Alabama Books

This is an interesting first attempt by the author. It is filled with some notable characters.

The novel begins with the internal struggles of the African American single mother in the South and her desire to break the cycle of dependency on men, in general. With the birth of her third child, the main character of the novel, the young mother and father move North to Chicago with hopes and dreams of a better life. In Chicago the young mother and father separate and all the things that she seemed to be running away from appear in the city. This single mother is left to fend for herself and her son. The remainder of the book revolves around the relationship and love that the precocious son and his mother have for each other and how that love and relationship keeps them afloat.

The story is gripping at times. There are truly lessons for everyone here. I might have thought that this book was only for single mothers or African American readers but there are universal themes that everyone can relate to. It is a good read.

This was a truly interesting book since I'm very familiar with all the places in the book. Someone from outside the area might not find it as interesting as I, but if you're a history buff or a resident of southern Mississippi, Louisiana, Alabama, or the Florida panhandle, this book is an enjoyable trip back in time!

This book was recommended by a friend who is mentioned in the book. Otherwise I probably would not have bought it. However I found it easy to read and very enlightening. I graduated from high school in 1962 from a small town in the South. Although my path took me a different direction; I was fascinated by Dick Reavis' accounts of his experiences at voter registration in a small Southern town. He is certainly very honest in his portrayal of his contributions to the movement. Learning more about the struggles of the college students and the people in the city where they worked helped me have a better understanding of the issues they were trying to help change. I was very naive back then and quite frankly unaware of some of the restrictions that were imposed on African Americans at that time. Thanks for enlightening me. I intend to do more reading on this important chapter in American history.

Darlene Williams Erickson was a Professor of mine many years ago. Her poetry classes excited me and her gentle encouragement touched the lives of many throughout her life. This book is only a hint of her talent for the fine art of poetry and her ability to express feelings and emotions.

I highly recommend her work and look forward to experiencing more of it.
K Branham

Because of its extensive bibliography and excellent index, this biography of William Procter, Jr., serves well as an introduction to the origins of professional pharmacy in the USA.

For more information about the book and its topic, contact the American Institute of the History of Pharmacy (AIHP).

It's customary in times of war for civil liberties to be overlooked; but what is more surprising is that the need and actions of military tribunals are not questioned more closely during either war OR peacetime. Here to ask these questions is IN THE NAME OF NECESSITY: MILITARY TRIBUNALS AND THE LOSS OF AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES. Marouf Hasian Jr. is a professor of communications: his analysis demonstrates that 'necessity' has often been evoked as justification for injustices, and case studies support his contention as he considers military tribunals from the Revolutionary War to modern times. His will appeal to a wide college-level audience, from students of law and communications to those interested in military topics.

In The Name Of The Law: An Oral History Of Law Enforcement, J. Mack Lofton, Jr. has assembled brief interviews with more than one hundred men and women drawn from the various divisions of law enforcement, including prosecutors; criminal court judges; bailiffs; probation officers; people working for county, state, and federal law enforcement agencies, and others. An absorbing tour through real human voices shaping a concrete picture of the law as a living force in America today, In The Name Of The Law is an impressive and seminal work which is a strongly recommended addition to personal, professional, and academic library Judicial Studies reference collections and supplemental reading lists.

In this book, the public choice theorist V. Ostrom examines the intellectual crisis in American public administration that he believes has turned out following the political scandals such as Watergate.

The author dichotomizes the democratic administration and bureaucratic administration. Bureaucratic administration, originated with Weber and Wilson, is associated with a system of "good" administration that is hierarchically ordered in a system of graded ranks subject to political direction by heads of departments at the center of government (p. 24). The bureaucratic administration is assumed to produce efficient results and also makes the government responsible, as opposed to fragmented authority, in that it will be possible to show clearly who is the responsible when failures occurred. Democratic administration, according to Ostrom, is associated with fragmentation of authority and overlapping jurisdictions, and represents the opposite of bureaucratic administration based on unitary command of authority. To Ostrom, democratic administration, indulging fragmented authority and overlapping jurisdictions, is that what founding fathers of the United States deliberately envisioned. Ostrom believes that Wilsonian paradigm of bureaucratic administration has changed the nature of American public administration by leading to numerous reforms that aimed to strengthen the President and by overcoming "fragmented authority and overlapping jurisdictions" with the promise to "make the government more responsible and efficient in solving the problems of the society (i.e., war on poverty). Ostrom explains how the centralization of power in the Executive branch created unfortunate problems that have consumed the trust of citizens in government that divulges itself in the fact that half of the registered voters don't bother to voting any longer.

