F Books

I thought that the book was very insightful from the centurions point of view. I felt moved at time. I thoroughly enjoyed it and would recommend this book to all! Thank you.

We have probably all tried to imagine the crucifixion as experienced by Christ Himself. But have we stopped to think about others who were present, and what they thought and felt? A Witness at the Cross brings to life characters from the Bible and helps us understand what they saw and heard as Jesus died. The centurion who oversaw His execution becomes a real human being to us, a man who is able to question his own beliefs. This book has a lesson for everyone- from a child who may only have begun to learn the story of Jesus Christ, to an adult who has read the Bible many times. I am sure that all will enjoy it.

I really enjoyed the different perspective on the execution of Christ. The format provoked introspective thought on how I would have reacted in the narrator's position, which helped to personalize Christ's sacrifice. I strongly recommend the book.

Though i have only read the sample chapter of this book, i must be forthcomming in my feelings and say that it has captured my heart. Though i am a believer in Christ, i now fight back tears for the imaging, of the authors, that has truely struck home. I pray that all who read the sample chapter find it as compelling as i have. God bless us and praise Jesus for all eternity.

I found "A Witness at the Cross" to be a captivating story of the possible events in the life of a certain Roman Centurion mentioned only briefly in the New Testament. The story is narrated by the centurion in first person, which I think contributed prominently to the way I began to identify with the main character early on in the book. I felt as if I were there in person watching the events of the story unfold as I heard them described through the eyes of the centurion.

The further into the story I read, the more anticipation I experienced and I just could not put the book down. As I reached the end of a chapter, I felt I just had to keep reading to see what was going to happen next. I think in this way the author does an effective job of conveying the thoughts and feelings of the centurion, drawing the reader to become fully immersed in the story.

I like the way the story is fictional, but based on actual events recorded in the Bible. It added greater dimensional and detail to a man whose life was deeply and lastingly altered by the brief but powerful influence of the Savior of mankind. It also effectively illustrated one of the great principles of Christianity - that anyone, no matter how self-absorbed or hardened, is capable of being humbled by the powerful testimony that Jesus is the Christ.

"You have a hit! I've read a lot of motivation books and Position To Receive is going impact lives!" - Sanford

"This book is awesome! I love it! Now the bread that you've cast on life's waters is about to return!" - Jessie

"Great Book! This book is so good I couldn't put it down once I started reading. I can honestly say, you made me think of every day things in a different way, THINK BIG!!" - Gina

"It was awesome! If people would take the time to read this book, they would be very blessed!" - Sonny

"A book so simple everyone can understand, even the most intelligent can appreciate it!" - Jessie

"PTR should be a part of everyone's home library, whether an entrepreneur or not. You give such value to everyday things we take for granted!" - Ronnie

"PTR definitely change my thinking and the information has enhanced the journey of my business and Christian life. I really enjoyed it and can't wait for Position To Receive Too!" - Rochelle

"This book will be a blessing to your life and your library! If you follow Michael Matthews' blueprint, no matter what your field is in business and in life I promise you just like me, you will be in Position To Receive great things from God!" - Lebron

If you really want to learn to be a wizard like Harry or Hermione - this unique "how-to" book is a must. It is for the seekers of the wisdom of the wizard. You will actual learn with this step-by-step extraordinary easy to grasp,well-structured, thought provoking book. There is a tremendous amount of vital information here that teaches you how unlock your own power and apply it to your own life. The spellbinding methods found in this book will take you on a journey beyond your wildest dreams by awakening the wizard in you.

I just love it and gave it to my son to read and to use as a tool in his everyday life.

Although I didn't realize it when I ordered it, this book is aimed at young people, that is, approx. 5th grade through high school. I caught on when she used the phrase, "Ask your mom..." Still, it's a great book for anyone who's interested in learning how to have some control over what we manifest in our lives. It's sensible, wise, and very sound spiritual advice, not just tricks. I'd recommend it to anyone.

Wizardry 101 is for everyone and anyone who has had any curiosity about the occult and spirituality. The author is contagiously passionate about sharing her wealth of information. I have finally found a complete resource that answers all my questions in one book.

While this book opens ones mind to the ancient arts of transformation, it also modernizes the subject in a way that one can use this wisdom in everyday life. Ms. Abbamonte gives a perplexing subject a simplicity that redefines its use as a oneness with the universe. This book should be in everyone's library who lives outside the lines and who wants to find one's inner spiritual self.

