Michigan Books

This wonderful old book was first published in 1884. It contains thirty-one legends, that is, "stories," from old Detroit, dating from 1669 to 1815. After the stories, the book then has a group of histories of various old (French) families from the Detroit area, including the Chaberts, the Navarres, and the Reaumes.

Overall, I found this to be a great book. It is an excellent resource for the historian and (perhaps even more so!) the genealogist. This book is a veritable goldmine of information, and I give it my highest recommendations.

Wawro's book studies a critical, and often overlooked, part of the legislative process: why do members draft and push bills through the legislature? While this might sound like a question with an obvious answer, Wawro points out that legislative entrepreneurship is costly and risky behavior. So why do legislators bear the costs and risks to draft and press bills?

Wawro uses a combination of theoretical and empirical studies to test for four important possible factors which might lead legislators to become policy entrepreneurs: to gain support from their constitutents, to help campaign fundraising, to facilitate their position in the legislature, and partisan explanations. While I won't ruin the punchline for interested readers, I will promise that you'll be surprised at the answers which Wawro produces.

If you want to understand contemporary American politics, you'll want to read Wawro's excellent book.

This book is a collection of scholarly studies of legislatures around the world. The goal of the book is that legislatures can learn from each other. There are global lessons to be found in the legislative process.
Among the universal traits is that the number of issues facing all legislatures is greater than there is time to look at each. One of the important decision each legislature faces is how to create a process that best handles this. Understanding this process tell us much about what type of legislature that exists. Who gets noticed and who gets ignored tells much about that government's societal power structure.
Nearly every legislature has to develop rules and procedures and to decide how to handle constituents. Further universal concerns include how legislators are selected, how they may retain office, and whether or not legislators should be career professionals. We also learn American legislators tend to have greater resources than legislatures elsewhere. Further, turnover amongst American legislators generally is less than turnover elsewhere.
Readers should develop an appreciation for the difficulties legislators face in different countries. One researcher claims it generally is in America where political institutions are created and improved and then the rest of the world tends to learn from American experiences. We need to go a good job, not only for our citizens, yet as an example for the rest of the world.

This collection of letters, by one of South Africa's leading activists, offers a direct view of the experience of a political prisoner during apartheid. Written during the author's 26 years in prison, alongside Nelson Mandela and Walter Sisulu, the books grants the reader the rare chance to grasp the daily hardships these men endured. And yet, given Kathrada's courage, humility and humor, as well as their ultimate political victory, the book is a source of inspiration and hope.

+AH4-To what extent should a liberal democracy tolerate extremist groups or hate speech? Are the media entitled to give terrorist publicity without the imposition of restraints to protect public safety? These are difficult, even painful issues for any free society, particularly so for Israel after the assassination of Prime Minister Rabin in November 1995. They are discussed in this collection of essays.

The essays cover a variety of related topics: the costs of tolerance, the treatment of speech+AH4-+AH4- advocating violence and of hate speech, the responsibilities of the media when faced with threats to give publicity to terrorism (articles by Joseph Eliot Magnet, David Boeyink and Edmund Lambeth), and the regulation of international communications, particularly on the Internet (Michael Jaffe). Some contributions approach the topic from a legal perspective (David Feldman, Owen Fiss, Irwin Cotler, Richard Moon, David Goldberg), others from that of political philosophy (Raphael Cohen-Almagor,+AH4-+AH4- L.W. Sumner, Sam Lehman-Wilzig). Many writers develop their theme from a Canadian, Israeli, British, or United States perspective, exploring the implications of recent developments within a particular jurisdiction.

Many essays implicitly share an underlying theme: liberalism carries significant costs. It is clearly articulated in the contributions of Frederick Schauer and Harvey Chisick. The public, rather than the victim, should be asked to bear the costs of tolerating harmful speech. +AH4-+AH4- In summary, this is a stimulating collection of essays on subjects of concern for all liberal democracies. Cohen-Almagor's introduction skillfully knits together the various themes as well as making some perceptive points of his own.+AH4-

An enjoyable, fun filled book of clever poetry and information about many places in Michigan. A unique approach and creative in focus. Every person fond of Michigan would enjoy it.

For anyone who followed University of Michigan football in the 1970s-1980s, Tom Hemingway was THE voice of the game. This is a great insider's POV on what it was like to be in the thick of things during the great Bo Schembechler's tenure.

This work is earthy, easily understood. Translations are timely, accurate and illuminate deeper meanings of Holy Writ, bringing sharper understanding of God's Word. The work of the two authors is worthy of major attention of Bible students today, but not well known or studied. Reading this work has enlightenment found no where else. Work worthy of being tagged "scholarly."

Palmer, a disciple of Thornwell, writes a thorough if sycophantic biography of his spiritual hero. This remains an important book for any historian of the Antebellum South and the Church for its use of Thornwell's letters. In its pages we also find a sympathetic history and character sketch of one of the most significant American Calvinists of the 19th Century (who is stilled revered by many today.)
The question of how a technically able theologian and passionate churchman could embrace the institution of slavery is a salutary warning for us today.

I highly recommend this to those who delight in the histories of Godly people. This lady went through tremendous trials and triumphed through Jesus Christ the Lord. The history is told through the letters and journal that she kept. One of her sons compiled a touchingly real picture of a dear mother who practiced what she taught her children. It shows her failures of faith as well as the triumphs. Very human but loving look at a very special mother who lived to see all 10 children come to know Christ as their Saviour as well as some grandchildren!!!