Works Books

The Christian's Career Journey is an excellent resource for finding the job God designed for you. It has strong Christian references along with practical to-do strategies that fit into a successful job search program. We are usisng this book as a study at our church and it is relevant and needed in these changing times. Thank you, Susan Whitcomb for investing your time and talents into writing this wonderfully helpful book!

The Christian's Career Journey is a blessing for any Christian job seeker. Today's challenges and pressures to create a fulfilling career and earn a decent living can seem impossible. Yet God has a perfect plan for each of us, and He delights in doing the impossible if we only ask for his help, obey his will, and persevere through the career journey with prayer and scripturally based Godly wisdom. This book includes all the resources you need to fuel your job search, ignite your faith, and find real fulfillment by partnering with the ultimate career coach--God. He has big plans for you--to prosper you and use you in the workforce, and this book lights the way! If I could, I would give this book ten stars! Yes, it's that good -- you'll be glad you bought it!


Robyn Feldberg, NCRW, CCCMC
"The Abundant Success Career Coach"
Abundant Success Career Services

Excellent balance between Biblical truth and cutting-edge job search skill training. This book has been needed for years. It is a must read for any Christian considering a job search, and it is an essential for anyone in the local church who is ministering to those in career transition.

Lynn Guillory, Founder & Executive Director
Career Transition Ministries Network (a non-profit parachurch ministry)

This book should be a must read for job seekers who want to connect their faith with their work. This guide offers practical job hunting tips woven together with strong Christian principles.

How exciting it is to see someone offer their gifts in the way that Susan Britton Whitcomb does in The Christian's Career Journey. She brings together her vast and actionable knowledge as a career coach together with her perspective as a thoughtful and committed Christian to offer a practical and inspirational guide for those seeking new ways to share their own gifts through their career.
~ Scott Eblin, President of The Eblin Group and author of The Next Level: What Insiders Know About Executive Success

I serve on a By-Laws Review team at my church. We are in the midst of a transition time, and are addressing some short-comings of our current By-Laws. I found this book while I was searching for some guidance as to how to structure church by-laws in a Biblical framework. I am very pleased with this book, and bought three more copies for the rest of the team. We have all gleaned a good bit from the book, and it is helping us to look at our Constitution and By-Laws from a Biblical standpoint. This book is very useful for the lay person or vocational minister who is trying to set up a church structure in a proper way.

As a pastor in a church that recently reworked its structure, I like this book because it really makes sense, not to mention it honors God! It is a very thought-provoking needed assessment of executing church affairs in a way that stays true to biblical precepts. The practical application throughout the book is a bonus for every pastor and church leader who desires to see a living example of how this structure actually functions. It's not just a list of ideals, but a real tool that can be modeled now. It's definitely worth your time to read so that you can discover how these principles can fit in your church.

I have experienced shameful power struggles in previous churches and then had the privelege of being a member of the first church in which Dr. Blanchard implemented this structure. It was a hugely beneficial move for our church and is still reaping benefits. This book exactly describes how it was implemented - and it works! I appreciate the concise, scholarly presentation, and the fact that it is solidly Scripturally based. By the way, I also enjoyed reading it!

I am currently pastoring the church where Dr. Blanchard first introduced the principles that you will find in "Church Structure That Works." In short, I would say that "yes, it really does work!" I cannot express how grateful I am to Dr. Blanchard's leadership as he paved the way for my own tenure as pastor. I have experienced a biblically solid, comprehensive, and a very natural church polity that has allowed me to truly pastor this church. This book is not just theory, it is born our of "on the field" practice.

This is a must read for all Christians who are leaders or serve on ministry teams (committees) in their local church. Dysfunction is the perfect word to describe the state of most of our churches today. Who has not sat in a business meeting that more resembled a debate on the Senate floor than the house of God? Who has not left meeting after meeting feeling like you just wasted precious hours of your life & accomplished nothing? Dr. Blanchard's book is not only well written and easily understood by the lay person but it's challenging & encouraging as well. James 1:22 tells us to not merely listen to the Word but to do what it says. I'd say the same thing about Dr. Blanchard's book - read it and then do it!

This cookbook is fantastic - wish I had time to create something out of it every day. It's divided up nicely - easy to follow. A lot of hearty fare - which is exactly what one wants to eat in colder temperatures!!! I will say that the mulled wine is a standout - there is something for everyone though - appetizers through desserts. You won't be disappointed!!

This is by far my favorite cookbook. We've loved almost every recipe, although she seems to be a better cook than baker (baked goods are good, but food is great!). Better than Open House cookbook b/c the portions are smaller (family-sized as opposed to banquet sized) and the recipe descriptions are less flowery.

I have used this cookbook for 2 years and found every recipe to be delicious. It calls for lots of fresh ingredients but if you don't have them, often the recipes don't suffer. Many of the recipes are variations on old New England favorites. The title says it correctly!

Of all the cookbooks I own (and that's a lot) this one is probably my favorite. Sarah Leah Chase's style is friendly and charming. Her love of food is apparent on every page. Her ability is apparent in the first recipe you prepare. The Chocolate Raspberry cake is wonderful........for years now it is my most requested recipe. I wish she would write another cookbook!

I love this book. I've been into cooking since I was about 5 and I own over 4,000 cookbooks, but this one is definitely my fav. I bought it in December 1990 and at this point, have cooked nearly every recipe in the book. They are all fabulous. I have never had one of these recipes fail.