In his book: Y2K: You Can Burn This Book!, Tom Potter has done an excellent job covering the basic elements all our communities should consider as the Year 2000 approaches. We've all spent many months and considerable resources reconfiguring our hardware and software so they will continue to support our businesses - now we need to look at our personal preparedness efforts and those of our employees. Potter devotes a chapter to each area of fundamental needs (water, heat, power, food, etc), explaining where disruptions might occur and then providing suggestions for different levels of planning. For a detailed resource that follows up on topics mentioned in many preparedness primers, this is just the book you need. ---Deben Tobias, Board of Directors; Business for Social Responsibility

Tom Potter's Y2K: You Can Burn This Book! is an excellent resource for anybody concerned with disaster preparedness. With an emphasis on personal and household preparation, he sets a positive but proactive tone for pursuing these preparation activities. Using his expertise in industrial energy use, he discusses the scope of neighborhood preparation that Boulder > is also concerned about, and offers a broad range of solutions. Potter's book is a great resource for taking that first step toward being informed - and ultimately being prepared. He's also been an excellent speaking resource for Boulder County Y2K meetings. > --K. Garcia, Community Coordinator, Boulder County Y2K Preparedness Group >

This book is thought provoking and droll. Ice storms and blizzards here in Canada make emergency preparations useful for everyone. Most of the information so delightfully presented here is of use in any of those situations. This book will be valuable even after the Y2k has passed.

I've read a bunch of these now and this one is easy to read and understand. I'm trying to get my church group to use it, becuase it would be good for helping people in the local area when things get rough. Bunch of lists and its funny too!

I wish it would have had more stuff on where to buy food and things. But he has it on a website, I guess.

Unlike some of the other Y2K books I looked at, this one offers a reasonable approach to personal, family, and community preparedness. In some ways, it's unfortunate that it's linked to Y2K, because it is such a useful preparedness book. Living in earthquake country, I can really appreciate the author's checklists, worksheets, and insights on how to calculate how much water, food, and energy a family will need to ride out any crisis. Also, the very optimistic outlook and focus on non-violent responses to crises was a unique approach, given many of the other guides that seem focused on seige mentality. I would definitely recommend this book to anybody who lives in an area that is subject to earthquakes, floods, blizzards, hurricanes, tornadoes, or any other possible disasters, including Y2K.

this book smashes the Warren report into a million peices in an unbiased way based upon facts logic and evidence.Mrs.Meagher proves that Oswald was innocent and that the warren report was a sham!she examines and dismantles every so called evidence the report had on oswald!!Oswald was innocent we the people are his defense counsel!this book has to be reprinted get it out there!!highly recommended!

Ms. Meagher's book is well documented, insightful and detailed. She skillfully takes the reader through discrepancies in the Warren Commission report and lays it all out for the reader. Her conclusions are based on facts that are very clearly presented, and on common sense. At no time did I get the impression that this book was attempting to influence my views on the work of the Warren Commission. Ms. Meagher spells it out for the reader step by step.

Reading this book makes you wonder how many police departments and courts actually did what they were supposed to back in the 1960s, and how they're doing today. Ms Meagher does an excellent job breaking down the Warren Commission's report and demonstrating that their synopsis of events is based on multiple errors, misstatements, and wishful thinking. Having come out before most of the "conspiracy theory" genere that surrounds JFK assassinations tories today, Ms. Meaghers book stands above all of them. She refuses to let her book wander into sensationalism, does not implicate UFO's or any such things, nor does she mix in photos which claim to show the truth but are often blurry, grainy or totally unrevealing to the lay reader. Instead, she stays on target, picking apart the Warren Commission's flawed analysis with nimble wit and skill.

Of all the books about the JFK assassination, why is ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT out of print? If you want to read books on how the Norweigian mob hired hitmen from the Planet Glixorg and had the assassination covered up by their media insider, Soupy Sales, there are dozens of books. But the one book to take a serious look at the Warren Commission's Report, to pick apart its inaccuracies, and to analyze its contradictions, is becoming harder and harder to find. Even Gerald Posner, in his tantrum, CASE CLOSED, could not lay a finger on the late Sylvia Meagher's masterwork. Why? Because it is a precise, unimpassioned, and brilliant piece of exploratory surgery on a very sick Warren Report. This book proves the Commission had a single purpose, and finding the truth was not that purpose. The lack of access to Sylvia Meagher's ACCESSORIES AFTER THE FACT is, to me, a tragic mistake and possible proof of a continuing cover-up.

