Wisconsin Books

A tough book to read, no doubt. Tthe abuse and terror that these people have survived is beyond belief. The story is enthralling and you yarn to be able to help and makes things right for the small children they once were.
Sophia, her mother, her brother Gerry and sister Michelle suffered rape, torture and disbelieving psychological abuse at the hands of their father. They told the guards, social workers, doctors, nurses, neighbours, anyone who would listen and nobody did anything.
They endured hell and worse and i wanted to cheer at sophia's and her brother and sister's courage and bravery throughout.
A must-read if only to show that in the face of horrendous evil, heros emerge.

This is the little book that Wisconsin synod pastors carry on hospital visits, emergency visits, and at baptisms, weddings and funerals. Attractively designed, with gilt edged pages, it includes pastor's prayers, baptism, wedding, sick visit, funeral and other blessing services. For a confessionally minded pastors, at least until the publishing of the Missouri Synod Lutheran Service Book Pastoral Companion, there were few other books that would be as helpful. The only true complaint I would have about this book, is the heavy price for a new copy, compared to other Lutheran pastor's agendas. But, this price is understandable, with the smaller nature of the WELS. A good contribution to the care of souls for Lutheran pastors.

The My First Little House series of picture books illustrated by Renee Graaf are fabulous. The stories are enchantingly adapted from the Laura Ingalls classics and are the perfect introduction for young readers ages 3-8. The soft illustrations in the style of Garth Williams are magical and stand on their own, but paired with the carefully chosen snippets of Ingalls own storytelling, they will capture any reader's imagination and foster a love of all things Little House.

I have a new holiday tradition that has added meaning to my Christmas. Since its publication, I have read and reread Christmas Remembered by Ben Logan each Christmas season. Mr. Logan's memories of Christmas have brought me wisdom and changed the way in which I look at Christmas and life. Logan writes: "I know there is something in Christmas, fragile as the laughter of children, that wakens the sleeping goodness in us, making it easier to feel, show, and say "I love you." His recounting of Christmas as a youth growing up on a farm in Wisconsin brings a simple, poignant meaning to what Christmas is all about. Another recollection of Christmas in Italy during World War II brings the stark reality of life to view, but in a way that joins one culture to another. The telling of stories is a tradition Logan feels is very important in family and culture alike. He writes that it is his hope as a writer that you, the reader, bring yourself to his stories and make them a part of your own story. His hopes are fulfilled as no one can read this moving Christmas book without being changed in a very special way.

This is an excellent collection of articles on the fairytale Cinderella. My particular favorite is Dundes' own article on the origins of the story we've come to know as King Lear in one of the early Cinderella variants. For anyone interested in the history and criticism of fairytales, this is an excellent book with many different view points on various versions of Cinderella.

one thing that you must remember with this book; it is a case book, not written in regular story form. however, once you start to read this and realize that it is written in a thesis/documentary form, it takes on a life of it's own. this book is not written to assist the lost 'cocker', but more or less to share and help shed some light on factual practice, and help to possibly understand the connection; or at least some of it, with ancient and modern man and the true importance of cocckfighting in society, past and present. i truly did enjoy this book, and highly recommend it to others with similar intrests.

Squires and O'Conner argue that the lending gap is narrowing in Milwaukee, WI. However, this is a slow process. The authors highlight that the narrowing of the lending gap has come about in response to advocacy at the local and national levels. Despite progress, efforts to improve access to capital in inner-cities are complicated by persistent opposition in policy circles and consolidation in the banking industry. If current trends continue, the outlook for inner cities is bleak, at best it may take in excess of 140 years for blacks and whites to have equal access to capital. However, Squires and O'Conner map out a course for improving the odds. In their chapters they indicate that the solution to the lending problem lies in a combination of: new lending products, mortgage counceling, affirmitive action hiring in banks, the location of more branches in inner city communities, and stronger CRA legislation.

From the back cover: Wayward shots not only ruin your scorecard but also play havoc with your mental state. This book pinpoints the major causes of hooking and slicing and gives you the knowledge to recognize and correct these destructive and frustrating faults yourself -- even in the middle of a competitive round. Fully illustrated.

This book is a masterwork of unbiased, apolitical analysis. These two ballers aren't math wonks, nor are they long-winded dinosaurs who talk and write themselves to death while contemplating every nuance of international relations. Rather, they examine real situaitons in the world with foolproof analytic techniques coupled with incisive analysis--a field of IR beginning to be referred to as "formal modeling" or "analytic politics."

If you want to examine the basic assumptions and predicates for much of the writing in IR over the last 25 years, especially (place prefix here)realist thought, then purchase or at the very least read this book. It begins by utilizing an apples v. oranges comparison of [realist/realpolitik thought] v. [analytic/formal modeling thought]. Once the reader realizes just how valid the evidence of the authors is, he becomes very hungry for new information and perspectives on the world of IR to fill the void created by the lack of validity of realism or almost any derivative of it.

The authors then explore just how complicated the world is, considering each rational actor in IR is also constrained by a myriad assortment of domestic concerns. By this time, the reader can become slightly skeptical because the analytic, overly logical environment he inhabits inside the book can be slightly intimidating due to its newness. Then, he turns to the appendices, where every single assertion of the authors is thoroughly buttressed by the rather simple math. If you have a GED, you can understand the vast majority of this math.

It is the reliance on logic and numbers on the part of the authors that validates their ideas. These aren't men with vague, pedantic thoughts that happen to be well-timed who wield their Rolodex to validate their perspective on IR. Rather, they assert their idea while completely reinforcing it with non-Stephen Hawking math. The only way you can disagree with the fundamental core of their argument is to assert that 2+2 does in fact not =4. If you are one of those people who says "Well..what can numbers do in the field of IR. They can't really prove anything, can they?", let Bruce and David show you the way.

At the conclusion of this rather cathartic (especially if the reader has read across the gamut of IR literature) experience, the reader is left with NO CHOICE but to admit that these gentlemen have hit the nail on the head. This school of thought hasn't completely turned IR on its head. Yet. It's not sexy. It's not flashy. (It is math, after all). But the operative words that apply to this text are: factual, proven, and applicable. Joe Nye & Co. are wrong and Bruce BDM is right. But don't believe Bruce. Just do the math.

This book is a very interesting comparative study of two relevant statesmen of the XVII century, Richelieu and Olivares, the former very [bad-]known through the eyes of The Three Musketeers by Hollywood with the cooperation of Alexandre Dumas, the latter ignored by most of the people, as it usually happens with those that lose a war. Apart from being very readable (I bought it on Sun-day and I have finished by Tuesday) and not very long, the contrast between Richelieu and Oli-vares is useful to avoid topics and myths based on the supposedly a-religious and modern per-formance of the French Cardinal versus the obsolete behaviour and ideas of the Count-Duke, or on the national character of France and/or Spain. In the case of Olivares, I have found that this book dedicates more pages to deal with the psychological and/or personal aspects than Elliot's "The Count-Duke of Olivares. The Statesman in an age of decline", who focuses more on poli-tics.

(Other books I would recommend to read on Spain: As a general overview, "A History of Spain" by Joseph Perez; and more focused on the XVI and/or XVII centuries: "The Spain of Philip II" by Joseph Perez; "Imperial Spain 1469-1716" and "The Count-Duke of Olivares. The Statesman in an age of decline" both of them also written by John Elliot; "Spain 1469-1714, A Society of Conflict", by Henry Kamen; and " Spain 1516-1598 : From Nation State to World Empire" and "The His-panic World in Crisis and Change, 1598-1700" both of them written by John Lynch).