Domain Books

Ivan Sergeyevich Turgenev (1818-1883) is one of the finest novelists who ever graced God's great and green earth.

He is unjustly UNDERRATED.

I've never read a novel with a Bulgarian hero before, so this was a first. If you haven't read any Turgenev, you should. You should, that is, if you like idealistic romances between young people who lack all the cynicism and worldliness of our times or even Balzac's France. Turgenev's heroes and heroines shine in the dark, they're so good. But the brilliantly-drawn, humorous characters surrounding the pure main protagoniste are created with such skill that 144 years after this novel first saw daylight, Turgenev could still get a few laughs out of me.

Idealistic, but drifting, Elena is being courted by both an overserious student (known in our times as a `geek') and a budding sculptor who devotes himself mainly to wine, women, and if not song, at least to unorganized messing around. The geek doesn't "get it". The sculptor easily sees through everyone, but is less talented in holding onto anything substantial that comes his way. Elena's parents are weak, her relatives entirely unprepossessing. Her father tries to marry her off to a rather sharp bureaucrat with polished manners. Enter our Bulgarian champion, who only wants to liberate his homeland from the Turks. Elena falls for him and the rest, while not history, is quite predictable. No, this love story is not unique, nor is it extremely complicated.

ON THE EVE is a great novel because of Turgenev's style---that seemingly artless, light, flowing prose. Turgenev is one of the eternal masters, no doubt. The world will probably never see his like again. A Turgenev novel resembles a Mozart piano concerto. It looks so easy, sounds so simple, but it is total genius. I recently re-read this novel and found it just as good the second time. What a shame that only two others have reviewed it !

Though its' a very old book still worth reading. It was interesting to read gradual building-up of character - Insarov. The end of Insarov was a melancholy. I think Turgenev had tried to shape his own views in the form of Insarov.How Insarov becomes so soft in front of Elena is also beautiful. This book depicts the frustrations, struggle,revolution,parents' dilemma and love all together in the form of this great story of Insarov & Elena. You can't stop your tears while reading the helplessness of Elena on gradual ending of Insarov. Really a legendary work ! Worth reading many times !

On the Eve deals with the friendships and love affairs between a twenty-year old provincial Russian woman named Elena and a number of men in her social circle: the young artist Shubin; the intellectual Berzeniev; and, ultimately, Berzeniev's friend, the Bulgarian revolutionary Insarov. Though Berzeniev is in love with Elena, he introduces her to Insarov (who Berzeniev describes as the only interesting man he's met at the university), and Insarov and Elena rather quickly fall in love and secretly marry. Elena's parents, particularly her father, don't care much for the impoverished foreigner that their daughter loves, especially since they've recently found her a nice Russian man for a fiance. Worse still, the start of the Crimean War ("on the eve" of which the novel is set) will force Elena to leave her parents and join Insarov in Bulgaria if she is to stay with him.

In addition to being an interesting love story in its own right, On the Eve develops a couple of themes often seen elsewhere in Turgenev's work (and also that of some other Russian authors around the same time). In the conflict between Elena and her parents, we see shades of the generational conflict that Turgenev would develop very well two years later in Fathers and Sons. The fact that the only man who can thoroughly win Elena's heart is a Bulgarian (as well as comment by Berzeniev about Insarov mentioned above) reflects the aimlessness and superfluity that so often shows up among Russian men in the literature of this time period (e.g., Turgenev's Rudin). While Shubin has his art and Berzeniev his historical studies, Insarov is driven by a cause (the freedom of the Bulgarian people) that is deeper than anything that Russian men were pursuing at the time and accordingly makes him a more intriguing character.

The novel did read, for me at least, a little slowly at first, and I found that some of the characters (Shubin in particular) weren't much more than cliched archetypes when they could have been fleshed out a little better. However, On the Eve is definitely one of Turgenev's better works and was all in all a worthwhile read.

My 18-month old has loved this book for the last 6 months. She laughs when we sing the song and enjoys lifting up the flaps. My only complaint is that the battery for the song seems to die after a few months with no way to change it...so we're on our 2nd book and probably a 3rd soon. But for the amount of times we read it, it's worth the money.

I always loved this silly song and thought that it would be fun to have a book telling the story. This book has very cute pop-up pictures and is fun to read/sing to your child. We don't use the music that plays on the cover as the story and pictures are better without the song playing.