Back in the early 70s I worked on Capitol Hill as a legislative aide on a Senate Commitee trying to reopen the Kennedy assassination or generate support for a House investigation. This was in the post-Garrison era and the credibility of anyone challenging the Warren Commission was suspect. (We now know that many of Garrison's failings were due to sabotage, but back then he was still radioactive to Senators, Representatives, and their staffs.)

Anyway, after all the backlash following the Clay Shaw acquittal it was still a tough sell, and the typical Congressman would give you no more than 5-10 minutes time to make your case, so we needed a one or two page list of powerful bullet points demonstrating that Oswald could not have acted alone, if he acted at all, and showing that the Warren investigation was compromised by the FBI and the CIA. These were serious allegations, so each
point had to be backed up by solid proof.

At the time, there were 5-6 serious books damning the Warren Commision Report: Inquest, by Edward J Epstein; Rush to Judgment by Mark Lane; Six Seconds in Dallas by Josiah Thompson; Whitewash by Harold Weisberg; and They've Killed the President by Robert Sam Anson.

In creating that fact sheet, no book was more carefully documented than Accessories after the Fact, and no book was more comprehensive and meticulous.

When we had to source each bullet point Meagher's book did the best job in directing us to the proof.

I left the Hill in 76--before the HSCA was created, and it has always bitter disappointment to me how its own work appears to ha ve been sabotaged, not unlike what happend to Garrison.

In the years since I have retained a keen interest in this topic, and at last count have read over 40 books. Meagher's book still remains one of the two or three best books written about JFK's death. In fact I consider it one of the best forensic investigation reports I have ever read in 25 years of practicing civil rights litigation.

If you have had analysis with Rudin, this book is very weird - no metric spaces, no convergence theorems to speak of, no series - but it does have some very interesting stuff. Buck's explanation of things like open sets, the double integral, the Fundamental Theorem of Calculus are really interesting. If you have the spare change, buy this and really look at it - even better - check it out from the library.

The book under review is an easily accessible introduction to Advanced Calculus for those at the upper undergraduate level. As a student, I found it to be a successful mix of rigor and insight, a particularly valuable quality considering the fact that the subject is oftentimes the pons asinorum to abstract reasonings and proofs for most students of mathematics.

The book begins with a relatively "rigorous" refresher on the concepts of sets, functions, and graphs; later on a bunch of so-called field axioms are thrown in, but the author didn't treat these "basic concepts" extensively as interesting subjects in their own right. Some topological concepts are introduced next, then sequence, continuity, and differentiation; in that order. Up to the last item, the semester course was concluded. Notice that this was only page 125 of a 600 page book, hence my inability to comment on subsequent chapters following that elementary discussion of differentiation.

Pictures appropriate to the particular discussion are available; whenever possible the author attempted to provide a more intuitive understanding of a deep mathematical idea by discussing an example from the real world or through a physical interpretation.

The exercises vary in difficulty, but some are particularly hard that a solution manual would be very much welcomed. The hints and answers in the back are too brief to be of much use in demystifying those seemingly mysterious and unmotivated tricks needed in particular solution.

The author encourages the readers to employ any tool of elementary calculus learned earlier, an understandable choice since it was actually his decision not to introduce an axiomatic development of the subject that would compel the readers to deduce a solution to a problem from "scratch".

I would highly recommend the book, even for self-study to the mathematical enthusiasts. Those who desire a not-too-formidable introduction to real analysis may find this classic enjoyable.

This book provides a very readable and insightful account of the material that is usually covered in two semesters of advanced undergraduate courses usually called "Advanced Calculus" or "Real Analysis." Explanations are clear and concepts are well motivated. The problem sets are well-selected, and are do-able after reading the relevant chapters. This book is highly recommended for engineers or scientists wishing to gain a deeper understanding of mathematics, and for math majors preparing for graduate study in real analysis. It is a great book.

The book was excellent, starting with the basics of sets and topology and build quickly to the traditional subjects of calculus. I particularly enjoyed the way the author was able to draw attention to the key ideas that come up again and again, the mean value theorem for example. I have never seen a better view of the foundation of calculus, and this book is never leaving my shelf.

This book is extremely well written and comprehensive. It is appropriately approaches the subject and addresses the audience (primarily undergraduates) in an elegant manner with a fair amount of challenging problems, though never overestimates the reader's previous knowledge or background. Time and time again, I've found myself digging back in this book finding more depth and content through each pass. This is by far the best Advance Calculus book I've come across for undergraduates.

