Kansas Books

As there is no table of content here on Amazon, I would like to take the priviledge to type one for you here.

1. The problem of pleasure: And the value of pain
2. A perfect world: The cost of freedom
3. The need to know: Faith beyond reason
4. A question of justice: Mercy, patience and chance
5. The downside up: Learning to embrace pain
6. Just deserts: How we become like God
7. Th needle and the thorn: God's answer to pain
8. What's in your hand? our responsibility for relief
Afterword: To those who suffer

In short, this is a good read for "Christians" in pain and suffering. Well written and organized, supported by good picks of scripture. It helps. Highly recommended! Nevertheless, For those who want to read more of the subject, "Where is God when it hurts? by Philip Yancey" is also an excellent choice.

I am a grief support group facilitator, and the "Why?" questions are always asked. This is the best book on the subject that I have read. The author explains reasons from a Christian point of view, with great everyday examples, as well as Scripture to support his view. When we suffer, we search for answers as to why we have to suffer. This author goes over the value of pain and encourages us to ask the questions, for in doing so, we often find God. There is just too much in this book to go over briefly. However, if you are suffering either physically or emotionally, and you are asking "Why?" consider reading this book. It is most encouraging.

If you like to read about the old west, this is the book. Written using old newspapers and police records of the old cowtowns you can relive the time of the 1880's and what it was like.

This is without a doubt one of my favourite books on the West. It contains biographies of 57 Kansas cowtown personalities, ranging in length from half a page to 130-odd pages (about Bat Masterson). Since the authors quote generously from contemporary newspapers and letters and keep their own text to a minimum this is as close as you will ever get to the truth about these cowtown characters. It is richly illustrated, including a facsimile of Bat Masterson's only effort as a newspaper publisher. Highly recommended. (This review refers to the original edition from 1963.)

I had a good friend of mine say to me once "I don't want to have anything to do with a religion that says unless you believe and follow Jesus Christ that you're not going to go to Heaven." I didn't know how to respond to that. It made sense to me, there are too many "good" people in this world that never even heard of Jesus Christ and it just doesn't seem fair that they should be condemned to hell. I know you don't get to Heaven by being "good" otherwise Jesus death on the cross was unnecessary. But for the billions of people over the years that never even heard of Jesus, not to have a chance to go to Heaven just didn't seem fair. I think it's this kind of thinking that makes people "shop" for a belief system like they're in a religious cafeteria. "With Cords of Love" is a response to religious pluralism that helped me with that question of "unfairness" and I know how to respond to that with a little more confidence now. I'd recommend this book for anyone that has ever had trouble reconciling that subject with themselves or with being able to defend their Christian doctrine when asked to. This is one of those books that I had trouble putting down and was sorry when I got to the end.

wscott0000@aol.com

Al Truesdale has given a great gift in his book, With Cords of Love: A Wesleyan Response to Religious Pluralism (Beacon Hill Press of Kansas City). The book is accessible, and it should secure a wide audience of readers.

Truesdale's gift is presenting the Wesleyan view of God's grace extended to all people whatsoever, while maintaining the Christian conviction that Christ is necessary for salvation. Wesleyans recognize God's activity wherever it appears, says Truesdale, but this does not force Wesleyans to be religious pluralists or believe that salvation comes through good works.

"Prevenient grace goes forth without reference to the historical, cultural, or religious contexts in which persons are born," says Truesdale. "It is the real presence of the Spirit of Christ in a person's soul, working to enlighten and draw him or her to repentance and regeneration and moving him or her toward new creation in the image of Christ."

One of the helpful aspects of the book is Truesdale's distinction between the individuals who affirms nonChristian religions and the nonChristian religions themselves. While not making the distinction too sharp, Truesdale uses real-life illustrations to argue that God reaches out even to those who have not heard the gospel. Truesdale puts human faces on religious pluralism.

With regard to nonChristian religions, Truesdale says that "the value of a non-Christian religion rests upon its ability to serve as an instrument of prevenient grace. To that extent alone can its positive features be recognized, but even then only as a result of God's creativity in diverse cultures - not from some inherent and independent value in the religion itself."

Truesdale reminds his readers that "no religion has saving merit of its own (including Christianity)." Christians should ask, How well does this religion serve the purposes of prevenient grace?

There is much about this book that is helpful. I plan to recommend With Cords of Love to my students and to pastors who puzzle over how to respond in our present age to nonChristians as individuals and nonChristian religions.

Thomas Jay Oord

A Precise and complete accounting of the formation and training of the 509th Composite Group which dropped the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Well written and with many pictures, its detail gives the perspective from the soldiers viewpoint.

WELL THE BOOK IS WELL WRITTEN AND I REALLY ENJOY THIS BOOK

This book mixes dating and Christianity, such as "how to find a spirit filled man". I didn't expect to find a mixture of preaching and dating ideas in the same book. I was not looking for a religious book.

