Public Policy Books

The Champion of the Constitution, Ron Paul is someone one day you will tell your grandchildren about.

Want to know more about whats really going on that the mainstream news doesn't tell you? [...] because there is a war on for your mind. Listen to the Alex Jones radio show everyday for real news updates.

A great, independent book that's neither to the left or the right in politics. This book was my favorite read of the year, and worth reading regardless of political or philosophical beliefs. Approachable and easy to read, but not "dumbed" down.

I could hardly get through this ponderous tome. Unlike his book "The Revolution: A Manifesto". This is not concise. Rather it is prolix. This book consists of nearly every speech given by Ron Paul from the house floor. Although I am not sure he is correct in his beliefs, he has shown a remarkable consistency through the years.

This book is not an easy read. It contains a very large portion of Ron Paul's congressional speeches and his own post-speech commentary on the meaning of the speeches and comments on the timeliness of them. This book affirms his stellar voting record and is interesting to see his forecast of current problems we are facing on every front as a nation. If only congress could slightly awaken to these types of founding principles that our nation was built upon, maybe we would have a much healthier nation today. This book is an excellent resource for anyone who wants a historical look at Paul's congressional actions.

In A Foreign Policy of Freedom, Ron Paul presents his thoughts on foreign policy in a very logical manner substantiated by both reason and history. Paul provides a collection of his statements to congress over the last thirty years that will be eye opening as many of Paul's cautions that went unheard later came into fruition near exactly how he predicted.

Whether one agrees with his views and is in search of validation, or completely disagrees yet is willing to test one's reasoning against some weighty questions, one will find this book fully delivers. I have always believed that if I truly am committed to any position, entertaining the thoughts of an opposing position will serve to strengthen my views as it holds up under full investigation. What I found is that when fully scrutinized, Paul's position on foreign policy is the only logical position that leads to a stronger and safer America in the long run.

Paul prefers armed neutrality to international intervention, leaving many of his detractors asking whether armed neutrality equals isolationism, which could not be further from the truth. Critics of this policy who consider an international military presence essential to our safety will discover many revealing details throughout history that suggest otherwise.

For those tired of the hypocrisy of the right wing that views government domestically as incompetent and dangerous yet somehow able to bring freedom and democracy to any other land (or conversely the hypocrisy of the left wing that prefers the polar opposite), Paul's message will resonate with you immediately. Paul displays an understanding of history that few politicians can match and aptly displays the negative results of continuously supporting "our enemies' enemies as our friends" over the last half century. Consider that "for decades we have been both allies and enemies of Saddam Hussein, Osama bin Laden, and the Islamists in Iran. And where has it gotten us?" It is interesting to note as Paul points out that we have had the same vision for decades regarding the Middle East and yet things are as dangerous and precarious as they have ever been.

Is it so unexpected that we should at the very least be asking ourselves critical questions about our foreign policies? If we disagree, would asking such questions not merely strengthen our resolve? Ron Paul poses these questions that every voter and taxpayer in the US should be asking themselves; and Paul addresses all of them.

"Most Americans do not want to appear weak; they enjoy expressions of strength and bravado. They fail to understand that self-confidence and true strength of conviction place restraints on the use of force, that peaceful solutions to problems require greater wisdom than unprovoked force." Are you among those that place pretense over result, or are you willing to get passed the foolish notion that any opposing ideas to mere aggression are unpatriotic or weak. If you find yourself in the latter, there is no book I am aware of on the issue of foreign policy that I recommend higher than A Foreign Policy of Freedom.

I read this book last semester for a Criminal Justice class and it is amazing. It opened my eyes to exactly how wrong the war on drugs is. This book is my #1 recommended book. If more people would read it I think we'd finally be able to find our way out of this fruitless war.

Q: What is the difference between the Prohibition and America's war on drugs? Mike Gray's overall answer is "very little," but the one glaring difference is that when Prohibition failed, the country repealed the Constitutional Amendment which had created it. Alcohol use remained at about the same level before, during and after the Prohibition years, but the murder, official corruption and gang battles that accompanied official proscription came and went. DRUG CRAZY analyzes the upshot of that distinction and its enormous worldwide effects. The U.S. led anti-drug effort has cost us hundreds of billions of dollars in enforcement efforts alone, not to mention the cost of prisons, imprisonment and court proceedings and has succeeded in creating an international drug consortium with an annual income higher than the U.S. defense budget. Thousands of innocent bystanders have died in sprays of automatic fire and bomb blasts. It has made pot easier to get than alcohol for most American teens and brought Colombian, Bolivian and Mexican democracy to the brink of collapse. Damningly, Gray reports that every refereed study since the 1890s has suggested that marijuana is harmless and that the opiates and cocaine are no more dangerous than alcohol (perhaps less). Even the infamous "crack babies" we heard about for a few years turned out to be an unsubstantiated myth. In every country where legalization and controlled prescriptive availability of harder drugs has been tried, addiction rates remained stable or fell, crime decreased and most addicts proceeded to live normal workaday lives. The U.S. has forced other countries to quit such programs through fiscal pressure and outright lies, insisting that all adopt our abolitionist stance. We have managed to export violence, crack cocaine, corruption and other benefits to numerous other nations along with our failed policy. At the same time, and to make matters worse, the nature of enforcement has become a defacto racist effort. Cocaine in Wall Street boardrooms is harder to see than crack runners on Main Street and while whites are the disproportionate users of illegal drugs, blacks are the disproportionate arrestees. In this country, one in four black males is either in prison, under probation or on parole, mostly as a result of drug or drug related crimes. Small wonder, as the author points out, that blacks think O.J. Simpson was framed: it is their daily experience. Police routinely lie in court to make drug charges stick. (Since private deals between consenting parties are very hard to actually witness, when police claim that a perpetrator dropped a bag or in some other way made evidence visible it is understood by judges, prosecutors, defense attorneys and defendants that it is "acceptable" false testimony to cover an illegal search. So perjury is permitted in the name of enforcement.) Amazingly, the whole morass of current drug problems and policies could be eliminated with the stroke of a pen. Minus prohibition the drug cartels would be defunded. If prices fell, many farmers would find other crops more appealing. If currently illegal substances were distributed by prescription or through state-licensed stores, kids would be infrequently exposed. (How many pushers are selling beer in front of your local elementary school these days?) Mike Gray has brought his story telling skill (The China Syndrome and other screenplays) and his investigative/documentary bent (American Revolution and The Murder of Fred Hampton) to bear on an urgent national and international problem. His recommendations and observations are difficult to refute and his is a well considered voice in a growing debate which affects us all. Even now, the genie released when California and Arizona approved medical marijuana use is being clumsily stuffed back in the bottle by Federal mandate, disenfranchising voters and creating a rising uproar. As former U.S. Attorney General Elliott Richardson observes: "Anyone who thinks the war on drugs is succeeding should read this book. It shifts the burden of proof from the critics of existing policy to its defenders."