For every case am presented with, I use this book to prepare my 20-page OR report. Am learning a lot from it. Because of it my grades are high.

Buy this book if you want to learn the surgical process. It sets the standard for surgical textbooks.

I own this book from school. It is a must for any student of surgery or nursing. It contains information vital to the understanding of the patient and the process of surgery and recovery.

Many years ago I bougt this book. Now I have a new version. This book is very helpful to me. I would recomend it for everybody who work in operating room.

This book really helped me though out my preceptorship in the operating room. I was thrown in to this unit as a nursing student. the facility had never taken on senior nursing students in a long term segment (7 weeks) and didn't have any idea what to teach me or what to do with me. My preceptor handed me this book and by the end i was able to circulate and scrub on minor cases with complete confidence in what i was doing. it is concise in some areas, and detailed where it needs to be, gives great explinations and rationals. the only problem i found was the different tools. The west coast and the east coast have different names for the instruments, and the ones named in the book are more consistant with the names in the west. but other than that. love love loved it

If you buy this book because the title might indicate it is an overall look at the banjo, its playing, its musics, and its place in society, that is not what this book is or pretends to be.

This is a history of the physical development of the banjo and its construction and manufacture during the 19th Century. There are some small references to the different musics the instrument was used for, but not many. There is elaborate and detailed discussion of the main lines of construction of the banjos during this period. The authors also write well and thoroughly about the business dynamics of the chief producers
of the banjo during the 19th Century.

While this book is obviously the work of two of leading banjo collectors in the world and of interest to banjoists and instrument makers of all kinds, it is an important picture of America social and economic history as well. Someone interested in the rise and development of capitalist industry, fetishism of "the finer things in life" by the middle class, and how culture wars were waged in the 19th Century would profit from reading this book.

For the artistically inclined there are a number of beautiful plates of 19th Century Banjos as works of art. It is clear that the authors priviledge the decoration and physical beauty of the instruments as much as they do the instruments "playability."

This work is great in itself. I found it very readable and believe someone who did not know much about banjos would also find this readable.

If you are interested in the social and cultural history of the instrument to the present day, what you need is
That Half-Barbaric Twang: The Banjo in American Popular Culture Culture by Karen Linn.

If you are interested in the African origin of the instrument, its development from African playing styles, as well as the roots of contemporary "frailing" and clawhammer and much else about the musical tradition of the banjo, especially as used in traditional folk music try African Banjo Echoes in Appalachia: A Study of Folk Traditions by Cecelia Conway. Both books are available here on Amazon

At last, another important book has emerged to stand with the few other necessary references on early American 5-string banjos.

Unlike the two fine Tsumura books which are primarily photographic essays of considerable magnitude, Gura and Bollman's treatise combines a highly readable and informed history with a remarkable collection of rare antique photographs and ephemera plus 4 lengthy sections of recent photographs of exquisite instruments and banjo related objects. Any one of these three aspects would be sufficient reason to own the book.

The frequently startling and personal photographs impart a very human feeling as we progress through the story of the evolution of the banjo in American culture. Amazingly, they represent just a minor fraction of Jim Bollman's immense collection.

Special praise is due Peter Szego for his magnificent photographs of the wonderful early banjos from his own collection.

I find it hard to remain objective as I turn the pages and imagine what it must have been like to pose for one of those Dageurreotypes, rudely dressed, banjo in hand, daring the photographer to capture my soul. And again, when I turn to that favorite Boucher or Fairbanks banjo and long to feel and play it.

Well done, gentlemen, and thank you!

James Bollman's collection of banjos and banjo memorabilia is stunning and this volume may be the only way in which I would ever be able to view it in my home a photograph at a time. The history is a resource for historians and reenactors alike. The vintage photos are mostly ones I've never seen before. This collection has the most vintage photos of lady banjo players I have ever seen. The 1860's photo of a young woman playing the banjo on page 93 has enough detail for a reenactor to duplicate her dress and accessories as well as her banjo. The same is true of an 1895 photograph of a woman playing a Fairbanks Electric. The turn of the century all woman banjo band on page 10 is inspiring. It's great to know that there have always been lady banjo players and these photos give the lady reenactor a place to start when planning a period costume to go with a period banjo. There is a section of breath taking color plates in this book that allow you not only to see detail on some rare banjos, but also depict antique banjo clocks and memorabilia. I never knew such pieces existed until this book. A great book and a must have for anyone interested in vintage instruments and pickers.