I have given this book as a gift many times over the years, and the recipients have all come to love the book as much as I do.

Here are some of the standout recipes:
Creamed Spinach - it's a very simple recipe but the best I've ever tasted
Mustard Creamed Onions - a zippy twist on a Thanksgiving tradition
Spanish Garlic Soup - rich and unusual
Raised Waffles - worth the price of the book just for this recipe!
Apricot Ginger Cream Scones - totally fattening & totally worth it
Turkey Mole - the best mole I've ever had, way better than most restaurants
Spicy Shrimp, NOLA Style - just like Pascal Manale's

The thing I love about these recipes is that even the ones I don't think I'll like (such as Rhubarb Custard Pie) come out great. SLC also has a fun, chatty and erudite writing style, so reading her cookbooks is almost as much fun as cooking from them.

Many of the recipes are a bit long and can take awhile to make, but the end product is worth every minute of prep time.

I liked the book because I am a history major but some parts are hard to get through. It is a classic however and is a great stepping stone to use when reviewing ancient history

Cornelius Tacitus knows perfectly what the cardinal human characteristic is: `From time immemorial, man has had an instinctive love of power.' And, `the reward for virtue was inevitable death.'
His book is a mighty illustration of the ruthless fight for the top spot: emperor. The ambitious and the wealthy fight one another without mercy. `The truth is that revolution and strife put tremendous power into the hands of evil men.' The vanquished are brutally slain.
For Tacitus, the most important factors in the power struggle are money (`money was the sinews of civil war') and control of the military (`the lesson that an army can create an emperor'). If you could `reward` your soldiers, you could win. However, the legions were not interested in war itself only in looting, plundering, raping and enslaving. `The men wanted campaign and set battles, as the prizes here were more attractive than their normal pay.' The victims were innocent peasants, women and children.
Overall, `Italy found it hard to put up with such hordes of infantry and cavalry, and with violence, financial loss and acts of lawlessness.'

While the `Annals' contain more human touch, the `Histories' are nearly completely centered on military, diplomatic and tactical manoeuvres, followed by terrifying and merciless violence after the battles (`the fury of the soldiers').

This for mankind severe and pessimistic book is a must read for all those interested in the lessons of history and for lovers of great classical literature.

Every now and then a pivotal moment in history is witnessed and recorded by a master communicator. The mid-first century of Rome was such a time and Tacitus was such a communicator. The Histories will forever be a benchmark of good history with its observations on human nature and behaviour along with their impact on history. The historian will do well to read Tacitus not just for the historical lessons but for his approach to history as a record of human activity. While observing and commenting on the human element in history, Tacitus avoids making moral judgements and remains as objective as possible in the midst of turmoil, wars, and rumors of wars. His beloved nation and people were suffering under the barbarity of fratricidal war yet he remains above the madness and records the events with passion tempered with objectivity. His example is one that has remained difficult for others to follow.

A word on this translation in particular - I found Mr. Wellesley's translation very readable and poetic. He seems to have captured the literature value of the text as well as the content. Well done.

Most people don't need a review of Tacitus's work. Most people want to know if a particular translation is any good. With that in mind, I recommend this Penguin edition of Kenneth Wellesley's translation. The translation itself is highly readable, and Wellesley indicates the rare instances where he emends the Latin text in footnotes. Wellesley also uses the footnotes to help the reader keep track of some of the less prominent characters in the work, a feature which is a big help for the non-specialist. Probably the best aspect of this edition is the map section at the end. The book contains 11 maps that include maps of large areas, maps of cities, and diagrams of important battles. Wellesley also refers the reader to the appropriate map through the footnotes. This review makes it sound like the book contains a lot of footnotes, but really there are usually just one or two a page. The one minor defect of the book is that the index only contains personal names. A general index would have made this user friendly book even better. But like I said, this is a great English copy of the Histories.

Reading Tacitus' Annals I oft remembered Thucydides' account of the Peleponnesian wars. An important theme of the latter work was the corrupting effects of prolonged war on the morals and intellect of the Athenian people, who were ultimately degraded so much that they voted the destruction of the people of a small island just because they had chosen to remain neutral. Tacitus, on the other hand, seems to have dedicated himself in this work to examining the corrupting effects of absolutism on the Roman people after the fall of the Republic. He shows how absolute power brought out the worst traits in the character of rulers like Tiberius and Nero, who grew more and more tyrannical with every year on the throne, and how members of the illustruous Roman senate and other sections of the Roman political society turned into a horde of spineless sycophants, informers and debauches. There were still a few honourable individuals, but as Tacitus shows in an endless series of judicial and non-judicial murders, most of these paid the price of sticking to the ancient traditions of liberty and honour with their lives. Tacitus also deals at length with the relations of the Romans with the subject peo-ples. I may be wrong here, but it seems to me that in such passages Tacitus draws a parallels between the fate of these enslaved peoples and that of the enslaved Roman people -the first a slave to the Romans, the second a slave to the emperor and his bureaucracy made up of ex-slaves. Many subject peoples rebelled and some like the Cherusci under Arminius (towards whom he does not seem averse at all) could successfully preserve their liberty against the in-trusion of the Romans. Those Romans who dared defy the tyrant on the other hand, and especially those who could wisely remain independent and yet stay alive, were far fewer, Tacitus seems to imply. Insofar as it demonstrates how closely liberty (including liberty of thought) and morals are intertwined, this work is still relevant today as a central work of liberal humanism.