This is one of the best books I've read on the drug war to date (and I've read a bunch). The book carefully went through the origins, history, and effects of the drug war in a captivating and easy to follow manner. When finished, the reader will be left with an iron-clad indictment of the drug war which has covered all angles. This really is one of the most comprehensive and well written books on the drug war, and I highly recommend it.

When it became clear that the medicines called opiates were highly addictive and caused health problems, they were dealt with as nicotine and alcohol are dealt with today. There were honest and realistic public service messages warning of the dangers of opiates, and there was medical help that greatly limited the damage they did to the individual and which had a chance of eliminating his or her addiction. These methods worked, and where they are applied they work today. Then in the second decade of the twentieth century the country took a nose-dive into authoritarian attitudes and corruption, and people got the strange idea that you could eliminate a practice you didn't like simply by passing a law against it. Alcohol, and the opiates were completely banned, as was marijuana which was now designated a "drug" because of its association with minority groups. Alcohol use, which had always hovered between widespread and universal, had been declining but now became more common than ever before. Worse, the alcoholic drinks that were taken became much harder and not being regulated they might contain enough alcohol to be dangerous. Worse still, an untold number of criminals were created, crime of all kinds increased radically, organized crime came to control whole districts and corruption reached heights never seen before. "Public service messages" regarding what were now illegal "drugs" became simple expressions of hatred having very little to do with the "drugs" they were about, and everyone actually familiar with those "drugs" knew it. Medical treatment by doctors who were actually trying to help their paitents was declared illegal, and a number of doctors went to prison. The lives of opiate addicts had usually been no worse than the lives of nicotine addicts, but now those lives became impossible. Addicts could no longer hold jobs raise children or do anything else but concentrate on their addiction. Current "rehabilitation" for opiate addicts is an expression of hatred for those addicts and makes no attempt to help them. It mostly consists of telling them they are evil it they don't break their habits, and for those addicted to opiates or nicotine, breaking the habit altogether is usually not possible. Opiate use had always been an insignificant phenomenon nationwide, and in the early part of the century when it was being dealt with intelligently, it was declining. But then the hate laws were passed, and now a measurable percentage of the population is addicted and condemed to ruined, useless lives, organized crime is more powerful now than at any time in history, and whole countries like Columbia are completely dominated by corruption-- as are large sections of others like the United States and Mexico. None of this needed to happen. The things we call "drugs" were handled intelligently at the beginning of the twentieth century or were never a problem in the first place. If realistic laws were passed, the worst of the damage would be fixed very quickly since it is directly caused by bad laws. The rest of the damage would take a decade to undo, but if we begin treating the opiates as we treat nicotine and alcohol we will gradually undo it.
I think that is a pretty good thumbnail of what Mike Grey had to say, and he is completely right. Everyone in the country should read this book. Our real addiction is to hatred.

Author Mike Gray tackles the failed drug war in this book and effectively shows how the present war has many similarities to alcohol prohibition in early part of the twentieth century. Gray begins his discussion of the subject of drugs by taking the reader back to 1925, in the city of Chicago, during the height of the nightmare of prohibition. Gangs ruled the streets. The air was filled with the smell of cheap booze and the sound of gunfire. Police were defenseless to the total chaos going on all around them. They simply could not stop the manufacture and consumption of alcohol. There was too much money to be made by selling this "forbidden fruit". There was no possible way that this "war" on alcohol could ever be won.

Does this sound familiar? It should, because the same thing is going on right now. The government's failed attempt to eliminate alcohol is now being attempted a second time with the war on drugs. These laws are discussed in the book with a history lesson on the various court rulings and congressional decisions that led to the present prohibitions on drugs. These laws have some of their roots in the U.S. Congress. According to the book, marijuana itself became illegal as the result of a lie told to congress by Fred Vinson, a man who would later become the U.S. Chief Justice of the Supreme Court. Vinson was sitting in a congressional hearing one day, just before congress was about to vote on whether or not marijuana should be made illegal. The American Medical Association knew of the benefits of marijuana in medical treatments, and was strongly against such a law. But when Vinson was questioned by congress, he lied and said that the AMA backed the proposed law 100 percent to make marijuana illegal. This was enough to help push the law through congress. Vinson's lie, coupled with the onslaught of government propaganda against marijuana, marked the beginning of America's second nightmare with prohibition.

The lying and deception by government cooled off a bit during the 1940 to 1960 period. But then, the lying and deception continued when President Nixon decided to revive the anti- drug crusade, in part to cover- up his own problems with Vietnam and Watergate. George Bush then escalated the damage even more by scaring the public into backing his anti- drug package and his "get tough" policies against drug dealers and drug users. Gray talks about these and other political maneuvers; why they happened and the true motives behind these so- called "moral" crusaders.

The present- day situation looks pretty bleak. Gray points out that the United States is now the largest jailer in the world with roughly half of all prisoners being non- violent drug offenders. We have also corrupted our police officers, with many of them actively taking part in the drug trade; cutting special deals, accepting bribes, etc, because of the allure of easy money. Respect for law enforcement is low, and violent criminals have been allowed early release to make way for non- violent drug offenders, thanks to mandatory minimum sentences.

This book is an easily manageable length: about 198 pages and fairly easy to read. There are a total of eleven chapters and two appendices. Appendix "A" details the changes in the U.S. murder rate, showing how it peaked during alcohol prohibition and during the present- day drug prohibition. It also shows graphs depicting the U.S. prison population and the Federal Drug budget. And to give the book some balance, Appendix "B" contains a listing of activist organizations, both pro- drug war and anti- drug war, along with a brief description of each and their respective websites.