As a banjo player of some twenty-five years experience, as well as a historic interpreter/performer of Early American music, all I can say is that this is the book that I've been waiting for! This well-researched, well-written, beautifully illustrated tome doesn't just give us an interesting history of the banjo; it offer us a fascinating view of the instrument's pivotal role in the birth of American "pop" music.

My favorite features of the book are the antique period photographs, as well as the many wonderful illustrations of authentic period instruments and ephemeria, primarily from the extensive personal collection of the book's authors and fellow collectors such as Peter Szego. The majority of the 19th century photos depicted belong to author Jim Bollman, whose home can best be described as a museum and shrine to the banjo. I'm also a collector of vintage photos of musicians and I can tell you there's no one more respected in the field than Jim. His name is constantly invoked with awe and reverence by both dealers and other collectors. I have to admit there were times at photo shows when I've had cause to harbor some unkindly thoughts towards Jim every time it had become that he had scored all the best photos. However, purchasing this book, which contains many of those incredible unattainable photos, more than makes up for that.

My only complaint about "America's Instrument..." is its failure to really explore the banjo's African roots other than to briefly quote Dena Epstein's pioneering work on the subject. Also, the authors are mistaken in their statements that the African ancestors of the banjo, such as the xalam, "lack the shortened string on the top of the fingerboard that is characteristic of later banjos." In fact, the xalam has three "chanterelles" (drone strings) of various lengths above the two long melody strings. A cursory look at the xalam illustrated in the book would reveal that.

Be that as it may, I highly recommend "America's Instrument...!"

If one were to collect instruments, art and ephemera to organize and document an exhibition about the banjo, a good place to start would be to review Gura's and Bollman's "America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century." This impressive book actually seems like a comprehensive companion to a museum's exhibition which could have the same name, and I could envision such a treatise being a museum gift shop's best-seller.

James Bollman is recognized as one of our Nation's foremost banjo collectors, and his outstanding assortment of Victorian-era banjos and related paraphernalia is one of the finest in the world. He was very pivotal as a project consultant to the fine exhibition that took place in 1984 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology called "Ring the Banjar!: The Banjo in America from Folklore to Factory," curated by Robert Lloyd Webb. That exhibit's catalogue had some wonderful information, photographs and illustrations. After seeing it, I was personally inspired to research and write an article about "Banjos at the Smithsonian Institution" which subsequently appeared in Bluegrass Unlimited magazine (Vol. 27, No. 5, November, 1992).

Philip Gura, historian and Professor of English and American Studies at the University of North Carolina, is an expert in the history and culture of America's music industry. I found Gura's 2003 charming book, "C.F. Martin and His Guitars 1976-1873," to be well-researched, thoughtfully written, beautifully illustrated, and professionally executed.

In "America's Instrument: The Banjo in the Nineteenth Century," Gura and Bollman begin by documenting the banjo's evolution from the plantation to the stage. An interesting overview of the minstrel tradition and early performers is given. The authors show how the popularity of banjos increased, largely due to effective marketing. As the banjo made its way from the minstrel stage to Victorian parlors and concert halls, the physical development of the instrument was also affected. Part III of the book addresses "selling the banjo to all America," focusing on the efforts of Philadelphia's S.S. Stewart. It's interesting that Stewart's adoption of the "cause" of the banjo (nothing short of everything about it) set him apart from other makers. The book's fourth part, "manufacturing the real thing," delves into how the Boston banjo makers (Fairbanks, Cole) began to challenge Stewart's preeminence in the mid-1880s and eventually design and build the acknowledged standards of the banjo world.

Ragtime is given cursory treatment in this book. Another direction that banjo music took was into classical music, and the book could have devoted something to that incarnation of the instrument. I found it curious that this book makes no mention of Alfred A. Farland, "the progressive banjoist," who caused quite a stir in the banjo world in the mid-1890s when he played concertos, Beethoven sonatas, and even Rossini's "William Tell Overture" on the instrument. He was also known as the "Scientific Banjoist of Pittsburgh, Pa."