An excellent behind the scenes look at Cuba today. No better example of a failed yet still forced socialist state. This is not some itellectual dissection of the situation but a "person on the street" documentary. Must read for those who take democracy and free enterprise for granted and for those who even think Cuba is better now than in pre-revolution time.
As a Cuban born US citizen I applaude this book.

An excellent travel/biography book interspersed by b&w pictures of many Havana et al locations in Cuba.

The author had to flee Cuba with his family when he was 18, just months after the thake over by dictator-narcissist Castro. In '96 he visists Cuba again briefly and takes with him his camera. This is not a touristic approach to Cuba. This is the personal and nostalgic -not angry- brief comeback of a Cuban exile. And man, does he succeed in making us feel like exiles too!

Themes visited:

-How does Cuba's socialist regime make it to survive so long?
Interviewee. "It's their fault (the Americans') Castro is still here making everyone's life in Cuba hell. Time and time again they've saved Castro. How? By permitting immigration. In 1980 Cuba was ready to explode. What does the US do? They allow a hundred thousand Marielitos to emigrate. I tell you, those people were ready to kill. So Fidel lets them go ... He's a master at duping the Europeans into thinking this a democratic socialist paradise. And he is a master of repression."

-Discrimination?
"Cuban leadreship is almost exclusively white, and out of a hundred generals in the army, ninety are white, while the majority of Cubans are black. The prison population is reported to be overwhelmingly black."

-A sharp question
"I've heard this joke: 'socialism or death: what's the difference' How come I don't see antigovernment graffiti? -Because we have the most sophisticated repression in the world ... the jails are full of people they have caught doing graffiti. We still have plenty, but it gets painted over immediately."

-The US embargo
"A visit to a dollar store makes it clear to everyone that the embargo doesn't prevent Cuba from acquiring whatever American products Cuba wants or needs since they can get them fairly easily through Panama or Mexico."

"The embargo provides Castro with his last excuse why the Cuban economy is in shambles. Also, Fidel functions best when he is attacked. He becomes energized. He needs an enemy, a scapegoat. And the Helms-Burton law is to order ... the way to fight him is to hit him where his system is vulnerable. Flood Cuba with American tourists, American dollars, with ideas and information. The socialist state cannot withstand that ... If something doesn't work for forty years, you try something else."

Out of 200 people he met, only 5 still supported the revolution. And they were professors or people with privileges.

I'd like to find another good book like this, even without pictures, only updated for the 12 years that have elapsed.

The author immigrated to the Northern states and his personal view reflects: he is not so radical as the people in Miami are, he claims. If I had to live in Cuba without freedom I'd even be more "radical" than the Miami exiles. I'm sure he changed his mind a little, after his excursion on the island, because the people there think more like me.

JAN. 12, 2001

I FOUND THIS BOOK VERY EASY TO READ. IT WAS AS IF I WAS READING PART OF MY STORY, MY LIFE. IT ANSWERED MANY QUESTIONS I HAVE HAD. IT ALSO ANSWERED THE WHY OF MANY FEELINGS I HAVE. THE LAST TIME I WAS IN CUBA WAS 1953, MUCH LONGER THAN HIM. I WOULD LOVE TO BE ABLE TO GO BACK AS HE DID. MY HUSBAND AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE IF THIS YEAR WE CAN GO BACK. WE JUST ARE NOT SURE OF HOW SAFE IT WOULD BE. WE WOULD LIKE TO GO TO SANCTI SPIRITUS, LAS VILLA, VERY FAR FROM HAVANA. I FOUND IT TO BE GREAT READING. IT WAS TOLD IN A VERY CLEAR WAY. IT EXPLAINED MANY THINGS I DID NOT UNDERSTAND. THIS BOOK CAN BE READ BY CUBAN'S AND THOSE WHO ARE NOT CUBAN'S IT IS VERY INTERESTING FOR ALL. ALSO ONE CAN APPRECIATE ALL WE HAVE.

STILL WOULD OF LIKED MORE. I WOULD OF LIKED MORE PICTURES OF THINGS HE WROTE ABOUT. HIS SUMMER HOME, WOULD OF LIKED TO SEE OTHER PICTURES OF THE HOUSE. WOULD OF BEEN GREAT, FOR HIM TO HAVE BEEN ABLE TO MAKE HIS TRIP TO THE OTHER PROVINCES HAS HE HAD WANTED TO DO.

I ALSO WOULD LIKE TO KNOW IF THIS BOOK IS AVAILABLE IN SPANISH.

I WOULD LIKE TO THANK MR. MENDOZA FOR THIS BOOK. WISH HIM THE BEST, WILL BE LOOKING FOR OTHER WORK HE HAS DONE.

