical perspective and cultural insights. This is an important book, but it is also somewhat confused in its overall presentation. By that statement, I mean that it goes so deeply into the topic that it begins to confuse the average reader. This book is a must have however, for anyone interested in the current politics and background of ibogaine.

This book is an invaluable source for a wide range of progressive ideas. The writting is very clear and lucid, never getting bogged down in semantics or pomp. It was as if you are listening to a teacher who is genuinely interested in giving you all the theoretical tools you might need to get up and take action. A lot of topics are covered dealing with capitalism, racism, sexism, environmentalism, alternative economic/politcal systems, and role of the media, just to name a few. In the process, a variety of writers and thinkers from different epochs and regions are quoted and discussed. Overall, I think that this is an excellent introductory text for those seeking to conceive what a better society should look like.

This text arrived to me as described, in new condition with no markings. Shipping was fast.

Cynthia Kaufman's IDEAS FOR ACTION is a sophisticated but highly readable analyis of key political issues and ideas. Drawing on a wide range of historical sources, Ms. Kaufman cuts through theoretical abstractions with intelligence and grace. Her real-life examples make complex issues concrete. Far more valuable than the superficial, ahistorical commentary of most television and print journalism, this book is a delight to read and an inspiration for social action.

What a book! Ideas for Action is probably the best book I've read this decade; it's a precious instrument of serious activists. As an activist, I see myself as a practitioner more than an academian. And usually I find no time, no interest and no pleasure reading theoretical books. I usually find them to be too much at a distance from the real world, from reality. It's the famous between the position on a podium and the people down there in the room to whom one is giving a lecture; this book is not imposing that distance. This book is purposely written in solidarity for a better society. It is the work of an academian who also happens to be a practitioner. Ms. Kaufman released Ideas with the " . . . hopes that you will find some way to use it in your work. I wrote the book to help people new to radical politics to gain some orientations to radical thought and history, and to encourage a deepening to reflection on the part of experienced social justice activists." And let me tell you, her hopes are bearing fruit.

I definitely recommend Cynthia Kaufman's Ideas for Action : Relevant Theory for Radical Change.

I'd particularly recommend it to anyone interested in activism or progressive politics. The book is designed as a way for activists to get a grasp of a broad range of progressive topics quickly and coherently, and it's a clear description of globalization, capitalism, racism, sexism, Gramsci, activism. But in the process, she writing the clearest statement of left activists beliefs I've seen. More experienced activists and intellectuals are likely to get a nice "aha" moment as they recognize ideas they use, but hadn't related to each other, presented concisely and convincingly. She also does a great job of presenting the diversity of progressive positions and beliefs without partisanship that would prevent a reader from taking their own sides. Useful in a bunch of ways.

This is one book where you must read the introduction. and then when you read the book you find out thatthe book can be interpreted in at least one other way. i think everybody would take out something different but that would always be refreshing. i could not stop myself from saying 'aha' at many places. still, i think he sometimes is contradicting himself. he thinks that socialism and liberalism can go together. maybe he is right. i dont think so.

Russell became famous as a mathematician and philosopher.

But when he won the Nobel Prize, it was for Literature. When you read this book of essays, you will see why.

It is beautifully written and has all of Russell's virtues: clarity, wit, humor, forcefulness, simplicity.

Even better, it is a brief education in itself. Most of the essays were written just as the Great Depression was beginning, and Russell gets right to the heart of a problem Capitalists and Socialists do not usually address: How much work is needed, and what is the ultimate point? He constantly stresses that we do too much work, and most of it is unneeded, and makes life grim. He never ceases to remind us that we should work to live, not live to work.

He addresses this point in many ways--through economics, through architecture, through the then-raging problems of Fascism and Communism. And though he treats serious problems seriously, he always has time for the breathtaking perspective and the ligtht touch--as with the essay, "Man Versus Insects."

A wonderful, even life-changing book.

Written by a very advanced thinker, this book represents a shattering statement against the Christian petit-burgois morality of work, a true revolution and evolution in man's thinking.

+++++

Controversial philosopher and Nobel Prize winner Lord Bertrand Russell (1872-1970) has written fifteen scintillating essays on which to whet our intellectual appetites. These short essays were written between 1925 and 1935.

Russell writes in an elegant, readable, and understandable style. His arguments are well thought out.

These essays consider social questions not discussed in politics. The general theme that ties these essays together is that the world suffers from dogmatism and narrowness; what is needed is the willingness to question dogma.