As Mike Gray points out, the War on Drugs is one of America's greatest failures. Gray never specifically condemns the war. He wrote this book as a means to educate the reader on the motives behind drug prohibition and the reasons that politicians continue to fight a losing battle when they know that the war is not winnable. Gray never resorts to name calling or any form of moral persuasion. He really doesn't need to. He lets the facts speak for themselves, illustrating the endless problems created by a war of prohibition and why it is so important to stop this insanity once and for all.

There is a grave threat to the integrity of the legal system and to the core values of our society: The destruction of due process of law in the family courts, a malady that has now reached epidemic proportions throughout the Anglosphere.

Of all the scandalous behavior of the Left, perhaps none is so underreported as the systematic destruction of marriage and the family that is now practiced by the governmental divorce and child-custody machinery. This industry and the travesties it has perpetrated are summarized proficiently in the book, "Taken Into Custody: The War Against Fathers, Marriage, and the Family" by Stephen Baskerville, a professor of political science at Patrick Henry College.

Declares Baskerville:

"This book is about our unwillingness to confront the most destructive and dangerous injustice in our society today: the systematic seizure of children by government officials and the criminalization of their parents. A parent today who has committed no legal infraction can have his (or sometimes her) parenthood and relationship with his children criminalized entirely through the actions of others in ways that are completely beyond his control. [The book] focuses largely on fathers and divorce, because these are the ones most commonly involved."

The attack on fathers has been facilitated by the myth that they are abandoning their children in droves, at which point they become "deadbeats," and must be tracked down by government officials seeking justice for the forlorn wives and children. Nothing could be further from the truth, writes Baskerville:

"The myth of the deadbeat dad has already been discredited conclusively by Sanford Braver and other scholars. We have already seen that Braver is one of many social scientists who have found that few married fathers voluntarily abandon their children. Beyond this, Braver has also shown that little scientific basis exists for claims that large numbers of fathers are not paying child support. Braver found that government claims of nonpayment were derived not from any compiled database or hard figures but entirely from surveys of custodial parents. In other words, the Census Bureau simply asked mothers what they were receiving....Fathers overwhelmingly do pay court-ordered child support when they are employed, often at enormous personal sacrifice."

In the vast majority of cases, it is the wife who initiates the divorce proceedings. She is encouraged in this action by the regime of "no-fault" divorce. The old concept of marriage as a contract has broken down; today, the flimsiest, most whimsical reasons can be offered as justification--if justification is even needed.

Once this machinery is set in motion, the deck is stacked against the father. In the blink of an eye, he can be evicted from his home, forbidden from seeing his children, have his assets seized, his wages garnished, and he can be assessed huge fees--all without due process of law. Though not even charged with committing a crime, he is presumed guilty. Many of the proceedings are held without his knowledge or presence, and he cannot cross-examine witnesses.

In a macabre recitation, Baskerville shows how each amendment in the Bill of Rights is being systematically violated, with no appeal. For example:

"The Fourth Amendment protects the 'right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects against unreasonable searches and seizures'. Yet as we have seen, parents suspected of no legal wrongdoing and who have given no grounds or agreement for divorce are routinely ordered without warrants to surrender not only their children but personal diaries, notebooks, correspondence, financial records, and other documents. Those unwilling or unable to produce the demanded documents can be fined, ordered to pay attorneys' fees, and summarily incarcerated. We have also seen that fathers are regularly interrogated behind closed doors about intimate family matters most parents would not normally discuss with strangers, such as conversations with their children and spouse, and they can be jailed for failing to answer....In shades of Soviet psychiatry, citizens who refuse to submit to this inquisition--and even those who do not--can be ordered to undergo a 'mental evaluation'."

The divorce and child-custody apparatus has grown to enormous proportions. It is a veritable industry, with judges, lawyers, social workers, collection agencies, therapists, psychiatrists, caseworkers, and researchers making their living from the ever-expanding pie. The enforcement effort employs thousands of agents who have a degree of authority and immunity that is unthinkable for ordinary police and law enforcement agencies. It has become an independent fiefdom, with no oversight and little scrutiny, with an entrenched interest in generating more divorce, more restraining orders, more mental evaluations, and more outrageously inflated child-support payments (commonly approaching or exceeding the income of the victim).

Another myth deconstructed by Baskerville is that fathers commonly commit child abuse, incest, and wife-beating. In reality, this is rare. Mothers are more likely to use violence on fathers, and children are most subjected to abuse in single-parent households headed by a woman.

After describing in gory detail the horrors of the family-law system (backed up, I might add, by reams of studies and testimony), Baskerville turns his attention to the culprits, those whose ideology has resulted in one of the grossest perversions of justice in American (and British, and Canadian) history. There are several culprits, but towering above them all are the feminists, who have carved out this untouchable empire for the purpose of destroying fatherhood and the nuclear family.

A key buzzword used by advocates of this ideology is "for the children." This is the clarion call behind the incessant demand to insert the power of the state into the deepest recesses of the private lives of the citizenry. Children are used, in the most cynical fashion, to attain political ends. This has reached the highest echelons of America's Leftist establishment:

"The philosophy of turning children over to state control and denying a sphere of family privacy is succinctly conveyed in Hillary Clinton's aphorism, 'There is no such thing as other people's children.' Hillary rejects the notion that 'families are private, nonpolitical units whose interests subsume those of children' and believes instead in 'the status of children as political beings.' Commenting on these passages and others like them, the late Barbara Olson wrote, 'For Hillary, children are the levers by which one forces social change'."

Overall, "Taken Into Custody" is a balanced, non-emotional, well-written, and copiously footnoted exposé. The only sour note, I would say, are several odd forays into macro-level political analysis, such as the perplexing statement that "it is perhaps a legacy of the Enlightenment that today both liberals and conservatives seem to worship at the altar of the meritocracy." The author would have been better advised to confine the scope of the work to his area of expertise, in which his competence is duly impressive.

In any case, the book is a must-read for understanding the nature and scope of this insidious attack on a key foundation of Western society.

Hopefully, many young men will read this book and decide not to get married (which is Baskerville's actual advice to them). The book should also offer edification to older guys who already made that decision..they can feel vindicated. Of coure any "marriage strike" will also further the ultimate goal of ideological feminism, that is, a utopia in which men and women are completely isolated from each other. The question is, which arm of totalitarianism will gain ultimate highest power..feminist ideologues, or the State? Or perhaps a State controlled by feminist ideologues? I shudder to think.