Like Tony I am a cuban american who left Cuba in the early 60s for political freedom to study in the States. I came from a successful middle class family and a history of political successes and upheaval. I have always wanted to go back to re-live my youth in Havana, Tarara y Santa Maria del Mar (like Tony in Varadero) where I spent the happiest time of my youth. I have known of the misery of our people because I kept in touch, however Tony has been able to portray that misery in his wonderful black and white pictures. His writtings and dialogues are very easy to read but with a real message for everyone to understand. This is a great book for those who will like an honest and unbias portray of the cuban situation today. Tony has let these people speak out their feelings (pro and against) for the world to judge. I envy Tony for having the opportunity to return. His book has made me very sad because we are limited in our ability to help them. I cried for the younger generation unable to better themselves. Only the beauty of our land and sea remains untouched. Someday our people will be free again to make their choices and Cuba will be a wonderful place to visit. I promised myself to be in the first plane to help rebuild it.

I,too,like Mr. Mendoza, was forced to leave Havana, Cuba, as a child because of my familys' political beliefs towards Castro. I was a child of 9 in 1967, when my parents and I uprooted ourselves from our beloved land because we had been politically betrayed by someone that a whole generation felt was to be their "savior" from the dictatorial regime of Batista. In the last few years I have started to rediscover my roots. I found this book extremely educating as to what to expect to see there, if you plan to "go home for a visit". It has convinced me that I must go home again even though it won't be the same as I remember as a child. This an easy to read book, with compelling sepia tinted pictures of scenes and people Mr. Mendoza came across throuhgout his travels. I highly recommend this book.

very good book, could not put it down, great insite into what goes on the the adoption process

This is a good book for anyone interested in international adoption. It goes through her personal story and the process of adopting from another country.

I loved this book, the writer has a positive outlook on life. She explains things about adoption very well. One of the only books that I have read where the adoptive couple are not infertile but just feel the need to have a child through adoption. Intresting read!

When I read about the author first meeting her baby in China I cried, on the bus. I couldn't believe how emotional this moment must be. I can't wait to be able to adopt a little baby girl.

The author dealt with the issues of adoption with a lot of tact and was honest about some of the negative things that her family went through, from bureaucratic delays to their daughter's health problems. I was fully resigned to the fact that it would be a totally sappy story, but surprisingly it was just sweet but not overly emotional, so that's a plus for me. This book is informative not just for those in the adoptioin process (which I am not) but anyone interested in child welfare in general, or just a nice story about becoming a mother. All of the profits go towards the non-profit organization that the author founded so in addition to enjoying this book I am happy to be helping her cause.

I would love this book even if I wasn't lucky enough to grace one of its pages (page 82 is myself and a co-worker at Yahoo! Inc. on that night). Alex, your work on this project was beyond imaginable, and the results are incredible!!

To see the world at large on this date, from every country, displayed on the pages of this book is really something wonderful. We are truly a global family, and this has never been more obvious.

I bought copies for everyone for Christmas!

This is a fabulous souvenir of the turning of the millennium. The project is fascinating and the content of the book is highly engaging.

I found myself flipping through the pages for hours.

It made me want to celebrate the millennium all over again.

Fantastic book. Really captured the spirit of entering the new century. Loved the variety of high quality pictures. Even more impressive when I learned that many of the photographers were amateurs.

Dawn of the 21st Century is a phenomenal photographic expression of the 24 hours surrounding the change of the millennium. A tremendous project undertaken by one man(Alx Klive) and his volunteers to collect and cull the best of over a quarter of a million pictures taken by thousands of photographers as the millennium dawned over a year ago. The pictures, however, remain timeless and serve to remind us what a wonderful art photography is for capturing an eternal moment. I'm proud to have been chosen as one of the Millennium Photo Project photographers and hope that you enjoy the book as much as we enjoyed producing it.

I first heard about this project through a colleague in the publishing industry. Apparently this renegade group of people (from Toronto I think) put together this whole thing completely on their own, after everyone in the publishing industry turned them down. They went ahead with it anyway and organized the whole thing on the Internet using amateur and enthusiast photographers from around the world. I was skeptical of what the final quality would be like but decided to order one to see for myself. I have to say I was blown away when the book arrived in the post. The pictures are astounding and very very different from any photography book I've ever seen before. They are incredibly 'real' - that's the best way I can think of describing it. Lots of ordinary people getting ready to go out, meeting up with old friends, celebrating at home, praying and so on. Basically the book is a visual feast that focuses heavily on the human experience. It is simply fascinating to see how different people from all different cultures and backgrounds celebrated the same event. My favourite photo is of a Masai tribesman standing on the plains of Kenya, where the human species is thought to have first evolved. It is a stunning and poignant image that should perhaps have been considered for the cover. But that is only a very minor criticism of what is overall an astounding achievement. The top art book publishers in the world (Phaidon? Taschen?) would have been immensely proud to have put a book like this together. The fact that a bunch of amateurs did it on their own makes it all the more remarkable. Whoever in the publishing industry turned this project done must have been out of their minds. Kudos to the sheer guts of the people who went ahead and did it anyway! Bravo!

I love anything Ravi Zacharias writes. He brings you to the only conclusion possible in whatever spiritual truth he is presenting, and I love this. But greater still --- there is in Ravi Zacharias a truth that transcends intellect -- he genuinely loves the Lord he writes (or speaks) about. This makes his books or his sermons worth my attention.