I am a special ed. preschool teacher and my students LOVE this book. They enjoy singing along to it and using their fine motor skills to pull the tabs and see the parts move in the story. Great book for children 2-5.

If your kids love the silly song, you will surely not disappoint them with this cute book. Each page is whimsically illustrated with lots of details, my kids love re-examining each page and verse just to catch more detail. The flaps lift to reveal a part of the song, for example, the tree pours spaghetti sauce with a little tug of the lever. The size of the book makes it a perfect lap book for story time, or a nice bedtime treat. My toddler has heard me sing this song since she was born and now she can put images to the silly words and she absolutely LOVES IT!

Flowing with Indian culture, in particular Crow, Medawar weaves a beautiful story of life in the 1800s in a mixed Indian family. Her characters are very well developed, and become quite real, as opposed to what one of the publishers' reviews said. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel, and look forward to finding more. The story is really alive, and she has a wonderful way with words...even including some humor. If you can find it, read it.

"People of the Whistling Waters" by Mardi Oakley Medawar captured my attention from the very first page. Her characters come to life with her talented dialogue and authentic action. Medawar's depiction of the Crow Nation is insightful. Medawar snared my interest and held it to the very last page. I am eager to read more from this great author. ...

The author projects the reader into a past full of excitement and suspense. I found the characters came alive in a way few writers have been able to capture. An essential collection for anyone wanting to truly understand how the west really was and the deep roots of America and its people

This is a marvelous, thoroughly entertaining and very interesting book. The characters, beginning with Renee and Willow DeGeer and their family, are complex and intriguing. The story focuses on the period between the 1830's, when white settlers began moving onto Crow land, and the 1880's, after the Crow have moved to the reservation, moved into houses and begun taking "real" jobs. The story begins with Nicholas, the adopted son, and follows him as he is assmilated into the Whistling Waters Clan. The relationship between the DeGeer parents and their children is warm, loving and humorous. The book is full of historical and cultural details and, as is usual with Medawar's books, all the women are small and feisty while all the men are tall and handsome. This book won the Western Writers of America award for best first novel in 1994.

This is a really excellent book, especially for those people who loved the first story about Pollyanna. The first half of the book is a wonderful reintroduction to the little girl Pollyanna and the second half is the story of Pollyanna-grown-up. Her manner of talking has matured with her, but she still plays the Glad Game in a way to win over even skeptical readers. Altogether, it is a most satisfying conclusion and a book I would recommend to anyone who loves the winsome character known as Pollyanna.

"Pollyanna Grows Up" is the sequel to the 1912 classic, Pollyanna and it is surprisingly just as wonderful as the first. Eleanor H. Porter mantained all the magic of the original novel in this very exciting continuation which takes us far away from our well known town of Beldinsville to the grand City of Boston, where little Miss Pollyanna Whittier arrives to cheer up some new friends.

Fully recovered from her previous automobile accident, Pollyanna returns once again to the city of Boston, in request of her kind nurse, Della Wetherby. This last has a sister by the name of Ruth Carew, who is miserable and depressed as a consequence of a great loss, a young nephew by the name of Jamie who was taken away by his father, the woman's brother-in-law and who was never seen again. Della Wetherby's sorrow was just as grand, but her career as a nurse allows her to forget, while Ruth Carew lives alone in her big house in Commonwealth Avenue with nothing else she does or wants to do but to think of the lost Jamie. However, with her visit, Pollyanna soon changes things around, at first driving Mrs. Carew mad but soon she enters her heart.

Pollyanna finds a lot of new friends in Boston, beginning with the servants in Mrs. Carew's own home, Jerry, a young newspaper selling boy, Jamie, a crippled boy who Pollyanna is sure is the lost "Jamie," and Sadie Dean, a homeless working young girl. In Boston Pollyanna spends most of her time trying to locate Jamie, in desperate hope to please Mrs. Carew, but of this I shall say no more, the surprise twist is for the very reader to discover on his or her own.

The second part of the book may not arrive too welcomed by some readers, like Jimmy 'Bean' Pendenton stated, we readers weren't ready to see little Pollyanna grow up. However, although Miss Pollyanna Whittier has indeed grown up, she has managed to mantain her usual personality, even if some of her more innocent charm is gone. Pollyanna indeed needs her gladness and her famouse Glad Game to be able to survive the terrible dark times that have arrived at the Harrington homestead, where she grew up with the strict, but changed Aunt Polly, who has gone almost back to square one.