About this time, 20 years ago I filed for divorce from my wife of
7 years. At that time I worked as a Chief Electrician at the Fulton
County Courthouse where my divorce would be held. I knew most of the
Superior and State Court Judges on a personal basis; but, I did not
know how most judges handled divorce cases so I went to Kim Warden
who handled abused kids and abused women to ask her opinion of the
judge who would handle my case.

As best I remember, this is what Ms. Warden said: "Your divorce has
been assigned to Superior Court Judge Ralph Hicks? Good luck. While
Hicks has tried to mitigate the horrendous way Child Support payments
is handled in Fulton County by creating 'The Fulton County Child Support
Receiver's Office, Hicks is extremely biased against men. For example:

"Bill, if you were a combination of Jesus Christ and Santa Claus and
you wife were a Convicted prostitute, a Convicted drug user and a Convicted child abuser and you and her both wanted custody of your child? You, Mr. Claus would have a 50-50 chance that you would get
custody. I suggest you try to get Judge Hicks recused from your case;
but, don't cite bias against men as your reason. Be creative."

Drat! My wife was not a convicted drug user, etc..., so I was creative
in my attempt before any hearings to get Hicks recused and have an out
of county Judge who did not know me to handle my case.

My first attorney refused to file a Motion to Recuse! (Should have
dismissed this attorney right then and there. Unfortunately, 1st
attorney eventually stabbed me in the back; but, that's another story.)

Judge Hicks lived down to Ms. Warden's low opinon---and then some.

Long story short, it took over 3 years to get my divorce here in Georgia. Judge Hicks finally, FINALLY, recused himself after charges
of incompetence were made against him in YR 2 of my divorce. My case was then heard by 4 other judges.

The last judge, a woman named Frank Hull, wouldn't put up with my
wife's attorney's shenanigans, reduced my child support from $850 per
month to $700 for one child and quickly granted me a divorce after
Judge Hull threatened my wife that she might reduce child custory
payments even further and, maybe, grant me sole custody.

During these 3+ years of monetary and judicial agony, I joined Fathers
Are Parents Too and Children's Rights Council of Georgia. If I thought
I'd had it bad, a goodly number these members had divorces that made
mine look like a cake walk. Both these groups really helped me
cope and I will be forever grateful.

Sincerely!
Bill Bryan
EducationChoiceActivist at yahoo dot com

"America's kids (K-12) can have Olympic Quality Education at
Low, low Wal-Mart prices if the kid's' parents could send
their kids to Public, Private or Parochial Schools (K-12) using
taxpayer funded vouchers."

Quality Education for Kids, Empowerment for Parents, and
SAVE AMERICA!

Stephen Baskerville has written a detailed and fully documented expose of how the family court system has grown into a frightening and destructive system of corruption, terror, and unchecked governmental power. It is a must read for all Americans, professionals, journalists, and politicians. You cannot walk away from this book without the disturbing feeling that America is slipping away from all of us.

Awesome and factually backed up.

Have you ever read a book that you just can't put down? Well, this book is beyond that. Everyone I talk to that has read it or is reading it just has to put it down, very often, due to the shocking thought provoking nature of presenting the truth in the most believable way. Great job, Dr. Baskerville!

Dr. Baskerville sees that the real root of the war on dads (which is the war on families and society) isn't just selfish feminism, media and our "learning" institutions, or even just the barrage of parasitic greedy attorneys, judges and all their "full court" of hangers-on who profit immensely and gain unlimited power from this. It has become government at the center and root of destroying the family, and all of our rights, for these same reasons. Our forefathers warned us often that this would happen every generation/20 years, lest we be aware and prevent it.


Becoming aware can sometimes be tricky when attractive hysteria prevails so strongly. The healthy, intact traditional family is indeed the number one enemy of government becoming in total control, put above the citizens and thus decaying into corruption. People will readily support family-destroying lies and anti-male/father hysteria propaganda if it has been warped into "protecting" women and children. People have always supported hysteria propaganda and lies when they are craftily twisted around to look so important and good. But supporting anti-father agenda and hysteria isn't just hurting but is destroying women badly too, and especially children. After all, that's what government generated hysteria is all about, milking the masses, not just one group. Remember, where there's hysteria, there's fire, for all!

Like Dr. Baskerville points out - fathers are the weakest link to taking down the whole family, not just dad. It's ironic that while fathers are the weakest link to destroying the family, that they are also in fact the keystone and guardians of not just the family, but the keystone and guardians of any healthy society. The true patriarchy puts the family, the group and society before themselves. This isn't what you hear in the news or at school? This is what has always built and preserved healthy families and society. We'd still be in the stone age without this selflessness which feminists and government have discovered in men and fathers and have now exploited for only their own interests and "good." They use this to get men and fathers to help destroy themselves and take themselves down as protectors of society and family, against abuse and evil. Anything to prove they are not guilty of all the horrid atrocities which men and fathers are falsely, rampantly and hysterically accused of.

Fathers are the most important part of protecting and keeping families and children most protected and intact, from being ravaged by the many wolves in sheep's clothing. This includes fatherhood's main rival to truth, equality and justice for all (government). The classic signature of all totalitarian governments is to cleverly pretend to be putting up a valiant fight for these good things while doing the opposite. This is also the selfish radical feminist agenda, "Me first and only; it's all about ME, me milking you and everyone around me with my drama, while I pretend and dramatize doing the exact opposite."

Many just don't fully understand (they will benefit greatly from this book too) that it's not that fathers have abandoned their children or are bad, abusive and any more evil than mothers are. Government and their hangers-on would like you to believe dads are bad, more risky and suspect or guilty, until they can prove their innocence, which isn't even allowed anyway. These lies and hysteria just help them do more business than ever, and look like the good guys while raping and pillaging you and your family, and of course the whole village. They easily do this with the fully support of a largely happily ignorant village itself, because they can hysterically point the finger at those they have set up as villains.

Thanks for helping "our" government "help" us all so very much: Hillary, Obama, McCain, Pres. Bush, legislators on both "sides," governors, AG's, prosecutors and so very many "friends" of the family - very attractive wolves in sheep's clothing. There is little if any distinction between republicans and democrats when it comes to this subject and a few others.

Dr. Baskerville documents and backs up what he writes in this book. And, thanks for the quote from Dickens in the opening of chapter 1:

"The one great principle of the ... law is to make business for itself."