"When we see our hearts as God sees them, we find His strength, not only to understand good and evil, but to act on it. The one who resists this truth has nowhere to turn." (p. 184)

Ravi Zacharias is a native of India, but got Saved and converted to Christianity as a young man. He is most famous as a public speaker for explaining and defending Christian concepts in an intellectually thoughtful context, mostly by debunking the faulty viewpoints of the opposition. Where other radio preachers and book authors are heavy on emotionally expounding upon Scripture, Ravi's unique approach focuses on intellectual discourse. He talks and reasons his way as to why Christianity and Bible teachings are correct, without necessarily using Scripture as the sole evidence, but rather by using logic and focused thinking. He teaches Bible truths and values using observations about society, history, and culture.

I personally find that Ravi is most concise and focused on the radio, not in his books, nevertheless, in his autobiography, WALKING FROM EAST TO WEST, Ravi says that DELIVER US FROM EVIL and THE REAL FACE OF ATHEISM are his bestselling books. I have read both, and I think this book, DELIVER US FROM EVIL, is his strongest work.

"It was not the Code of Hammurabi that touched America's conscience. Nor was it the intent or content of the Koran. By no stretch of imagination was it the pantheistic framework of Eastern mysticism. America's soul was indubitably formed in keeping with the basic assumptions and injunctions of this, the moral law of the Hebrews, which gave her a vision of history's linear thrust whereby she was to reconcile liberty with law." (p. 154)

In DELIVER US FROM EVIL, Ravi writes about the state of Western culture, which has largely abandoned Bible-based morality and thus also suffered the consequences which we must now try to redeem. "Freedom can be destroyed, not just by its retraction, but also by its abuse." (p. 86)

The popular concept that there are no absolute truths, and thus anything goes, morally speaking, is at the basis of today's sorry state of affairs, culturally speaking. "An ABSOLUTE is basically an unchanging point of reference by which all other changes are measured...RELATIVISM is, therefore, only another word for ANARCHY, and that is why truth itself becomes elusive when there is no longer a point of reference." (p. 219)

The danger is that without a commonly accepted standard of morality, our culture is constantly under attack from within, by people with unhappy, desperate hearts which know no peace, and who wish to enforce an absence of morality. "Rebellion that sees no sanctity in life's essence is a constant state of mind bespeaking a heart that will never be satisfied." (p. 136)

This can only be done by trying to build a consensus that there is no God, the Bible is not real, and all that exists and may be considered is the material world--ripped away from any spiritual meaning or purpose. "...secularization assumes that this world--the material world-- is all we have...secularism is the philosophy of choice for American intellectual and political life." (p. 23)

In the USA, where the the 1st Amendment has been perverted by religion haters to mean freedom FROM religion, the problem is one that we are living with everyday, and not for the betterment of society, but to its detriment. "Not only has secularization brought us a silent universe with no voice from without, it has also brought us a silence from within as it has redefined the whole role of conscience." (p. 56)

Have you ever been self-righteously confronted by someone defending morally reprehensible things, while condemning the concept of morality itself? "In an unbelievable and shocking turn of events we have moved from speaking out against certain moral choices to being pressured by political enforcement and the so-called tolerant cultural elite not only to accept what was once disapproved of, but to celebrate it. Allowance for people to determine their own moral destinies has been supplanted by the demand that even that which may be repugnant or offensive to one's moral sensitivities must be acclaimed and glorified." (p. 133)

The anti-Christian spirit of this age has increasingly, and secretively, turned to the power of a secular judicial system of government to try to enforce immorality and condemn morality. "...the power to create and enforce moral relativism has been placed into the hands of government. Political power is a strange place to entrust morality because proverbially politics is not synonymous with moral uprightness. The very institution that is distrusted most has now become the shaper of the soul." (p. 78)

These days, we are pretty far along the wrong path in our Western culture, and the good guys are very late in catching onto the game plan of the bad guys, to wit, the public school system has been taken over by secularist believers who get to teach their secular view of life while condemning a Christian worldview because it opposes their immoral behavior. "The whole point of state controlled education is that it gives to the government the power to shape the souls and write on the fresh slates of young hearts... to assume that they accept that responsibility from a posture of neutrality is to live under the most destructive illusion." (p. 138)

By the time I finished this book, I thought that Ravi explained how things got so bad in our culture, and that knowing that much, we are better equipped to understand and deal with the situation, which will basically require an act of God to straighten out, of course, but God will win in the end. Christians know how the Bible ends and the true believing Christians end up in Heaven, while what do the secularist have to look forward to in the end? Nothing, by their own perspective, and worse, eternal damnation from a Biblical viewpoint. You can't beat God in the end. "Throughout history the Word of God has remained firm; it rises up to outlive its pallbearers." (p. 190)

Amen that, Ravi, amen that.

Leave it to Ravi Zacharias to put eloquently what all of us somehow feels. Something's gone wrong in our society -- it's not as kind as it used to be. Something's amiss. Ravi has tapped into that "something". As always, brilliantly thought out and argued. Always with compassion but never compromised.

This book examines the Zeitgeist or spirit of the age, points out what is wrong with it and how to reverse the destructive trend. The modern era is taken as the period 1789 - 1989 and the Post-modern as the one that followed. The West is currently in the grip of the PoMo mindset, more so in Europe than in the USA.

Whereas reason was held as the highest value under modernism, it has been ridiculed by postmodernism where truth is considered to be extinct. Purpose and design were emphasized in modernism, but postmodernism emphasizes chance and randomness. The post-modern spirit considers values as relative and celebrates unreason and the loss of meaning. Deconstruction and contradiction are its gods.