These essays are a blend of philosophy with other disciplines such as psychology, economics, science, and history. All the essays are brutally honest and forthright. Each is packed with loads of wisdom. What's amazing is that these essays are as current today as when they were first written and their messages will probably remain relevant in the future.

My five favorite essays in this collection include the following:

(1) "In Praise of Idleness." Discusses work and the importance of leisure. In order to get an idea of Russell's insight that permeates this book, here's a sample sentence from this essay: "The morality of work is the morality of slaves, and the modern world has no need of slavery."

(2) "'Useless' Knowledge." Points out that all knowledge is useful not only that which has a practical value.

(3) "The Case for Socialism." Russell gives many arguments in favor of socialism, most notably the need for preventing war.

(4) "Western Civilization." Discusses its characteristics. Sample sentence: "I cannot escape from the conclusion that the great ages of progress have depended upon a small number of individuals of transcendent utility."

(5) "Education and Discipline." Sample sentence: "Education...must be something more positive than mere opportunity for growth...it must...also provide a mental and moral equipment [for] children."

In conclusion, this book is Bertrand Russell at his best. Enjoy!

+++++

I think most people's reaction to a 500 page book would be one of caution, myself included. It has nothing to do with the content, I just know it will take a while for me to get through that many pages.

That being said, this collection of Nader essays is a 500 page book, but it's been a joy reading it because of the organization of the book. Broken down into smaller chapters, the book is full of very short, but well-written essays usually no longer than two pages. It's very easy to read a few at a time, and then come back to the book later. I actually find myself reading this book faster than I would other books of the same length. Each piece is so short I usually end up telling myself, "I'll just read a few more." In the end, it makes the book easier to read.

As far as content goes, the book is great. I think if you're a genuinelly progressive person, you'll still like Nader even though the Democrats have tried to scapegoat him rather than admit their own problems as a party. This country needs people like Nader to remind us that we don't have to settle for what we have, that things can and should be better. This book sends that message loud and clear.

Deeply intelligent, in breadth and depth, these articles by Mr. Nader, who has given everything for just causes over nearly half a century, make eloquent, and plain, what so many others believe and either can't, or won't, say.

The October 23rd "review" pretty much sums up why John Kerry and his hysterical Anybody-But-Bush supporters were shellacked this week, while everything Ralph Nader said during the campaign was proved correct. Ignore the subject at hand, be hysterical and irrational, and wave empty slogans ("A vote for Nader is a vote for Bush" -- what does that mean? In Wyoming, where Kerry lost by over 20 points? In D.C., where Bush lost by over EIGHTY points? My vote would never have gone to Kerry under any circumstances....how was my vote for Nader a vote for Bush?)

Meanwhile, Ralph Nader continues on without a break and will now focus on the ridiculous ballot access laws in this country, as well as the subjects touched on in this book. What he "has done for us lately" is to start one new organization after another from 2000 to 2004, advocate on behalf of the District of Columbia's pathetic public library system - left to rot by the D.C. Democratic Party, which has done nothing for anybody in decades - and highlight solutions to other issues that are working right now in localities around the country. Read what he has to say in this book and climb on board. Roll up your sleeves and put up or shut up, Democrats.

A must read for anyone interested in how our government operates. There is a bit of repetition but a lot of good information and contacts for further research.

Excellent series of interviews with still pertinent movers and shakers in the realm of spiritual activism. Incredibly inspiring. Very very relevant for today, though written in the late 80's.

This book will inspire you to begin making the changes in the world that you desire to see. It includes inspirational and down to earth interviews with some of the greatest activists that ever lived. Always remember change is possible if we take action and pursue it with love. Highly recommended.

Now in a newly revised edition enhanced with a new foreword by Arun Gandhi, and featuring interviews with Mubarak Awad, Ram Dass, Thich Nhat Hanh, Cesar Chavez, H.H. The Dalai Lama, Desmond Tutu, Joan Baez, and others, In The Footsteps Of Gandhi: Conversations With Spiritual Social Activists is a collection of deeply contemplative and insightful essays written by a diverse roster of contemporary spiritual and social activists. Touching on an impressive array of modern social issues ranging from AIDS, to apartheid, to the Israel/Palestine conflict, and more, this seminal tribute to the power of (and desperate need for) nonviolence is emotionally moving, morally relevant, and enthusiastically recommended reading for anyone concerned with how best to address the rampant social issues of our time.