- Charles Dickens, "Bleak House"

This is a beautiful book with comprehensive text. It is written in common English that anyone should understand. I already have a copy I received as a gift and bought this copy for my grandaughter who will enter college this year to study Art History.

That may sound a bit strange, but this is a great book to take on the plane or train with you -- or even to the beach.

It is a compact volume (though about 1 1/2 inches thick). Because of this compact format the text is in front (thin paper) with the plates in back. Phaidon provides two ribbon bookmarks. That also means that it is easiest to read using both hands.

That said, Gombrich leads the reader along with a style somewhere between a conversation and a lecture -- more like what you might expect from a learned uncle or family friend. Pleasant delivery, but leaving you no doubts about the value of the information that is to be passed along.

There may even be an advantage to having the plates in the back. I found myself dwelling on them perhaps a little longer than if they had been in with the text -- and the text calling for my attention.

You can read this book in long sessions, or in little bits. It doesn't matter, because the information is always there, and in the case of this book, the journey itself is important.

Enjoy.

An excellent book in an easy to read formatt. My professor used it for my art history class. Beautirul illistrations. Highly recommended. Great reference book as well.

For somebody interested in art, a book with many pictures is easy to read and enjoy.

The convenience of the pocket edition is incredible and the quality of the images and analysis is excellent.

My father, a well-intentioned school teacher who never met any situation that couldn't be turned into an object lesson, gave me this book to read when I was 14. There was no preamble, just, "Here." To this day I remember several passages in horrific detail, so I can safely say that the writing was clear, effective, and moving.

I somehow doubt my Dad thought I was going to become a child abuser someday, but this book certainly fixed in my mind the horror that a child can endure at the hands of adults and I believe in my heart that I would never do anything like this to a child. I don't know if it could have that effect on everyone, but perhaps it should be assigned reading--it certainly couldn't hurt to try.

I'm in the Navy. I'm 32 years old with a 3-year-old girl. I think I read this book about a year ago and it touches me every day. I think about it all the time. I picture Ursula, I pray for her, I pray to God she's with him. I look at my little girl with her long, blond locks and think that in around two years she will be Ursula's age. It breaks my heart to know she is learning the alphabet as Ursula did. It causes me to cringe deep down to imagine such an innocent, lovely creature such as a small child would endure torture at the hands of those she was supposed to be loved by and who should have cared for her. The truth is that I finished it in spurts, crying and yelling at the bathroom ceiling when my husband was at work and my daughter at preschool, the only time I could find to devote to little Ursula's story. I see her picture in my mind's eye. I have a BS in Business Admin, and not in Social Work, but I hope to retire from the military someday and find my place in the world helping children instead of residing in the business world, as I had previously planned. I owe it to Ursula, and I owe it to my little girl so I can help her see that people should care for each other and try to make a difference.

How can you read this book and NOT feel compelled to help a child who is suffering...? Children can't protect themselves. Even as strict as our laws are, we need them to address, above all, crimes against children as the most heinous of our society. Protection of all children should be our #1 priority. It's the only way to make our future bright.

I read this book and it took me about a week!! Why??? Because everytime I started to read it the tears just started flowing! It is unthinkable what this poor child went through. I cannot even imagine what the mother was thinking or should I say "monster" because she is by NO means a mother! I can just feel for this little girl, she was so wanting to please her monster to no avail. Right up to the end thats all she wanted to do. HOW can people do THIS??? There is barely a day when I don't think about Ursula and wish SOMEONE had done SOMETHING to stop this! To me it's ridiculous how people can just ignore it or not see it. This world just gets worse day by day. For you URSULA I say the world is cruel. I love you!

I grew up and still live in Central Florida and when this book came out, it was required reading in high school. I will never forget how the book made me feel. It's a very hard book to read and has many emotions all wrapped up into such a small package. I highly recommend this book. It's basically the authors recreating the last days of this little girls life.

This book is the true story of a woman who allowed a live in boyfriend to abuse her child - to death. It shows also how many people the child tried to reach out to (next door neighbors) and how many people witnessed her suffering (doctors, teachers) and did not do anything. It is a horrifying account of a man's desire to control a child's behavior through evil and dehumanizing tactics. Children need to be understood. It is wrong to expect behaviors from children beyond their years, comprehension, abilities. This little girl was a normal child with normal behaviors, and unfortunately her mom chose someone to be with that was unable and unwilling to cope with having a little girl around. It is tragic. Please read it.

I'm writing this as the mother of an adopted Ethiopian child- I bought this book after a random search and it has been the most valuable book of our whole adoption journey. It's loaded with helpful background info on the AIDS & Orphan crises in Ethiopia, history of Ethiopia, insight into the cultural perceptions of adoption (especially by affluent, white Westerners!) and the very moving perspectives of the orphans themselves, and their Ethiopian caretakers. The heroine of this story is very real, and her character development was deep and insightful. I laid the book down several times to have a good laugh (or cry!) but could hardly keep from turning the pages. Whether you are adopting yourself, supporting someone who is, or just interested in learning more about Ethiopia and this heroine's story, I know you will come away inspired.

Author Melissa Fay Greene, who is the adoptive mother of two Ethiopian children, relates the story of Haregewoin Teferra, an Ethiopian mother who becomes the foster mother for a multitude of AIDS orphans during the height of the pandemic. Greene truthfully tells the tale without painting Teferra as a "modern day Mother Teresa," but rather as a very real and human woman who is asked by clerics to take in one abandoned orphan after another. A grieving mother whose adult daughter died from AIDS, Teferra discovers that helping the children provides her with a means of overcoming her grief. The individual stories of these "lost children" who arrive on Teferra's doorstep are riveting, as is Greene's account of the assimilation of her adoptive children into her family. Accompanying photos show children shortly after they arrived in very bad shape at Treferra's compound and then later with adoptive American families.
Greene spares no one as she rails against the pharmaceutical companies that withheld AIDS medications from third-world countries at the height of the pandemic, causing the loss of a whole generation of parents. Despite having no drugs to help the children, hit-or-miss medical care, and scarce food for all, Teferra does her best to feed, clothe, house, and educate the orphans put in her care. Although one might think that this book is a "downer," it is a very uplifting page-turner that relates the indominable spirit of one Ethiopian woman and her many foster children.