Although the modern pursuit was inhospitable towards spiritual truth, debate was still possible because information was subject to induction and deduction. In the post-modern mentality the purpose of debate or dialogue is not to discover truth, since here facts have no legitimacy. Debate is therefore impossible.

The first section of the book is titled The Moods Of The Present; it explores the ideas and circumstances that gave birth to the current cultural struggle. The author rigorously investigates the PoMo mindset in the light of the fruits it has borne. This part contains interesting references to sources as varied as The Great Divorce and The Pilgrim's Regress by CS Lewis, the thoughts of GK Chesterton and even song lyrics by The Moody Blues (Question) and Carly Simon (Playing Possum).

The second section looks at voices from the past, those that have shaped Western culture down the ages. As postmodernism mocks the promise once offered by modernity, religion comes under even greater assault, partly because of the faults of politicised religion. Theocracy is not the answer. The real hope lies in a change of heart in the individual.

This section includes the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and an interesting quote by Peggy Noonan, among others. The author discusses the history of Manasseh, son of Hezekiah. Manasseh turned out to be one of the most evil kings in the history of ancient Judah. He was a practitioner of "multiculturalism,' introducing hideous habits like infanticide from the surrounding nations.

Zacharias provides a frightening description of what these sacrifices of children to Moloch must have been like. It shows how one person can lead millions into evil, when a nation ceases to think clearly. After Manasseh, the righteous King Josiah led the kingdom of Judah back to God again.

Section 3 explores the mystery of evil, with reference to the trial of Eichmann and popular culture like the movie Pulp Fiction in which murder is trivialized. The beautiful poem The Coming by R S Thomas is reproduced here, and the grace of God and the invitation to redemption are discussed.

Appendix A: The Ineradicable Word is a defence of the uniqueness and authority of the Bible, a brilliant apologetics for the veracity of the message in our Judeo-Christian scriptures. It deals inter alia with the transcultural nature of truth and the transformation of the soul.

Appendix B: Inextinguishable Light, deals with the structure of reason, certainty and the matter of absolutes. It includes a quote from Malcolm Muggeridge warning of the spiritual plague of relativism. It explains the relationship of logic - reason - truth and the Word as truth in the battleground of the heart.

The book concludes with an Annotated Bibliography of the Bible, Notes by chapter and a Study Guide with questions to use as a workbook. I also recommend Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie by Bruce Walker, While Europe Slept by Bruce Bawer, Menace in Europe by Claire Berlinski, The Dragons Of Expectation: Reality And Delusion In The Course Of History by Robert Conquest, The Force of Reason by Oriana Fallaci, The West's Last Chance by Tony Blankley and Our Culture, What's Left of It: The Mandarins and the Masses by Theodore Dalrymple.

This book examines the Zeitgeist or spirit of the age, identifies what is wrong with it and how to reverse the destructive trend. The modern era is taken as the period 1789 - 1989 and the Post-modern as the one that followed. The West is currently in the grip of the PoMo mindset, more so in Europe than in the USA. Whereas reason was held as the highest value under modernism, it has been ridiculed by postmodernism where truth is considered to be extinct. Purpose and design were emphasized in modernism, but postmodernism emphasizes chance and randomness. The post-modern spirit considers values as relative and celebrates unreason and the loss of meaning. Deconstruction and contradiction are its gods. Although the modern pursuit was inhospitable towards spiritual truth, debate was still possible because information was subject to induction and deduction. In the post-modern mentality the purpose of debate or dialogue is not to discover truth, since here facts have no legitimacy. Debate is therefore impossible.

The first section of the book is titled The Moods Of The Present; it explores the ideas and circumstances that gave birth to the current cultural struggle. The author rigorously investigates the PoMo mindset in the light of the fruits it has borne. This part contains interesting references to sources as varied as The Great Divorce and The Pilgrim's Regress by CS Lewis, the thoughts of GK Chesterton and even song lyrics by The Moody Blues (Question) and Carly Simon (Playing Possum). The second section looks at voices from the past, those that have shaped Western culture down the ages. As postmodernism mocks the promise once offered by modernity, religion comes under even greater assault, partly because of the faults of politicised religion. Theocracy is not the answer. The real hope lies in a change of heart in the individual. This section includes the poem Ozymandias by Percy Bysshe Shelley and an interesting quote by Peggy Noonan, among others.

The author discusses the history of Manasseh, son of Hezekiah. Manasseh turned out to be one of the most evil kings in the history of ancient Judah. He was a practitioner of "multiculturalism,' introducing hideous habits like infanticide from the surrounding nations. Zacharias provides a frightening description of what these sacrifices of children to Moloch must have been like. It shows how one person can lead millions into evil, when a nation ceases to think clearly. After Manasseh, the righteous King Josiah led the kingdom of Judah back to God again. Section 3 explores the mystery of evil, with reference to the trial of Eichmann and popular culture like the movie Pulp Fiction in which murder is trivialized. The beautiful poem The Coming by R S Thomas is reproduced here, and the grace of God and the invitation to redemption are discussed.