In conclusion, if you've enjoyed the first part of this story, then you will definitely enjoy the further adventures of the glad girl and all of her old and new friends. Definitely a great sequel to an unforgettable classic!

I love this book!!!! It's just as good as the first one. My sixteen-year-old older sister kept this treasured book in her shelf and urged me constantly to read it. I brushed her off saying that I didn't have time and that it looked boring. One day, I had nothing to do so i picked up the well worn book and began reading. Surprise! I couldn't put it down. Not because it was exciting or suspenceful, but simply because it's one of those feel-good, sweet and uplifting books. On first examanation it doesn't seem deep or like it would have something important to teach, but after a closer look you find what a beautiful message it has to share. A girl, who with her kindness and ever cheerful outlook on her surprisingly hard life, make her a role model for any one. This is a perfect book for any girl who likes a delightful story and a sweet romance. I aggree with the other reviewer about Aunt Polly. She is quite exaperating, but the other wonderful charatures make up for it and she keeps it interesting. So, get a cup of hot chocolate and snuggle down by a warm fire with this book and be prepared for a wonderful time!

This is a pretty good story. A little more romance than I expected, but well written. Although grown up, Pollyanna is still her normal optimistic self and her Aunt Polly is really exasperating sometimes. It's a book to read when you just want to relax.

This is he best novel about the Civil War I've ever read. While the various descriptions made this book sound somewhat clownish, it really is the story of two families of non-combatants and how they struggled to stay alive as the War raged around them. Funny, sad, touching, and excellent in all respects.

This is actually the first book in the H.H. Lomax Series. I think this is the funniest western that I have ever read except maybe "Mixup at the OK Corral: (By the same Author). I cannot understand why this book is out of print. If you find a copy, buy it and don't lend it to anyone because you will want to read it many times and this is not a book that anyone will give back.

This is the second in the book seris and is well worth the time it will take to read this. It has acton and adventure and there is even a joke in it about Bill Clinto

This is a humorous, clever tale of a well known western folk hero and a virtually unknown bumbling western nobody. The book engrosses you from the beginning and keeps you guessing until the very end. Don't let the length discourage you. This is a great read!

An abridged book about one on one interesting, controversial, and at times hilarious interviews with Salsa artists, some who have truly contributed to the history of Salsa. With her book, Mary Kent helps you to grasp how Salsa was formed. Some sketchy interviews by some of the artists, but SALSA TALKS makes for a wonderful table book. A must-read. I'm Waiting for part two!

It is huge, it is intense, it is beautiful. The interviews capture all the richness of the world of 'salsa' from the artists themselves, and the photographs alone would have made a great book.

Don't bother with second-hand semi-accurate 'journalism' from self-appointed experts - get this book. It's the real thing.

I saw this book for the first time on the living room table of a friend's house. I couldn't wait to get my own copy. If you've ever danced salsa, listened to it, or studied its origins, you'll want to own your own copy, too. The book delivers portraits of over 40 outstanding people who were instrumental in making salsa what it is today. Musicians, promoters, managers, writers and others are featured in interviews, very high quality photographs and essays. Some have passed away, others no longer perform. So it is this work that keeps the memory of them alive. The publication is very timely as salsa today is at a crossroads. The creation of this permanent record of salsa's history will enable those who follow the great artists of the 70's and 80's to maintain a connection to the culture. This book is also an excellent historical resource with articles from writers, music historians and musicologists. Very Highly Recommended

Salsa Talks!: A Musical Heritage Uncovered by Latin music expert and enthusiast Mary Kent is a veritable "who's who" focusing on the men and women associated with the Afro-Caribbean music called "Salsa" which is rooted in the Cuban culture and revamped in the barrios of New York City. Here are noted band leaders, musicians, arrangers, singers, producers, promoters, and Salsa experts ranging from songwriter, journalist and musicologist Tite Curet Alonzo; to pianist, composer, arranger, founder of the Cuban group Irakere Chucho Valdes; to band leader, Apollo Sound, percussionist, dancer, Fania All Star Roberto Roena. Profusely illustrated throughout, Salsa Talks! is a 416-page hardcover coffee table book that is enhanced with a three level index, an extensive biography, a glossary, and Mary Kent's own picks for a Salsa musicians "Hall of Fame". A strongly recommended addition for academic and community library American Music History collections, all Salsa music enthusiasts will want to simply browse through the pages of Salsa Talks!: A Musical Heritage.