Melissa Faye Green is an excellent writer. She is a true artist painting a vivid picture of scenes, and weaving historical, political and social aspects of the deadly HIV/AIDS epidemic. This is an incredibly powerful book. It is not easy to read due to the difficult emotional toll it can take on one, but I felt morally obligated to read it, so that I wasn't just shutting out the devastating misery suffered by so many millions. She portrays the human face of this awful disease with poignancy. It is an inspiring and human story of one woman's efforts to alleviate her own and others suffering. God bless Melissa for opening our eyes.

This was a wonderful book! Having myself been to Addis Ababa recently (July 07) with my daughter to pick up her adopted Ethiopian baby boy (4 months old), you can just imagine how this story of one woman's love for so many orphans resonated with me. The book is a quick read -- something interesting in every chapter. The author intertwined Haregewoin's up and down story with bits of Ethiopian history and the unwinding spread and theories of HIV-AIDs plus added her own experience with H. and the adoption her own Ethiopian children -- which made the reader come away with a true cultural experience. H. is truly a "Mother Theresa" figure and an inspiration to all women. Thank you, Melissa, for introducing us to her. I really enjoyed having the photos of many of the children and their adoptive families to relate to. I will be sure that my daughter reads this book and I have suggested it to my book club in Boulder, CO which will read it in the fall. -- Gayle Weiss

I like what the story is about, however the book has so much detail it is hard to get through the first chapters.

Several months ago while surfing the Internet, the name Dr. Davey popped up in association with "fluoride poisoning," the WWII "Manhattan Project," making of the "atomic bomb" and secret "human experimentation" in the 1940s. I am aware of my father's D-Day story but now, 60 years after his death, the final chapter of his life has been revealed in this incredible book. After further investigation and filling in between the lines, it is apparent that Navy Medicine, having seen X-ray reports of "fluoride poisoning" in the bones of American workers during WWII, refused to participate in a medical cover-up during the early Cold War years.

It was shocking to read "Chapter 8 - Robert Kehoe and the Kettering Laboratory" in The Fluoride Deception by Christopher Bryson. My father, LT. J. Russell Davey, Jr., MC, USNR, who died in 1948 (unknown to the author), is described on page 108 as "the offending radiologist" who inadvertently exposed Dr. Robert A. Kehoe's study regarding industrial fluoride exposure of workers at the Pennsylvania Salt Company in Easton, PA. Dr. Davey made a January 31, 1947 medical X-ray diagnosis of "fluoride poisoning" which became known to management and workers several miles away at the Pennsalt plant in Easton.

Bryson describes top officials at Pennsalt headquarters in Philadelphia as being "furious" with Drs. George Pillmore and Davey. The two Navy radiologists were not aware of Dr. Kehoe's Kettering Laboratory mission, to secretly collect medical data regarding poisoned American workers in order to protect the US government's bomb-related defense industry from potential lawsuits. The author brilliantly lays out Pennsalt's role in producing hydrofluoric acid (HF) for atomic bomb production and the resulting cover-up of workers suffering from fluoride poisoning.

Fluoride poisoning resulting in "crippling skeletal fluorosis" had been recognized in Europe since the late 1800s. In 1937, Danish scientist Kai Eli Roholm, MD, published "Fluorine Intoxication, an encyclopedic study of fluoride pollution and poisoning." Dr. Roholm reported that fluoride exposure produced a host of medical symptoms in factory workers. Most distinctly, fluoride could visibly disfigure a worker's bones, disabling them with a painful thickening and fusing of spinal vertebrae, a condition he called "crippling skeletal fluorosis."

In 1944, 26-year-old Lieutenant Davey, 6th Naval Beach Battalion, returned from the Normandy invasion and became a student and protégé of Captain George U. Pillmore, MC (S), USNR, Chief Radiologist at the Philadelphia Naval Hospital. During that period, the Philadelphia Navy Yard housed a super-secret facility using hot liquid fluoride and pressurized steam to enrich uranium for the atomic bomb. Although bomb making was an Army project, the purpose of the Philadelphia plant was to supply insurance against failure of the Army's "separation program" and provide the Naval Research Laboratory with materials for the study of atomic energy.

Bryson describes a serious accident at the Philadelphia Navy Yard in September 1944. There was a release of man-made radiation and perhaps the worst fluoride accident of WWII. "A giant white plume of uranium hexafluoride gas drifted over the dockyard." Twenty-six men were exposed, killing two and seriously injuring the remainder. The Philadelphia coroner was not told the "cause of death." Body organs of dead men were considered "classified" and stuffed into a briefcase becoming the property of the Manhattan Project Medical Department. Years later, a Navy doctor explained to injured nuclear scientist Arnold Kramish that when fluoride gets into your bones, it "stalks you the rest of your life."

The following year after the accident, Dr. Davey was ordered to a Naval Special Hospital, Camp Wallace, Texas to serve as Chief of the X-ray Department in a 1,000-bed-hospital. After retuning to Philadelphia in May 1946 and relieved from active duty, Drs. Davey and Pillmore teamed up in a radiology practice 65 miles north of Philadelphia in Easton, PA. Dr. Pillmore established a Naval reserve unit that included Dr. Davey and about 30 medical doctors in the Easton area.

Bomb making was under the purview of the US Army during WWII. The Army maintained that "fluoride poisoning does not occur in the United States." However, the Navy Medical Department Cold War position on "fluoride poisoning" contradicted the Army Manhattan Project Medical Department. In 1946, Captain George U. Pillmore published Clinical Radiology: A Correlation of Clinical and Roentgenological Findings, Volume I & II, with 1,558 pages. LT. Davey was a contributing author. Navy Surgeon General Ross T. McIntire, Vice Admiral, MC, wrote in the Forward that X-ray examinations are "often the magic key in diagnosis."

Clinical Radiology states, "The source of fluorine intoxication include: (1) drinking water containing one part per million or more of fluorine, (2) fluorine compounds used as insecticidal sprays for fruits and vegetables (cryolite and barium fluosilicate), (3) the mining and conversion of phosphate rock to superphosphate which is used as fertilizer. (The fluorine content of phosphate rock is about 4 percent. During conversion to superphosphate, about 25 per cent of the fluorine present is volatilized.) (4) The fluorides used in the smelting of many metals, such as steel and aluminum, and in the production of glass, enamel, and brick....In 1932, Moller and Gudjonsson described a peculiar form of bone sclerosis in workers exposed to cryolite dust for a number of years. Since that time there have been many published reports of chronic fluorine intoxication and its effect on the osseous system."