Appendix A: The Ineradicable Word is a defence of the uniqueness and authority of the Bible, a brilliant apologetics for the veracity of the message in our Judeo-Christian scriptures. It deals inter alia with the transcultural nature of truth and the transformation of the soul. Appendix B: Inextinguishable Light, deals with the structure of reason, certainty and the matter of absolutes. It includes a quote from Malcolm Muggeridge warning of the spiritual plague of relativism. It explains the relationship of logic - reason - truth and the Word as truth in the battleground of the heart. The book concludes with an Annotated Bibliography of the Bible, Notes by chapter and a Study Guide with questions to use as a workbook.

The Illusions of Postmodernism

Intellectual Impostures

Intellectual Morons: How Ideology Makes Smart People Fall for Stupid Ideas

Sinisterism: Secular Religion of the Lie

Discourses on Livy or Discourses on the First Decade of Titus Livius by Niccolo Machiavelli

Love it! Just as advertised!

Machiavelli's Discourses... a book that is a compendium of historical events analyzed in such a way as to obtain a lesson that is both precise as well as eternal. I think that all who consider going into politics or any kind of management role should be handed a copy of this book. And by any kind of management I mean from management of a state to managing a home and family. It is practical, ruthless and efficient. You can glimpse its central premises through the actions of those who succeed.
The translation of this book is flawless and delivers the full content of the author's message.
I'm convinced that this was a life changing book for me to read, it certainly affected my perspective of events around me and my way to interact to them. It is a self help book if you can interpret it beyond the historical dressing.
I strongly recommend this book to anyone who has an interest in history, management, or politics.

This book describes how Rome was being governed as a Republic and gets into detail about the wars they fought. Even for Machiavelli these writings we distant history and what really surprised me was the way this book has been written and translated.

Being an admirer of Rome and its golden age this book really gave me new insights, despite reading a lot of other books about this subject. As in Machiavelli's most famous book 'The Prince' politics are again the major subject. It is really astonishing to see the details and consequences of the actions that are being taken.

If you would like to know more about Rome, history or politics, grab a copy of this book.

Nicholo Machiavelli earned a bad rep with those who read and mis-read his best knon work, The Prince. It was not his intention to write this book to correct that bad image, but with this book we are given a different look at the great Itsalian poitical scientist/historian. He shows us the virtue of a democratic form of government. Recommended by anyone who wants a clearer view of the author, the Renaisance, and the growth of political theory.

Niccolo Machiavelli, (1469-1527), writes the greatest treatise on keeping a republic vibrant by comparing Rome to republican Venice. Machiavelli has gained an unwarranted notorious reputation for his "evil" treatise on political thinking and acting through his authorship of "The Prince". "The Prince" received more notoriety than his politically erudite work "Discourses on the First Ten Books of Livy" in which Machiavelli espouses his belief that the Roman Republic was the best and most virtuous form of government to emulate. His breadth and understanding of Roman history is remarkable. Machiavelli's love of his country Florence, and the proud political work as a minor government administrator and ambassador Machiavelli performed during its years as a republic show through in this work. It was on his many ambassadorial trips to the French, Papal, and Italian courts that he learned to observe political leaders and their governmental institutions which formed the basis of his political theories in his many writings. My favorite quote from Machiavelli is; "It's better to act and repent then not to act and regret".

Modern philosophers starting with Machiavelli reject the classical view of politics as undemocratic and elitist. Only wealthy men of leisure would have time to develop the virtues and character necessary to rule. Machiavelli believed that man by nature was selfish and driven by ambition. Machiavelli is not interested in character formation and moral appeal but in building the right kind of institutions to govern society. Laws and justice would protect men from power hungry rulers. Modern philosophy is an out growth of the revolution that takes place in the natural sciences during the Enlightenment. The purpose of science is the conquest of nature man is in control of human life. Philosophers from Machiavelli on become sectarian. "Everything good is due to man's labor rather than to nature's gift."

As a retired Army officer and student of political philosophy, I found this to be an indispensable book to continue one's journey into political philosophy and history of Europe.

This is the ultimate book on Disneyland. It's more than a postcard book, it traces the history of the park & combines descriptive text with some of the best pictures you'll ever see of the park as well as the attractions, past & present. I have most every coffee table photograph book on Disneyland that has been released over the years, & this one is definitely the E-Ticket of the bunch. If you have the excellent 'Disneyland: Then, Now & Forever' (also Bruce Gordon), you have a taste of what you will find here.
The 2nd Edition is also the better of the 2 editions, with added material (1st Edition was 1995, 2nd Edition updates to 2000). I would take the 2nd Edition over the 1st Edition if they were both offered at the same price for this reason. This book is out of print... permanently since the unfortunate passing of Bruce Gordon in November 2007, there will not be any future updated editions.
Speaking of price, this book retailed for $75.00 when it was released. With some patience, this book CAN be found for around $150.00-$200.00 despite what you see here. These copies have been sitting for at least a few years at an inflated value. The book itself is spectacular, the fact that anyone would try to sell the book at $300 & up is shameful.

What memories this brings back! Not only are the postcards wonderful, but the narrative is very entertaining - much more than I had hoped for - and the postcards are supplemented with some wonderful photos to fill in some of the gaps. A great way for us (we?) older Disney fans to share our memories of Disneyland with our children (and later grandchildren), too. I know I will get many hours of enjoyment from this book over the years to come. I am so glad I decided it might be worth the price - it's worth many times over! 2007 update - Wow, the price I was referring to was $52.50, not the $189 I see it going for now.