Ostrom attacks bureaucratic administration excellently in a way that I cannot counter-argue. However, I found his Simon interpretation irrelevant and distorted in that Ostrom shows Simon as if he was the first person who challenged bureaucratic administration-although students of Simon know very well Simon did not challenge bureaucratic administration but asserted that when principles (proverbs) of classical administrative theory contradict each other (for example, efficiency and unity of command principles) we are not given any guidelines for priority ranking, that is, Simon proposed a comprehensive administrative theory. However, it was nice to hear a different interpretation of Simon!

The point made by Ostrom is that centralization or concentration of power does not always produce "efficient" results, "efficiency" changes from one situation to another. Also, Ostrom attacks the false logic of bureaucratic administration, oriented toward efficiency, with the reason that it is interested only in "supply side" at the expense and ignorance of "demand side". The emphasis, he makes, is that each decision structure has advantages and disadvantages and when determining one of the decision structures we must calculate and weigh these advantages and disadvantages.

For Ostrom, concentrating of power in the hand of the Executive branch and dis-empowering the other branches beget what today we call "symbolic politics": "The Executive offices of the President would then become the `efficient' part of the government; the Congress, the courts, the statehouses, and the other centers of authority would become the `dignified' parts of government relieved of their other burdens of work so that they can devote themselves largely to the ceremonial functions of government" (p. 126). Ostrom reminds us the self-fulfilling prophecy of Rousseau "One who believes himself the master of others is nonetheless a greater slave than they" (p. 146).

In the final part of the book, Ostrom explains the guidelines (say theoretical framework) that will "help" us determine the appropriate decision structures under specific circumstances.

Overall, this book is great in its challenge to bureaucratic administration, however I don't believe that the alternative to bureaucratic administration is "public choice" under the name of democratic administration. Highly recommended classic.

Mary Ward Brown's second collection of stories is a terrific read. These 11 stories (ten set in Alabama, one in Russia) are heartwarming, thought provoking, and very human (not to mention well written). They run the emotional gamut that can cover a lifetime and in each there's a sense that something more important than life itself is at stake (often this reminder comes in the form of death or thoughts about mortality).

The stories in this collection take up 142 pages (the longest is only 18 pages long) and for the most part stand alone (as opposed to being fragments of longer stories). These are essentially Southern stories told by a great Southern writer and there's not a dud in the mix.

"It Wasn't All Dancing" examines the relationship between an aged Southerner and her black nurse. As with many of the stories in this collection, the relationship (and its impact on the main characters) is the focus.

"Once in a Lifetime" is a love story on several levels--a mother's love for her young-adult daughter and her newly found love for the former high school hot shot.

"A New Life" is perhaps the weakest story in the batch and centers on an encounter between a recently widowed woman and a group of well-intentioned Christians who become interested in her fate.

"No Sound in the Night" is a moving story about a learning disabled adult-child and his love for his hardworking female boss.

"The Birthday Cake" is another story about deep friendships, love, choices, and consequences.

"Swing Low: A Memoir", perhaps the best story in this collection, is a moving account of the deep friendship that develops between an aged wealthy woman and one of her family's hired hands.

"Alone in a Foreign Country" is a brief tale about a young woman's overnight adventure/scare in a foreign country.

"The House the Asa Built" recounts how a strong marriage can have problems and how the husband and wife in this short story deal with them.

"The Parlor Tumblers" is about a grandfather's difficulty in getting reacquainted with his grandson after three years apart. It's also about the grandfather's regrets and his relationship with his son. And some pretty cool pigeons.

"A Good Heart" details the relationship between two neighbors from different social stratas and the effect of their tentative friendship on each.

Lastly, "A Meeting on the Road" provides a very short glimpse into what it would be like to be a minority in a small town--from both the black and white perspectives.

All of these stories are concise and each allows for some personal reflection upon completion. They're short stories, but they stick with you. This is a terrific collection of stories. Very Highly Recommended.

"Jack's Law" is a well written documentation of corruption and abuse within the judicial system. Written with the precision of an investigative reporter, Steve Joynt provides the reader with a factual basis for the inevitible conclusion to a corrupt public official.

Steve's research into his subject begins with details of Montgomery's early childhood and continue through a lifetime devoted to deception and self grandeur that led to his eventual downfall and death.

Well worth reading, particularly for anyone interested in the backrooms of "justice".