Guided by a group of corporate attorneys known as the Fluorine Lawyers Committee, Dr. Kehoe's Kettering Laboratory conducted secret research in order to defend fluoride on behalf of a group of corporations that included Pennsalt, DuPont, Alcoa, and US Steel, all of which faced lawsuits for industrial fluoride pollution. Kehoe's aim was to block scientists from serving as effective witnesses in court cases. Manhattan Project Chief Leslie R. Groves wrote a February 28, 1946 memo to the Chairman of the Senate Special Committee on Atomic Energy, advising that "the Department of Justice is cooperating in the defense of these suits."

Unfortunately for the plaintiffs, Dr. Kai Eli Roholm, the world's leading fluoride expert who visited this country just after WWII, died March 29, 1948. The brilliant Danish scientist was regarded highly by the medical profession but now would be unavailable to provide testimony in the fluoride lawsuits. Dr. Roholm's death was "a tragedy for all who rely on scientist to tell them the truth about chemicals they handle in the workplace and the risk from industrial pollution." The 46-year-old physician left a wife and two young children.

Dr. J. Russell Davey, Jr., the young Navy radiologist who exposed Dr. Robert Kehoe's scientific cover-up of fluoride poisoning, died suddenly June 5, 1948 of undetermined causes. The 30-year-old physician left a pregnant wife and three young children.

In 1949, US worker fluoride lawsuits resulted in no compensation. Former Manhattan Project toxicologist Harold C. Hodge, coordinator of the secret human radiation experiments at the University of Rochester and the nation's leading fluoride expert, wrote in 1965 that "crippling fluorosis has never been seen in the United States."

This book is far better researched than the material that consumer use of fluoride is based upon.

Very scary!

In easily readable style, investigative journalist Christopher Bryson reveals the appalling truth about how an industrial waste product with toxicity equal to that of lead has come to be dumped in our drinking water. Researching official documents from the years of World War II and the cold war of the 1940s, declassified in the 1990s after 50 years, Bryson tells of the lies and the cover-ups, names the multi-million dollar corporations and the people involved, and through rigorous footnoting, his source documents. This book is a must-read for all those wanting to know the shocking facts about how, through misrepresentation of the results of scientific research and skillful propaganda, unsuspecting communities have to been made to believe that a toxic industrial waste product is completely harmless and will prevent tooth decay.

It's all about a substance that has been placed in our municipal tap water for the last sixty years. It is classified as a non-approved drug, but is prescribed to everyone without our consent, without public debate, and without dosage instructions for each individual. It amounts to mass medication without consent. This is the main reason that 98 percent of Europe will not fluoridate. In fact, most of the industrialized countries of the world do not fluoridate. And, statistically, their oral health is just as good as in the U. S..
Extremely detailed and thoroughly researched, this book cannot be recommended more highly. Bryson spent ten years digging into the dark depths of government and industrial deception to produce an eye opening revelation concerning the health of everyone who is a victim of the risky practice of fluoridation.
Upon reading the information in this book, I personally visited the website, [...] to discover a treasure trove of detailed information, both scientific and popular about fluoride, its politics, and its adverse health effects, and how to reduce exposure to the substance (which proves to be quite difficult).
However, nothing convinced me more solidly than my personal experience. Once I had reduced my exposure to fluoride for only a week (by distilling our tap water and using "organic" foods when possible), twenty-five years worth of "mysterious" symptoms that had confounded my doctors simply went away, ..... vanished. My symptoms were diagnosed as depression, arthritic pains, muscle aches that really shouldn't have been there, cloudy thinking, and several other problems that came and went as drugs were prescribed to mask each new symptom. But, nothing worked as well as simply drinking clean, pure water. (I found out later that it is estimated that about five percent of the population is particularly sensitive to very low doses of fluoride. I can only guess that perhaps I am one of the five percent).
I have spoken with expert toxicologists both corporate and with the EPA. They have all confirmed what Bryson explains in this book. In fact, the union that represents the EPA's scientists and workers in Washington, D. C. continues to publicly recommend that all fluoridation of municipal water systems be stopped. This is in direct opposition to the stance taken by the administration of the EPA.
Despite being painted as crazies and loonies by the pro-fluoridation corporate and governmental lobby, I can tell you that all of the people I have met who are working against fluoridation are intelligent, forthright, and not willing to be led like sheep when they feel an injustice is being done to others. Rather than dedicating time to deriding the credentials of their opponents, they use logic and scientific evidence to patiently explain why fluoridation should be stopped. They really care.
I sincerely hope that Christopher Bryson's novel will find its place as one of America's finest exposures and examples of how science and the truth can be distorted and twisted by money and influence until even the experts are convinced that something inherently dangerous is safe for everyone, no matter what the dose.

I read this book as part of a book club and was absolutely amazed at the history of lies and chicanery associated with flouride in our water, toothpaste and dental use. If you want validation of what is in the book look no further than the January 2008 issue of Scientific American who interviews and quotes many of the scientists whose stories are found in this book.

I used to think that anti-flouridationist were cranks, based on the way they are characterized in the media and by folks in public health. Now I am seriously concerned about the level of flouride in my drinking water and trying to figure out how to protect myself and everyone else I can. Do yourself a favor and get educated. The public health implications, including the risk of neurological damage in the very young and arthritis and other unexplained disorders in adults is worthy of great concern. Especially when you realize that adding flouride to water was initially done to whitewash and to undermine concerns that this industrial pollutant (from coal mining and steel production among others)was poisoning communities and workers.

These stories are about people that had a gun when they needed one. You don't hear about these in the paper. You only hear about the ones (Usually DEAD) that didn't have one. Good read!

"Thank God I Had a Gun" by Chris Bird

This is a book of stunning accounts wherein ordinary people protected themselves from assault, for the simple reason that they had a firearm on hand with which to defend themsevles.

Stories such as these, wherein ordinary people defend themselves against criminal violence do not receive much attention in the media. Their stories do not always appear in print or in news accounts. Nonetheless, many Americans do protect themselves and their loved ones on a regular basis. Ordinary people, in their homes and places of business, subjected to criminal attacks, do not always suffer injury and death, if they have the will to survive, and a firearm in their grasp. The unarmed however, are not so fortunate. They become statistics, and end up in the morgue or the hospital on many occasions.

