Switzerland Books

a man who loves a woman and prouds of his work, but couldn't be loved by them.
his story

Kernecker and Flippo's collection of folk tales from German-speaking Europe is wonderful material for students of the language with a basic proficiency in German grammar and vocabulary. It is comprised of seventeen legends, varying in length between one and three pages, each preceeded by a paragraph of background material and followed by a page of review questions. The book includes a small but invaluable German-English glossary, owing to the out-of-the-way nature of some of the vocabulary. Aside from the preface and glossary, this book is written entirely in German. While it is not appropriate for the beginner, it is a highly entertaining and helpful book for more experienced students of German.

I loved this book it was awesome it explains many things about countries and is an indepth look at our society. Even Though it was written years ago it is completely applicable today.
(PS READ THIS (THE GERMAN) VERSION IT KILLS THE ENGLISH VERSION)!!!

Surprisingly, I found this not only a facscinating but instructive study for me as a citizen of democracy in America. For beyond its merit as a description of democratic governance in Switzerland, Fossedal's study persuasively shows that we in the United States are behind the curve in the way we do democracy.

Abraham Lincoln in his Gettysburg address of a century and a half ago affirmed our stand for a government of, by and for the people. Fossedal's study of democracy in Switzerland makes it clear that while we may make a sustainable claim for having a government of and--less convincingly--for the people, ours is not a government at the national level by the people when in the U. S--in contrast to Switzerland--ordinary citizens have no way to establish policy or make laws directly.Having collapsed democracy, conceptually, into exclusively representative democracy,we have so much to wake up to in reading Democracy in Switzerland. And the author's exercise is a powerful wake-up call to this end.

Fossedal is not just a scholar in Democracy in Switzerland, but an advocate of direct democracy in partnership with representative democracy. Or more pointedly, he is an advocate of civically mature democracy which requires ordinary citizens, in a deliberative process to be directly involved in the central act of collective self-governance: establishing policy and making laws..

At the outset, I wondered:how necessary is inclusion of a history albeit brief of the Swiss people? .After reading Part 2. History, I came to see its value. Captivating are the anecdotal stories--scattered throughout the study--derived first hand by interviewing Swiss citizens and officials. These exhibit common sense in both attitude and in their way of doing democracy. They coalesce into persuasive support of Fossedal's thesis that: "the Swiss polity,as an historical and on-going exhibit of the exercise of a deliberative direct democracy is a persuasive rebuttal to the stand of elites from the Greeks of yesterday to the elites of today who hold that exclusionary representative democracy, in itself, is a better form of democracy than a direct democracy in partnership with representative democracy....In a word, an effective rebuttal to the stand; you can't trust the people...Switzerland answers the potential question of the political scientist or citizen: What happens if we place so much faith in the people that we make them lawmakers?".

The book is laid out logically and invitingly in five parts:

In Part 1 Conception, the author gives an account of his"pilgrimage" to the town of Schwyz where the "Bundesbrief, "the "charter of allegiance," or the "confederation bond" entered into in 1291, is preserved. Thus at the outset, the reader is drawn into the story aspect of this scholarly study. As noted earlier, this story aspect crops up via his many other encounters with the Swiss citizenry described.

Part 2: in three relatively short chapters Fossedal covers a thousand years of Swiss history. Throughout the focus is on how the Swiss confederation formed itself first by neighbors being forced by their own internal social and political oppression to look outward and confederating but in later times motivated to unite more closely by the attraction of the Swiss model of a self-governing people in itself

In Part 3: Institutions, Fossedal examines the Swiss Constitution, its structure, powers and procedures for its Executive, Judiciary and Parliament as well as the procedure and operation of Referendum.

In Part 4 Issues: he devotes a chapter to nine major issues of social and political life. Both via anecdote and reasoning this political journalist lays out the case that democracy really `works' when we place so much faith in the people that we make them lawmakers--supported by a functionally deliberative structure in which to make laws.

In Part 5 L'idee Suisse, the author does much more than impart information and make a `pitch' to the rest of democracies to follow this`new' idea: Here particularly his study rivals the analysis, critique and prognosis of democracy done by de Tocqueville in mid-nineteenth century America.

Among the numerous things that impressed me about Direct Democracy in Switzerland, I cite one of many benefits in reading it. At the head of the final chapter Fossedal states:"There is little point in studying Swiss democracy unless there is something distinctive about it--and not only distinctive, but importantly distinctive.If this is a bad assumption, then Switzerland is worth thinking about only for the specialist." Convincingly Fossedal shows there is an important practical Swiss lesson for democracies worldwide in the twenty-first century, that is, direct democracy in partnership with representative democracy works and is an idea whose time has come for us in the United States..

By way of conclusion, the advance exhibited by Swiss democratic governance which Fossedal advocates is, in fact, embodied in a project being sponsored in the United States by The Democracy Foundation (TDF) today. Moreover, we, as registered voters, will be able to vote directly in an amendatory election to put into statutory procedure this structural advance. The amendment and act is called National Initiative for Democracy (NI4D). In full disclosure I am Secretary of TDF. Don. H. Kemner

This is a book from a workshop done with teacher Michael Barnett. He responds to real students letters about issues they have with and surrounding sex. It has some very nice subtle meditations at the end.
I would have to say, in the UK and Germany this book sells for 10 Euros, not sure why the price is so high it is a short paperback book.

Lovely book though,
Sadao

Drina's grandparents is moving to Switzerland for the winter,and Drina is going to a Swiss finishing school where her cousin Antonia goes,too.She is quite sad all the time.But when a classmate Tamina Rionante arrived,she become happier.And then she is making a new ballet for Christmas in the school.I like the Drina series very much and I hope I can read Drina Ballerina, the one I don't have.

Head has written a solid work on historical scholarship. The area under study is called the Grisons, the Grey Leagues, and Graubunden, and is part of early modern Switzerland. Head takes on a number of historiographical battles that raged at the time of the writing, and some still do. One is the argument that communalism, the notion that common people could and here did work together to create a liberating and progressive political system, to be idealized along with ancient Athens as heroic models for today. Head shows how communalism was an idea that was preached and discussed, but that elites and factions combatted its core tenets, hindering its ability to function. He also looks at a famous uprising that some see in it communalism, but he shows how the Faehnlilupf movement never succeeded in its ambitious mission.
As for the factionalism in the region, which Head shows without a doubt existed and affected any idyllic wishes for pure democracy, it is shown to be an outcome of the major political forces in Europe using this part of Switzerland in turf wars for geopolitical advantage. The great powers competed for control of the area, leading to factionalism among its elites. And so this is another blow to those who want to find democracy or proto-Parliamentarism in 16th century Switzerland.
That said, however, the Grisons still presents a rich area of study, because of its tradition of independence from outsider control, and because it boldly evoked the language of communalism and freedom for all citizens, and as such should be paid attention to, especially by students of political language and of democratic movements in the past. And it is in the region's use of political language and its creation of a unique political culture that is the strength of Randolph Head's book.
It is to be highly recommended.

The book on the Embryology of the eye and its adnexae has been brought up to date till 1999. The 2nd edition will be published very soon.

This book is a MUST have. It goes into info. that is not covered anywhere else!!!!

Forty paintings from an early 14th century manuscript of the Latin APOCALYPSE. The Metropolitan Museum of Art -- The Cloisters Collection. The Apocalypse was the book of the Bible most frequently used as a subject for pictorial illustrations in the Middle Ages.
The forty painitings in this engagement calendar are reproduced in actual size. This is a wonderful collectable (or frameable) calendar.