Catherine Ingram's beautifully constructed book presents interviews of spiritual social activists that serve both as a historical record and, in our current world climate, an inspiring reminder that it is important to take action in line with our beliefs and principles, and that the word "spiritual" can include engaging oneself in crucial social and political issues that affect us all.

In 1947, Hanson Baldwin, the military correspondent for The New York Times asked whether the United States could "prepare for the next, truly total war...without becoming a `garrison state.'" According to Princeton Professor Aaron Friedberg, by the middle of the 20th, "the imminent threat of war produced pressures for the permanent construction of a powerful central state." Friedberg argues, however, that the size and scope of the federal government was held in check during the Cold War by a tradition and ideology of anti-statism. Although this book merely synthesizes previously- published works, it effectively argues that the apparatus of the American state grew less during the Cold War than might have been have been expected.

Friedberg examines "five main mechanisms of power creation: those intended to extract money and manpower and those designed to direct national resources toward arms production, military research, and defense-supporting industries." Friedberg explains: "In the span of only two decades the United States was engulfed in three waves of crisis as depression, world war, and cold war followed each other in rapid succession. The onset of each emergency produced a powerful impetus toward state-building." The early-Cold War debate about defense spending demonstrates Friedberg's point. He writes that "the American people wanted a state that was strong enough to defend them against their foreign enemies but not strong enough to threaten their domestic liberties," defending the country was expensive. In 1949, when President Truman wanted to hold defense spending for the next fiscal year, to $14.4 billion, the Secretary of Defense instructed the service chiefs to base their estimates "on military considerations alone," which resulted in a "wish list with a staggering $30 billion price tag." Truman's final budget message estimated the annual cost of sustaining his planned long-term force posture to be $35 to $40 billion. According to Friedberg, President Eisenhower's "commitment to holding down defense spending was a logical outgrowth of his essentially anti-statist philosophy of political economy," and, in June 1954, he warned that a massive new buildup would involving transformation of the United States into "a garrison state." In 1960, John Kennedy asserted that Eisenhower's "excessive attention to the budget" had "resulted in a serious weakening of the nation's defenses." Compulsory military service also generated intense debate. Senator Robert Taft warned that the adoption of universal military training would transform the United States into a "militaristic and totalitarian country." According to Friedberg, "the strongest and most consistent congressional opposition to came from the Republican party, and in particular from its conservative midwestern wing. It was in this part of the country that principled anticompulsion arguments struck their most responsive chord." According to Friedberg: "The widespread animosity to statism that characterized the early post-war period...played a critical role in blocking the creation of new, powerful governmental industrial planning institutions." Friedberg explains: "Even in the face of an enemy, and to a remarkable degree even in wartime, the American system has proven itself to be highly resistant to centralized industrial planning." Friedberg writes: "[T]he push for privatization, and the ideological language in which it was couched, also raised troubling questions about the legitimacy of the military's large-scale industrial activities, even those with long traditions. In the context of a worldwide contest with communism, private ownership of the means of production came to be regarded...as morally superior to any alternative form of economic organization." According to Friedberg: "The postwar privatization of American arms production was the end result of a protracted process of debate and political struggle...At the most general ideological level the burgeoning anti-statist sentiments in the 1940s and 1950s tended to strengthen the hands of the privatizers and to discredit those who advocated anything that savored of socialism." In discussing the structure of the U.S. research and development system and its performance during the Cold War, Friedberg asserts that the "large, open, and loose-limbed American system was well suited for promoting innovation, and it tended over time to outperform its more rigid, closed, and hierarchical Soviet counterpart." According to Friedberg: "[F]or nearly a half century, the pursuit of qualitative superiority [in military technology] was a central, persistent feature of the entire American defense effort." Friedberg explains: "Before the Second World War had ended and the Cold war began, senior American scientists and top military planners were already agreed that the preservation of a `preeminent position' in weapons technology must be a central goal of peacetime defense policy." "The clear emergence of the Soviet Union as the most likely enemy in any future war added urgency and a clear focus to the discussion of the role of technology in American strategy." Friedberg reports: "`Atomic weapons used tactically are the natural armaments of numerically inferior but technologically superior nations,' declared one congressional enthusiast in 1951." He explains: "The Eisenhower administration elevated the substitution of firepower for manpower to the position of key organizing principle of national strategy. Atomic and thermonuclear weapons of every conceivable yield were...at the heart of Western defenses;" and "For the West, by the mid-1950s, preserving technological supremacy had become even more essential and urgent than it had appeared only a few years before." According to Friedberg: "Critics and enthusiasts alike agree that the American research and development system was highly productive of technological advances, that it tended over time to outpace its Soviet counterpart, and that the superior performance of the American system was connected in some way to its structure."