It also becomes quite apparent that the major banjo makers in the late 19th Century were located mainly in the urban north, and the great majority of major makers are discussed. However, this book should have at least acknowledged J.B. Schall, from Chicago, who built a large number of banjos about 1870-1907. Of a list of manufacturers of "classic" banjos in Akira Tsumura's "Banjos: The Tsumura Collection," most are addressed. Rettberg & Lange (New York 1897-1929) aren't mentioned, and only very brief mention is made of Weymann & Son (who made banjos in Philadelphia from 1864-1935) and Charles Bobzin (who operated in Detroit from 1892-1915).

While this book is beautifully laid out with over 250 illustrations, some of the very special banjos featured in the MIT exhibition, at the Smithsonian Institution, and in private collections such as Akira Tsumura's or David Vachon's, might have further enhanced Gura and Bollman's book. Some of the instruments are credited as from the collection of Peter Szego or Philip Gura, and the other uncredited photographs are apparently from the extensive collection of James Bollman. While the many full page color illustrations are definitely nice, perhaps the book could've added many more by placing two to four per page. Banjo afficinados typically enjoy such "eye candy," and photos speak a thousand words.

Keep in mind that this book only covers the banjo in the 19th Century. There is a cursory link to the banjo in the 20th Century, and there's only minor mention of firms such as Gibson, Paramount, Bacon and Day, and Weymann. While the authors state that "the stories of these companies and their instruments are fairly well known and...belong to the history of the new century," I hope that Gura and Bollman will consider pulling all these tales together into a sequel that documents the banjo in the Twentieth Century. All in all, they've done a very fine job covering a hundred years of the instrument's early history in America. Banjo-players and others interested in the instrument's history should certainly add this book to their library. (Joe Ross, staff writer, Bluegrass Now)

This is a collection of articles from Foreign Affairs, which is the journal of the internationalist (and since WWII the dominant) wing of the American foreign policy Establishment. The selection choice of articles was pretty good and interesting, though I am disappointed that they did not publish any articles from the Dulles brothers. Members of Yale secret societies, however, are well represented.

Some of the more revealing articles are:
Elihu Root's lead article in the first issue, a sort of mission statement for the purpose of the journal.
Hamilton Fish's reflection on fifty years of interventionist foreign policy.
Walter Lippmann's smear job on Senator Borah (he later suggested waging political warfare on isolationist congressment to the head of BSC during WWII, and they were quite successful).
The articles of members affiliated with the Royal Institute of International Affairs before WWII.
George Kennan's 'X' article suggesting containment among others.

For anyone interested in American political history and foreign policy in particular, this is an excellent book to possess. The pictures of some of the writers were also very interesting, I particularly enjoyed the picture of Bill Buckley striking a Jesus Christ pose with American flags draped in the background. This picture was placed above a picture of a nude woman covering her behind with a copy of Foreign Affairs. A very interesting choice, indeed! For the prices listed for the used copies, it is a bargain. Get the book!

This is a collection of articles from Foreign Affairs, which is the journal of the internationalist (and since WWII the dominant) wing of the American foreign policy Establishment. The selection choice of articles was pretty good and interesting, though I am disappointed that they did not publish any articles from the Dulles brothers. Members of Yale secret societies, however, are well represented.

Some of the more revealing articles are:
Elihu Root's lead article in the first issue, a sort of mission statement for the purpose of the journal.
Hamilton Fish's reflection on fifty years of interventionist foreign policy.
Walter Lippmann's smear job on Senator Borah (he later suggested waging political warfare on isolationist congressment to the head of BSC during WWII, and they were quite successful).
The articles of members affiliated with the Royal Institute of International Affairs before WWII.
George Kennan's 'X' article suggesting containment among others.

For anyone interested in American political history and foreign policy in particular, this is an excellent book to possess. The pictures of some of the writers were also very interesting, I particularly enjoyed the picture of Bill Buckley striking a Jesus Christ pose with American flags draped in the background. This picture was placed above a picture of a nude woman covering her behind with a copy of Foreign Affairs. A very interesting choice, indeed! For the prices listed for the used copies, it is a bargain. Get the book!

An amazing trip through the 20th century with the best minds of the age. Reading these classic essays you get new insights into the big trends, events, ideas that have brought us to where we are today. I was given this book as a gift and was genuinely surprised by how much I have enjoyed it. (The photographs are a nice bonus.) Anyone who likes history and politics will love this book.

The essays in this volume range from extremely good to outstanding to outright brilliant. Collectively, these forty-two essays chronicle the evolution of American foreign policy-its intellectual and political struggle to deal with the world since 1922. This compilation is divided into decades-1930s, 1940s, and so on, each dealing with the dominant themes of that decade, ranging from the founding of Foreign Affairs in 1922 to its 75th anniversary in 1997.

Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of essays: on one hand are those essays for which the reader will have a historical interest-as a snapshot of contemporary debates; on the other, there are essays which probe timeless themes and their ideas can be as applicable today as they were when they were first written. What is most exciting is when essays combine the two-capturing the essence of past debates while developing timeless themes and arguments for posterity to refer to. It is in these cases that "Foreign Affairs" is at its best.

It is impossible, for example, to read Fouad Ajami's "The end of Pan-Arabism" without feeling that you're getting a deeper understanding of the Middle East, one that is as necessary today as it was when it was written in 1978. Or, to read David Fromkin's "Strategies of Terrorism," without drawing parallels with Al-Qaeda and the United States and their own battle against each other. Or to read Richard Cooper propose a world currency without thinking how many of the problems we face today were anticipated back in the 1980s. Or Julien Brenda counter the case the pacifism and democracy go hand in hand, without thinking how the two ideas have been so connected in our minds today. Or, reading Hans Morgenthau discuss intervention and non-intervention in Viet Nam without drawing lessons about America's contemporary strategic debate which revolves around the same questions.

Inevitably, every reader's list of favorites will vary-the anthology, after all, is so diverse as to placate everyone's appetite. There are essays on war and peace, international economics, development, terrorism, nationalism, isolationism, containment, imperialism, human rights, and technology; and there are more specific ones that deal with the interwar period, the Cold War, the war in Viet Nam, decolonization in Africa, on the Middle East in the 1970s, on American foreign policy, on the Soviet Union in the 1980s, and on the war in the former Yugoslavia.

The authors too are drawn from all specters of political debates. They include such theoretical legends as Hans Morgenthau and Samuel Huntington; key political players as Henry Kissinger, George F. Kennan, Zbigniew Brzezinski and Nikolai Bukharin; economists as Paul Krugman and Richard Cooper; journalists as Walter Lippmann, Irving Kristol, and Hamilton Fish Armstrong; and others as Fouad Ajami, David Fromkin, Isaiah Berlin, W.E.B. Du Bois, Arthur Schlesinger Jr., Aleksandr Solzhenistym, and others.

As a primary source, but also a reference on what some of the brightest minds of the century had to say on the important issues of the day, "The American Encounter" cannot be absent from the library of anyone who is serious about understanding the international politics of the twentieth century.

This compilation of the "best of the best" articles from the journal Foreign Affairs is a real gem that is especially relevant today as America continues to neglect its international responsibilities and certain Senators and Congressman have the ignorant temerity to brag that they don't own nor need an American passport. The conclusion of the July 1932 article by Edwin F. Gay, "The Great Depression", is instructive: "The world war affirmed the international political responsibilities of the United States; the world depression demonstrates the economic interdependence of the United States with other states. It cannot be a hermit nation." With four seminal articles from each decade (1920's forward), including just about every great name in the international discussions of the century, this book is a fundamental reference point for those who would dare to craft a vibrant foreign policy for the United States in the 21st Century. The book ends with several thoughtful pieces including, most fittingly, an interview with Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore on culture as destiny, an article whose subtitle might have been "How extended families and the collective good still matter."

It was actually a gift for my father, who is a seminary student. He needed it for his discertation. Her really liked it a lot. It was worth the money! :)

This book clearly outlines how God has been working, is working, and will continue to work to redeem Mankind. The authors demonstrate, as reflected in the subtitle "The Story of God's Mission in the Bible," that God's redemptive plan began with Old Testament prophets and the Nation of Israel. His Plans culminates with Jesus Christ of Nazareth and continues with His Church. "Announcing the Kingdom" is an excellent companion to the textbook (a Reader edited by Winter and Hawthorne) used in the Perspectives on the World Christian Movement course. Every Believer should take this course; every Believer should read the book by Glasser, et. al.

i thought that the book was a great introduction to the idea of the kingdom of God and its role in the entire Bible. The book was written in a scholarly fashion, but was accessible to anyone with Biblical knowledge. It sets a great foundation for anyone who is serious about critical Biblical interpretation and especially the influence of the Kingdom of God on the Bible. It brought me great insight and appreciation to what the Bible discusses about Kingdom and its power in my own life.

Although a long read, it's an excellent book on God's mission from Genesis to Revelation. Included in this book are many insight addressing issues in modern missions today such as ethics and strategy. Would make a great text for a biblical theology of missions class. Great for the seminarian, possibly challenging to the layperson.