Let me start this review with the following statement: This is the most prized book in my collection. I'll try not to be too biased. It is also the most expensive and one of the hardest to come by. In the Afterwords section of Walt's Time, Bruce explains how The Nickel Tour came to be:

"We talked to every publisher we could find, and heard the same story, word for word. No Commercial Potential. No audience. No Market. No Deal."

They put the book together themselves: Scanned all of the cards, did the layout of every page and had it printed in Italy. They lugged the books to every convention and sold them through mail-order.

"And guess what: we sold every book we printed". --p. 241, Bruce Gordon, Walt's Time - From Before to Beyond

Disneyland, the Nickel Tour is a look at the first 45 years of Disneyland's history seen through the postcards of the park. In addition to Randy Bright's wonderful Disneyland the Inside Story, The Nickel Tour stands as one of the two most comprehensive books about Disneyland's history. Where it edges out Mr. Bright' work is that The Nickel Tour does cover the past 20 years. Unfortunately, Mr. Bright passed away in 1990 and a second edition is not forthcoming. Bruce Gordon, the primary writer of The Nickel Tour, was an Imagineer and started with the Company in 1980. Mr. Gordon co-authored many books about Disney and there are several that will be published posthumously later this year. Mr. Gordon passed away in November 2007. As it stands, the second edition of The Nickel Tour will probably be the last.

The Nickel Tour is an amazing work on so many different levels: the postcard images, the photographs of attractions that weren't released in postcard form, the historical information and the writing. They begin by sharing pre-opening cards and work their way through the history of Disneyland. One of Gordon and Mumford's strengths is that they write well and can take something as simple as post cards and turn it into an epic look at a theme park. The writing never gets technical and is always filled with reverence, love and a little remorse. Occasionally, they slip in some humor. It is always fitting and they obvious love word-play. The following paragraph could have been presented as just a litany of facts, but they went a different way with it.

"On the left hand side of Main Street, we encounter the Sunkist Citrus House. Long before this view was taken, the Citrus House had actually been two separate stores, one housing "Sunny View Jams and Jellies" and the other housing the "Puffin Bake Shop." By October of 1958, Disneyland had canned the jam and jelly shop and opened a candy store in its place. It was a sweet deal until June of 1960, when the Puffin Bake Shop went stale. (It seems they just weren't making enough dough to stay in business.) And even worse, it wasn't long before everyone was beginning to sour on the candy shop next door. So the two shops were joined together, and in a dedication ceremony held with Walt on July 31, they finally became the home of the Sunkist Citrus Shop. Things were calm until 1990, when the time was ripe to spin around in a circle once more - only to find the Sunkist moving out and the Bakery moving back in! Well, that story certainly had a peel. Orange you glad we wasted all this time? Meanwhile, here's the scoop on the Carnation Ice Cream parlor: in 1997 they split from their original parlor and (having lost their Carnation along the way) floated into the home of the bakery. Then, with perfect Disneyland logic, the bakery moved into - the ice cream parlor! If that doesn't get a rise out of you, nothing will!" p. 121

The sense of history that you get from The Nickel Tour, through the postcards and photographs, has not been presented in any other form. Besides being a reference work for postcards, it is almost a wish book--one you can flip open to any page and see a favorite or long-gone attraction and dream about visiting or re-experiencing. The images are stellar and your appreciation of postcards as art and history will grow.

Bottom Line: This work was obviously a labor of love for Gordon and Mumford. It is hard to stress how important this work is in the Disney Literature. Beside being one of two major historical works about Disneyland, you get a feel for how Disneyland evolved, how Walt plussed the park and how the Disney Company moved forward after Walt. It is the most cherished book in my entire collection. If you are lucky enough to find a copy, get it. I know that many people will dismiss this book because it is about Disneyland, but without Disneyland, there would be no Walt Disney World. The history of Disneyland offers a lot of insight into the growth of Walt Disney World as well.

This book is simply amazing!

www.imaginerding.com

I cannot say enough about this handsome, evocative, skilfullywritten book. Just as Disneyland is more than an amusement park, thisis more than a trip through Disneyland's places and times...

I wouldhasten to add that this book does more than to simply transport you tothe park as it is today; it is the best simulation of a time machine,transporting you back to previous incarnations of the park, the waythat they were experienced and enjoyed in the vanished culturallandscape of the 1950s and the 1960s. A lot of those joys are gone --the Rainbow Caverns of the Mine Train, the subatomic journey of InnerSpace -- and this is the best way to see them again.

What Iparticularly enjoy about this book is that the authors clearly sharemy childhood fascination with wondering "how it all worked."You get aerial shots of the park under construction, pictures ofaborted attraction developments, and the stories behind detailsranging from the marching band kiosk to the eucalyptus trees inAdventureland.

Walt would have approved of this magnificentlyconceived and executed journey through Disneyland's past and present.

I've read "The Art of Walt Disney", "Walt Disney Imagineering", "Disneyland:The Inside Story", and several other books about the Magic Kingdom, and this book is by far the most detailed and enjoyable of them all. Every store that's ever had an address on Main Street...every sponsor that's ever had an exhibit in Tommorowland...IT'S ALL HERE. My only complaint is that I wish some of the illustrations were larger so you could take in more detail...but considering that every postcard ever issued by Disneyland is included, in addition to behind-the-scenes photos and concept art, this is an understandable compromise. Absolutely the best book ever printed on Disneyland.