Was there ever a real likelihood that Cold War America would turn into a "garrison state?" The clear answer is: No. References to the garrison state were rhetorical devices used most often by congressional opponents of the concentration of power in the executive branch in Washington, D.C. But Friedberg is absolutely correct that anti- statist rhetoric had powerful antecedents in American history and, therefore, resonated deeply with the public. The specter of creating a garrison state was ominous, even when it was intentionally exaggerated.

Friedberg has written the best book on international relations since John Gaddis' "Strategies of Containment". Like Gaddis, Friedberg is one of a handful of authors who possess a sophisticated knowledge of both American diplomatic history and modern theories of international relations.

With the aid of his groundbreaking archival research, Friedberg shatters existing paradigms by showing that American culture played a leading, perhaps dominant role in the forging of the United States' Cold War grand strategy.

Friedberg's book is indispensable reading for every scholar and student of international relations. It is a classic that will be read and reread for generations.

Harold Lasswell developed the idea of the garrison state in the late 1930s and early 1940s. He proposed that "under conditions of continual crisis and perpetual preparedness for total war, every aspect of life would eventually come under state control." In 1947, Hanson Baldwin, the military correspondent for The New York Times asked whether the United States could "prepare for the next, truly total war...without becoming a garrison state." George Orwell popularized the notion with his 1949 release of 1984, a harrowing view of totalitarian control by the garrison state. To a large extent, these arguments fuel Aaron Friedberger's premise that "war and the threat of war required the creation of military power, and, over time, the creation of military power led to the construction of strong, modern states." (3)

From this premise Friedberg contends that the growth of the American state was held in check during the Cold War by a tradition and ideology of anti-statism. The Cold War produced pressures for the permanent construction of a powerful central state. "In the American case," Friedberg argues, "these pressures came comparatively late in the process of political development... they were met and, to a degree, counterbalanced, by the strong anti-statist influences that were deeply rooted in the circumstances of the nation's founding. (3-4) Friedberg identifies the mechanisms for state growth between 1945 and 1960 as "the product of a collision between these two sets of conflicting forces." (4) He effectively demonstrates that the apparatus of the American state grew less during the early years of the Cold War than might have been have been expected.

Friedberg examines "five main mechanisms of power creation: those intended to extract money and manpower and those designed to direct national resources toward arms production, military research, and defense-supporting industries." (5) In each of these areas he finds anti-statist influences holding state-building in check. "Mounting popular and congressional resistance to taxes and controls compelled the Truman administration to lower its sights and to accept the necessity of a slower and, in the end, smaller military buildup." (121) Friedberg concludes "Eisenhower's commitment to holding down defense spending was a logical outgrowth of his essentially anti-statist philosophy of political economy." (127) Friedberg finds that "in the absence of sustained public opposition, the pressures for universal military training would probably have proved overwhelming," except that it raised doubts over legitimacy. (167) Like the rejection of universal military training, Friedberg also identifies the demise of centralized defense industrialization policy as "at least as much a product of domestic anti-statist influences" as a "logical, inevitable response to the advent of nuclear weapons." (199) Anti-statist influence not only resisted centralized planning and industrial dispersal, but it also strengthened the hand of privatizers, discrediting "those who advocated anything that savored of socialism." (247) Finally, Friedberg maintains that "each of the essential structural characteristics of the American Cold War research and development system was strongly influenced by ideological considerations and by the workings of American domestic political institutions [both identified as anti-statist forces]." (296) Friedberg identifies the strengthening of civilian rule in the Department of Defense, resistance to centralization, heavy reliance on private contracting and government sponsorship of domestic vice purely military technology as anti-statist influences that reduced the size, scope and effect of America's garrison state. With remarkable clarity Friedberg is able to conclude that domestic constraints on state expansion--including those stemming from mean self-interest as well as those guided by a principled belief in the virtues of limiting federal power--protected economic vitality, technological superiority, and public support for Cold War activities. He identifies the strategic synthesis that emerged by the early 1960s from this collision between anti-statist ideology and security imperative as functional and stable; it enabled the United States to deter, contain, and ultimately outlive the Soviet Union precisely because the American state did not limit political, personal, and economic freedom.