Having read 5 well-published books within a timespan of 3 months on the subject of the Kingdom of God, this book was the most thorough and thought provoking. It's one downfall is the author's propencity to be sidetracked from the main subject at hand and his use of secular humanistic venacular. Besides these, it is very comprehensive and a joy to read yet not written for one's first book on the subject. If looking for an introductory book, look into Roberts's book entitled: God's Big Picture.

Bradley had the misfortune to coincide in his later years with Russell and Whitehead, whose monumental work redirected Philosphy towards the realm of Mathematical Logic and Scientific Materialism. Yet, Bradley's revised version of Hegelian Idealism, strengthened by judiciously chosen elements from the British Idealist tradition, still stands as a practically inexpugnable bulwark against the inroads of those tempted by a spontaneous, unreflective materialism, namely, most of the scientific community today.
Also extremely well written, witty, sharp and captivating in parts. Well worth a perusal, especially the early chapters.

I completely disagree with his conception of reality, but I enjoyed this book. Bradley was a precursor to the language philosophers. Everyone seems intrigued with Wittgenstein; however, Bradley is far more comprehensive and profound. Plus, he writes very good English. Bradley distinguishes subtle naunces in meaning between words and in this way is a precursor to language philosophy. I also recommend C. S. Lewis's book, A Study in Words.

I'm amazed that all the books I have on language philosophy exclude F H Bradley. He did everything language philosophers did before they did it.

This book, written in 1893, is one of the most important books in the history of English language philosophy. During his lifetime, Bradley was one of the best known of British philosophers, but before he died (in 1924) his metaphysical position dropped out of fashion, in part because it was attacked (and misrepresented) by Russell and Moore. In spite of their hostility, Twentieth Century analytic philosophers were profoundly influenced by Bradley. For an excellent discussion of this matter, read the first chapter of Tom Rockmore's book, Hegel, Idealism, and Analytic Philosophy. I recommend reading _Appearance and Reality_ before taking on Hegel's Phenomenology of Spirit (Galaxy Books). Bradley's argument for absolute idealism is the best written in English. His writing is lively, frequently pointed and sardonic, a "good read". This version, a reproduction of the 1893 edition, is sturdy, well bound, on good paper. It is a bargain and a must read for anyone with a serious interest in philosophy.

Something must have _happened_ to Francis Herbert Bradley.

He seems to have been something of a curmudgeon; at least, he was extremely reclusive and had a reputation for shooting cats. But at some point in his life he must have come to some sort of deep mystical realization.

Otherwise he couldn't have written this book, which reads like a Western version of Shankara. This is philosophy in the grand old style, and it's one of the high points of British idealism.

Bradley's argument doesn't always hold up in its precise details. He doesn't, for example, think that "relations" are real because (he says) they lead to an infinite regress. But Royce replied to this pretty adequately in an appendix to _The World and the Individual_. He also states firmly (and I think correctly) that there's no conceiving reality apart from experience and there's no duality in experience between subject and object. But support for this claim isn't exactly forthcoming. (Timothy L.S. Sprigge does a much better job with it in _The Vindication of Absolute Idealism_.)

But the essential structure of his argument is sound and could be carried through again with a different set of examples (the standard logical paradoxes, say): the world of our ordinary experience turns out upon inspection to be contradictory, so it can't be fully and finally real; what _is_ fully and finally real is a nondual Absolute in which all those apparent contradictions are resolved through that very nonduality.

Well, Bradley puts it better than that, of course, and his prose style is very pleasant to read. This work is also excerpted in James W. Allard and Guy Stock's collection of Bradley's _Writings on Logic and Metaphysics_, so if you want to read a shorter version, check that volume out.

Anyway, the point is, don't ever let anybody tell you there isn't any nondualistic wisdom here in the West. In a different time and place, Bradley would have been revered as a guru -- a prospect that in all likelihood would have made him cringe, so it's probably just as well. But he's clearly trying to articulate a vision here, and few writers have tackled "rational mysticism" with such philosophical flair.

I doubt that Shankara would have shot cats. Fortunately the similarities run deeper than that.

This book is indeed extremely important for analytic, continental, and mystic philosophers alike. Bradley's positive view, the Absolute, is proposed here as the _only way out_ of those messy analytic debates regarding topics such as appearance vs. reality, plurality, quality, and causation. Bradley's starting point: what is absurd (logically impossible) cannot exist.