Well defined lessons on separating self from ego and opening up to higher levels of spiritual consciousness. Excellent!

briefly, the teachings found in this book are intended to assist you in taking back the power over your own mind. most of us are controlled by the various factors of our minds (our fears, passions, affinities, etc.) and have forgotten who is REALLY driving this vehicle that we identify as "Me." these teachings are like road signs on the road back home.

this book, Raja Yoga, is rich with value. like all things, the teachings found in this book cannot be objectively valued; the Candidate (one who would seek teachings such as these) must find the value for him/herself. for me, these teachings cannot be compared to anything else that i've been taught. i'm getting to know myself on a much larger level. i am sooo thankful for these teachings. the value is in the fruits of doing the work.

i highly recommend this book for anyone who feels drawn to read it. follow your instinct...your first inclination is often the most sincere one. also, take your time with it...Rome wasn't built in one day.

I found this book years ago by an accident, in an antiquity store in Zagreb. More than just worthy of the five stars- I found the lessons extremely useful. However, I would advise any beginner to be careful with the "trap door" and similar techniques, since they can easily lead one to putting too many things into the subconscious realm, instead of the opposite. Things like noticing the details on things, instead of the whole - for instance, counting each scale on a fish - are extremely precious and can help you build concentration and focus. Even the apparently simple things, like focusing your eyes and mind on a dot on the wall, or visualizing your pen, or matching footsteps with imagined music, will strengthen the mind enormously, even with very little practice. Seeing it as a manual for strengthening the mind, it is an excellent book and I recommend it to everybody. However, I would advise a beginner to start with something more general, such as Yogananda's 'Autobiography' or my 'Approach' - even if it means advertising myself :), before getting into specific exercises, because it's important to have a wide spiritual perspective before starting to bother with details.

Easy to understand,covers the subject wel

This was a fantastic book and a long one (I like that). I took it on a ski vacation and was tempted to take it to the slopes with me. I finally realized that was not a great idea but I could hardly wait to get back to my room, get comfortable, and begin reading again.

"The Shuttle* was written in the early 1900's, but it shows the brutality of spousal abuse--mental and physical--with no holds barred. Gentle Rosalie undergoes years of cruel emotional battering which is described with absolute psychological accuracy. It turns out that her sister Bettina is strong and determined enough to save both of them. Sir Nigel's end is satisfying, although it might have been even better if he'd fallen into the pigpen and been devoured by swine. This is a very early and powerful feminist novel as well as a skillfully written, entertaining page-turner.

I have a 1907 edition of this book that I love.. I've read it several times and each time I savour the language and the world that Frances Hodgeson Burnett described before the First World War: a world of English village streets with sound of carts clattering past hawthorn hedges and brash young American boys bicyling in buttonup boots and celluloid collars up the pleached alleys of country estates.
I think that the previous reviewer has unfortunetely missed much of the subtlety of the story, painting it in almost comicbook colours. It's "comfort reading" for adults who grew up making friends with Little Lord Fauntleroy and a Secret Garden. This is a novel that celebrates the goodness of people and cultures on both sides of the Atlantic in tender and funny ways that remind me of Lousia May Alcott's books and in the end, metes out justice in very satisfying ways. You might also want to see if you can find F H Burnett's "T. Tembarom" --which is, as her characters themselves might put it, a "bang-up" book as well.

The book is set in the 19th century, but the heroine, Bettina Vanderpoel of the filthy rich New York Vanderpoels, is no shrinking violet. That role is left to her older sister, sweet and not overly bright Rosalie. The story starts out with Rosalie being courted by and married to Sir Nigel Anstruthers, an impoverished English aristocrat on the make for a rich wife. Although she is only eight at the time, Betty hates Sir Nigel. Her instincts are on the money. Sir Nigel is a rotter, a blackguard, a cad, and a bounder. He is utterly infuriated that he did not automatically gain control of Rosalie's money when he married her. He and his equally appalling mother start a loathsome campaign of emotional abuse that gentle Rosalie is not equal to. Luckily, by chapter five it is 12 years later and Bettina has grown into a fine, strong-minded woman who has all the business sense that made the Vanderpoel fortune. The rest of the book tells us how she rescues her sister, her nephew, and the Anstruthers estate from Sir Nigel. The hero of the book is another impoverished aristocrat, but cut from genuinely noble cloth, even if most of his ancestors were of the Sir Nigel type.
Before the book is over, Bettina will be trapped, injured, and at the mercy of Sir Nigel, who has Perfectly Awful plans for the lovely lady. Will Bettina wring her hands helplessly and beg?
Don't be silly. Read and see how love, virtue, and justice triumph and Sir Nigel gets his.