Friedberg is not a historian, and at times his lack of attention to culture, race, gender and class make this abundantly clear. Several broad assertions, while supported in the text, lack specificity. For example, Friedberg describes American business's post-war ideology in their own simplistic terms, "Free enterprise was good; too much government was not only bad for the economy, it was a profound threat to traditional American liberties," (50) without putting those statements in an anti-New Deal context.

In Friedberg's well documented 351-page text synthesis, one sees Samuel Huntington's influence (The Soldier and the State, 1957). Friedberg provides a nice tonic for Huntington's pessimism and places the entire civil-military, liberal-statist conflict in perspective. He takes a much more positive view of American liberalism's retardation of military professionalism and other state influences. Essentially agreeing with Huntington, Friedberg comes to a different conclusion: that this was not a bad thing. Of course, Friedberg has the luxury of viewing the Cold War from its successful conclusion whereas Huntington contemplated its ominous beginnings. Because it gives us insight into our current reaction to September 11, 2001, and hope that militaristic trends as expressed in the current war in Iraq will not leave permanent scars on the American state, In the Shadow of the Garrison State deserves attention at all levels in the collegiate setting.

For those interested in the dynamics and interplay of domestic and national security issues, this book is fantastic. Friedberg frames and then details key power transforming institutions and elements such arms, technology, supporting industrial complex, money and manpower, and how they formed the basis of both a powerful deterrence and a relative stable, non-garrison state that excelled economically.

Not a book for all readers, but for those pundits and novices of national security or Cold War history, this is a must have book. Sure to become required reading for top notice public policy and political science departments in leading universities.

This is an interesting read that makes astute observations about the effect of American marketing. Statistics and studies are cited, though some observations are more empirical in nature. The book becomes even more engaging when the author adds some personal stories.

It's a short book and a quick read. The content is suitable for laymen who want a new perspective of how America approaches marketing versus other countries in the world.

This book captures the sentiment of non-Americans worldwide. It's great that Johansson discusses both sides (that of American Companies, George W. Bush, Ad agencies, AND that of consumers around the world). It's time to discover better marketing techniques, methods that are not as In Your Face.

An old MBA buddy of mine Fedexed me a copy of this book (he and I were disgruntled grad students, disappointed in the way American firms seemed to have culturally insensitive ways of marketing). After our MBA several years ago, we were indoctrinated with the mantra "shareholder wealth!". We sadly cling to this idealogy to this day (food on the table anyone?). He's now in marketing, while I am in Finance/Public Policy.

I opened the FedexPak and lauged at the cover of the book (very in your face indeed). I was happy that it didn't read like a textbook, it reads like a long conversation with the author. Johansson has strong (sometimes biased) solid opinions about the state of marketing around the world, linking what was never obviously linkable: Marketing, Anti-Americanism, and Globalization. He makes you realize that we (as individual consumers) are forever surrounded by marketing media (and it's true!) and we take for granted our ability to "control" the marketing that we receive. After telling us that Marketing is no longer the friendly innocent shopping helper that we believe it to be, he shows us why American-style Marketing indirectly fuels other countries' hatred of Americans. It's not just about oil, or weapons, or Christianity. It's about Marketing. Sad but true again.

This is a very timely book. Be careful though, once you read this you'll develop a healthy level of paranoia everytime you see an advertisement, hear a jingle, or watch a commercial. You'll ask yourself, what are they really selling?

J. Johansson's introspective look at the state of marketing and the cultural sprawl it is causing throughout the world is a worthwhile read. The arrogance of American marketers, illustrated by the Bush administration, has caused havoc for humans throughout the world. Marketers such as Nike and McDonald's have taken advantage of globalization and free trade with standardizations they perceive as efficient while the of the world perceives them as imperialistic. Their assumptions on the desires and wants are falsely measured - leading to increasing resentment towards the nation which harbors and promotes capitalism.

My favorite sections of the book are Johnansson's own personal experiences growing up in the States - how he has seen the country change from what it was in the sixties, how his MBA students really don't leave understanding global marketing, how marketing practices lead to greater social inequalities and homogenized, stale thoughts. The lowest common denominator has been created by brand strategists. He provides an interesting comparison of the practices in Europe and Japan vs. American and relates it back to much of the recent WTO protests.

This is the perfect follow-up to Naomi Klein's No Logo. Towards the end of the book, Johansson provides a way out and shows us that there is a light at the end of the tunnel. I suppose the results of this November's election is tied to whether we reach that point.