The author is very experienced in the use of handguns and makes his living as a shooting instructor.

Most people, with no criminal background, can purchase a firearm for self defense. The background check takes between 20 minutes to 1 hour generally. After which time, you can leave the store with the means to protect yourself. That, and some affordable self-defense classes in firearms saftey and uses, can make the difference between living and dying, or going through life with nightmares for memories.

A very good and informative read for those who desire to educate themselves regarding the facts of firearms possession. Whether renter, housewife and mother, businessman, or just plain folks, this book is very useful.

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Of course you will not be able to put down the book because you are on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next in each story. Chris Bird doesn't just focus on the story itself like a cheap Hollywood film. Details of each victims personality, what led to the incident, how the police responded and the aftermath (how people who defend themselves feel afterward) gives you a lot of food for thought. There is probably someone who was involved in defending themselves that you can relate to. I bought this and the The Best Defense by Waters, read them in a few days each, and passed them among girlfriends. They make great conversation; we consider the possibility of an earthquake putting us in a situation like the Katrina chapter. Or what gun control means to an older woman who lives alone. Also, knowing what really happens when gunfire is exchanged, you will never look at an action adventure movie or police drama the same again!

I was very pleased that I learned so much from this book. I am an advocate of personal responsibility and self defense is a part of that. I try to think of ways to keep myself from ever having a confrontation and ways to remove myself from one if it were to happen. This book gives accurate descriptions of how people behaved in these times of stress, and while reading them I automatically inserted myself into the situation and noted how I "think" I would behaved differently were it me. At the conclusion of each story, I was able to compare what actually happened to what may have happened had it been me and I found some of my decisions to be in error. Hopefully I'll never have to be in one of those stories, but if I am, hopefully I'll be able to apply the knowledge gained from this book.

this book needs to be read by people that are not total anti-gun but think the police can "save" them. Learn that the gun is just a tool with a job to do,learn to use it like you would any other tool.

This book is a book that anyone who is considering a career in any type of child services needs to read. I myself am going into social services and this book made me realize what I will be seeing on a daily basis. Mary Ellen was such a brave little girl and I applaud her for surviving her early life!

The book Out Of The Darkness is an awesome book. It shows the hard time that a little girl named Mary Ellen had to go threw. She has such a hard life, but in the end everything work out. I recommend this book for everybody. This is an outstanding book, everybody should read it.

I'm Eric Shelman, co-author of Out of the Darkness. I just wanted to ask that if you buy this book, come on back and write a review of it when you're done. I've never had anything but positive feedback about it, but others can use YOUR personal experience with it to better judge it prior to purchasing. I thank all of you who have read and commented on our book.

The authors of this book have created a wonderful window of understanding how child abuse/neglect has evolved over the years. This book should be required reading for anyone interested in the human service field. Through the heart-felt story of Mary Ellen, we can see why there is such a strong need to protect children and continue to evolve for many more years. Thank you to Shelman & Lazoritz for telling such an important story.

Review of Out of the Darkness: The Story of Mary Ellen Wilson by Eric A. Shelman and Stephen Lazoritz, M.D. Dolphin Moon Publishing, 2003

I chose to review this book because it explains the job of a social worker in the early days of the profession. The book appealed to me as an author and advocate. Set in New York City immediately after the Civil War, this book offers a powerful story in a historical context. Using an original style that combines journalism with fiction, the writers completed a work of art that is based on a true story. The protagonist, Mary Ellen Wilson, was a real orphaned child who experienced devastating cruelty at the hands of the first woman to be tried and convicted of child abuse, Mary Connolly. The story climaxes when Etta Wheeler, a social worker; Henry Bergh, the founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals; and Elbridge Gerry, ASPCA attorney, come together to rescue Mary Ellen. It's nearly inconceivable that animals were awarded victims' rights before children.

Thomas Wilson was an immigrant from Ireland who fled the potato famine to shuck oysters at a New York City hotel. In 1861 he married Frances Connor, an English immigrant who he'd met while she was a laundress at the hotel. While he was on the front lines during the Civil War, she gave birth to their daughter, named Mary Ellen. The year the child was born was the same year that Tom Wilson died in battle, 1864.

Frances found it difficult to work and care for her child, so she sought the services of a woman named Martha Score. Childcare for the working poor in the tenements of New York City provided meager nutrition and crowded conditions with no sanitation. However, Miss Score took good care of the baby while Frances worked long hours at the hotel. Travel through the tenements was treacherous at night, so Frances could not visit her child as often as she wished. After her husband died during battle, Fanny turned to alcohol for solace, leading to the loss of her job. Eventually, Fanny died in an "inebriate's asylum." When the war ended, working women returned to housekeeping as their husbands went to work. This left Miss Score with no income, thereby having to abandon the then two-year old Mary Ellen to Blackwell Island almshouse. Mary Ellen was illegally adopted to the evil Mrs. Connolly, where she suffered for seven years.

Etta Wheeler worked for St. Luke's Mission; she cared for the "outdoor poor" and frail elderly in the slums of the city. When neighbors spoke about the cries of a child called Mary Ellen, Miss Wheeler used all available resources to rescue Mary Ellen. However, she was often told by pastors, police, and lawyers to not interfere in the family's business. Undaunted by the advice, Etta persisted in her rescue efforts, eventually aided by Henry Bergh of the ASPCA. In 1874, with police assist, Mary Ellen was carried out of the abusive home, covered with a horse blanket provided by the ASPCA. The court proceedings set a precedent: "There had never been a recognized way to remove a child from an unfit home." The jury trial resulted in felony assault charges against Mrs. Connolly.

Etta Wheeler's sister, who lived on a farm in upstate New York, legally adopted Mary Ellen. Etta continued her social work in the tenements of New York City, where she was needed most. Mary Ellen eventually married, and her daughters spoke of their mother's burns and cuts that never fully healed. However, Mary Ellen lived until the age of ninety-two, surviving her husband by thirty-one years. Meanwhile, Mr. Bergh founded the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. Mr. Gerry was responsible for forming the initial laws pertaining to the rights of children.

This story will cause the reader to wince at the cruelty and rejoice at the rescue. Perhaps