A great survey of the current state of knowledge about this
intriguing group of organisms. The writing is clear and
informative. Howland describes a few
classic examples of the group in detail and gives a good
picture of the entire kingdom and its place in evolutionary
history.

Throughout the book he does a wonderful job of explaining how
researchers arrived at their conclusions and how much
faith the reader should have in the theories he
puts forward.

"Animal, vegetable or mineral?" It seems that question leaves out almost all living things. Biologically, the plants, animals---even yeast---are closer to one another than to any bacterium. The difference is that the former---the Eukarya---have cells with nuclei, while the Bacteria do not. Genetically, there is a third domain of life---the Archaea. A member of the Archaea is as different, genetically, from a member of either of the other domains as a bacterium is from you. The tree of life has THREE genetic branches. The remarkable discovery of the third domain of life had to await the development of modern methods of genetic analysis; the definitive paper (by Carl Woese and colleagues from the University of Illinois) appeared in 1977. Howland has written a lucid and highly entertaining overview of the biology of the Archaea, coveing everything from their ecology to the structure of archaeal cells. The level of sophistication expected of the reader is about the same as would be needed to enjoy a Scientific American article.

In his unusually thorough, non specialist, treatment of anaerobic
extremeophiles (non-oxygen using bacteria that live in weird places), the author answers some interesting questions, such as what kind of biologic adaptions does it take to live in places like boiling water or acid lakes? How do you collect samples of them? How do you culture creatures that die in the presense of oxygen? Is it possible that there's an entire biosphere far below ground?

Oddly, the one explanation he leaves out why the archea are generally only found today in hostile places.

Small but a nice book. Not many illustrations.
The author seems more a teacher than a researcher.
Archea are like bacteria but they are different.
Many archea are extremophiles living
in hot springs or other stressful environments.
From the name "archea" I assumed these critters were older than
the ones we are familiar with, but the tree of life in this book
shows the eucharia branch (us) at the same time or earlier than the archea.
Puzzling. Perhaps it isn't known so everything branches at the same time.
The book seems about 70% comprehensible to
non biological majors like earth scientists.

The takings clause of the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution, which had a brief surge of popularity recently due to the eminent domain case of Kelo v. New London, reads: "Nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation."

Epstein, a law professor at the University of Chicago, begins his book by examining briefly the purpose of the clause and the power of eminent domain, invoking Lockean and Hobbesian theories of the state. After a cursory look at originalist theories of constitutional interpretation, dismissed as unworkable, Epstein has distilled the clause down to its theoretical underpinnings. This is the stepping point, the beginning of a masterful journey through American jurisprudence, which touches upon such varied fields as nuisance, tort, regulation, welfare, taxation, and police power.

His theory is simple in its particulars, essentially reduced to a few theories of representative government: 1. the state stands no better legally than the citizens it represents: its rights are merely the rights of its citizens in summation, and 2. the change in wealth from the primordial state of nature to the civilized body under government must not only increase, but the proportion between the shares of each individual must remain the same: that is to say, the distribution matters as rightly as the sum.

Simple as his premises are, the book is by no means humble in its application, and his conclusions are in no sense lacking for justification. Epstein's logic is buttressed at every turn by law review articles, often complex economic analyses, and veins of political science. His conclusions are not incontrovertible, but they are indeed mighty.

He brings this approach to what seems to be nearly every aspect of common and constitutional law (antitrust law being the one exception I noticed), all through the eye of the clause. Chapters stand on their own: one is barely aware of the arch of the grand overall argument until the final chapters, when the logic calmly leads us down lanes to ends we would dare not consider at the beginning of the book. But even then the approach is characteristically precise, honest, and stark.