I have only now become aware that my dad's book is available on amazon, as I haven't seen it in any bookstores for some years now. For those who don't know, my father passed away in 2000. I miss him dearly, and personally, this book helps me keep him alive in spirit. To steal an excerpt from one of my own poems, "Great American Desert," "I walk in his trail to keep him alive; in this great land, I will survive." You see, my dad instilled in me a love and appreciation for Kansas that too few Kansans or non-natives lack. Most see Kansas as a desolate, dull, flat state lacking in the "typical beauty" that one would find in a lush, or mountainous region. Although Kansas is not entirely flat as anyone who has lived in Manhattan in the Flint Hills would know, I do not believe that "flat" should be used pejoratively. I find the openess to be a tranquil, sweetly vulnerable place providing much needed solitude. The prairie is a wonderfully mysterious but simple place, where I go to be with my father. This book is a door to all of those wonderful places that many people don't even know exist! Beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder, and perhaps people are becoming numb to the overstimulation of places of "typical beauty", but no matter who you are, I believe that everyone has the potential to see and recognize the bountiful beauty that is Kansas.

As someone who was closely connected to the events detailed in Adoption Politics: Bastard Nation & Ballot Initiative 58, I was very happy to see that Professor Carp has changed his position on open records for adult adoptees since his Family Matters, in which he advocated mutual consent registries as the most equitable solution to the contentious issue of adoptee access to adoption and birth records. Here he clearly comes out for open records for those to whom they pertain, the adult adoptee.

In his introduction to Adoption Politics, Carp says: "In blending adopted adults' access to their original birth certificates with a protection for the birth mothers' right to privacy through a contact preference form (without legal penalties for violation), Measure 58 should be viewed as a model piece of legislation for other states to emulate." (p. 3-4)

And in the conclusion: "It [a coalition of adoption activists, adoption agencies and social workers] would not only confirm that a new age is dawning, but also that this new age makes it imperative to give adult adoptees access to their original birth certificates. It would be a clarion call that in the world of adoption it is time to look with fresh eyes at an old institution." (p. 169)

I do have to disagree with several points, though, such as the following in the conclusion: "But to achieve this goal nationwide, Bastard Nation and its supporters must free themselves of ideological blinders and recognize that adoption agencies do not constitute a single, monolithic 'adoption industry.' They must recognize that, either out of altruism or self-interest, the majority of adoption agencies support openness in adoption, including open records. ... The NCFA [National Council for Adoption]...will become increasingly isolated." (p.168)

I think BN does recognize that. The "adoption industry" usage was appropriate political rhetoric for our ballot initiative campaign in Oregon. On the other hand, in California, for example, many adoption agencies joined the CA Open Coalition in its legislative push for open records for adult adoptees, at BN's urging. One has to recognize that the neutrality of Oregon's Right to Life and Catholic Charities was extremely fortunate and unusual, and not something BN can count on elsewhere. In many states Catholic Charities is one of our biggest foes.

I was dismayed by the imputation of anti-birth mother sentiment to BN as a whole on p. 109 ("BN's dislike of birth mothers"), explained by the fact that "some adopted adults harbored resentment toward their birth mothers, whom they viewed as having callously abandoned them." I can't argue that some adoptees didn't/don't feel that way, but it was unjust to tar the organization as a whole with that sentiment. Nothing in Bastard Nation's policy, strategy or tactics reflects such a bias.

In regard to his discussion of the controversial use of the term "birth whore": the book states that "e-mail messages from Bastard Nation members ... that frequently referred to birth mothers as 'birth whores'" were found on the unmoderated Usenet newsgroup, alt.adoption, by members of the Boys and Girls Aid Society of Oregon, which opposed Measure 58. (p. 86) Carp does say in a footnote that this term wasn't used on BEST (BN's internal e-mail listserv) or in BN publications or in public during the campaign (can you imagine?!), and that the organization wasn't a home for "virulent anti-birth mother beliefs," having several respected birth mothers as members, but he doesn't put those many messages on alt.adoption into any kind of context. (p. 194-195) Only one person used that term seriously, and she wasn't a Bastard Nation member for long. The vast majority of posts were from BN members and others who objected to her use of that term, and several were posts in which BN birth mothers themselves used the term as a joke, as in someone's calling herself the leader of Birth Whore Nation. It is really too bad that this kind of misinterpretation has found its way into this book since one of the points we've always tried to make is that the struggle for open records isn't one of adoptees vs. birth mothers, but of all of us (enlightened adoptive parents as well) against the dinosaur faction of the industry as represented most strongly by the NCFA.

On the whole, though, very well done! The roller coaster excitement of those days was vividly brought back to me, the feeling of making history in adoption reform. The case on both sides is fairly presented, and the legal explanations are exceptionally lucid. (...)

This is the true inside information on the nomination of Ike for President. Along the way learn about New York and the New York Young Republicans. A well written story. I feal like I know the man. May he rest in peace.

Excellent book! Clear and down-to-earth explanation of the Wesleyan doctrine of Sanctification. Dispels many myths and misconceptions about the practical application of Holiness to our day-to-day lives.