The case is made for a society more libertarian, but it is not borne from the insipid koan of "non-aggression," but rather structured upon modern economic analytic techniques, the lessons of the common law, calculus both utilitarian and Kantian. Nevertheless, this is, to be sure, a legal book, despite the invasion of philosophy and social science. Supreme Court cases are introduced and appraised, Latin terms of art are utilized, the earthy grounding of common law precedent and principles will never be far away. It is only in the final and initial chapters that Epstein examines explicitly political philosophy, Nozickian, Rawlsian, and civil republican theories, and the implications his arguments bear when considered by their lights.

The legal center of the book will doubtlessly make it easier for lawyers to digest. The political implications will doubtlessly make it a better meal for libertarians than other political classes. Nevertheless, the layman will find much within to pique his interest (or enrage it), and any one with an appreciation of the excellent would do well to admire Epstein's arguments.

Something must be said for the author's style; it is certainly an academic one. Epstein does not use excess words, and will not waste ink restating a point already made. Superfluous sentences have not been included: every phrase exists as a necessary brick in the overall argument. The author throws no lifelines to his readers if they are confused, does not repeat what you were foolish enough to briskly skim over before, nor does he flash italics or CAPS when his points are particularly important. His manner is confident, never arrogant. If his argument has a weakness, he acknowledges the weakness and moves on without wasting more words. For example, perhaps my favorite passage:


But there is in fact good reason to recognize the practical strengths of the maxim [a common law principle of riparian rights], even if it does not capture an ultimate truth. That the rule bridges the gap between is and ought is hardly a demerit, for every rule of entitlement so functions. Better there be a connection between is and ought than no connection between ought and anything of interest in the external world. For dealing with the eminent domain clause, it is surely preferable to recognize a system of rights already in place than to invent one to replace it.

It is a dense and rewarding style. And it is a dense and rewarding read. Those looking for a comprehensive judicial philosophy may find it here entirely; those who already have one will find much to assimilate into the whole.

The final lines, which trickle by with characteristic understatement, and the final snap of the book's covers, left me in awe. I cannot recommend Takings highly enough.

The human right to own and use property is a bedrock of our basic values and freedoms. Epstein's classic book is a seminal (and accessible) analysis of the complex legal and philosophical issues involved. Its original publication in the mid-1980s was also an important political event; it helped trigger the current movement to reinvigerate the right to property, in the Congress and in the Courts. With the Del Monte Dunes case up in the Supreme Court, the argument is getting even hotter. Takings is essential for anyone who wants to understand the issues.

James V. DeLong

This fine book by Prof. Richard Epstein has probably been more influential than the casual reader may be aware.

The heart of Epstein's claim is that _anything_ the government does that imposes any sort of "cost" on anybody amounts to a "taking" for which the Constitution requires just compensation. We all know how this is supposed to work as applied to the usual exercise of eminent domain. But Epstein casts his net wide and argues that the takings clause applies to all sorts of things you never would have thought of -- welfare programs, rent control, jiggery-pokery with the national currency, you name it.

The impact of the book is evident mainly through "negative" evidence. For example, some readers may recall that during the Clarence Thomas hearings, somebody asked Thomas if he believed the stuff in this book (as the Congresscritter in question clearly did not). I think Thomas managed to duck the question, but the point was made. And at any rate, it tells you something that somebody found it important to _ask_ the question in the first place.

Then, too, my own property-law casebook remarks somewhere near the end that Epstein's views on "takings" have not been found convincing by too many people. Interesting that the book still finds it necessary to mention his work, then.

So check it out. Sure, it's radical, and (let's admit it frankly) it's probably not a correct interpretation of the framers' intent. But if you're not a tax-and-spend Congresscritter, maybe you'll find it as pregnant and alluring a suggestion as I do. And it's one of Epstein's best books; I think he wrote it before he had completely converted to utilitarianism. You don't have to agree with it, but you should at least learn why Federalistas are afraid of it.

The author of takings sorts out some vital issues. This book sorts out eminent domain issues, based on a clearly described economic theory of government. Epstein settles the 'Lockean Proviso' issue, and reasons through many other issues. For example, he makes the case for flat taxes over so called progressive taxes. But above all, this book establishes that anything that the government does constitutes a taking of some kind, and takings are only justified in very limited circumstances.

Takings is the best reasoned critique of modern transfer states that I have seen. This is one of a few books that has really changed the way I think about political economy. Every Law and Public Policy student should read this book, as should David Souter.