Organizations Books

This is an excellent resource. The reading assumes some formal theological training, so it is a resource that is more useful for pastors, educators, spiritual directors who are looking for tools to help equip lay people for ministries of prayers. Both theoretical and practical, this is a must-have for the pastor's study!

Initially a bit wary of this book title, since (as a psychotherapist) I am allergic to most things pious, I was thunderstruck from the first chapter. A church person myself, what I learned suprised me, as well as enriched me.

This splendid work by a professor of pastoral care, thoroughly grounded in theology, counseling, psychology, and literature as well -- not only revitalizes pastoral care; it also revitalizes FAITH in the true sense of the word.

Of the many ways in which I feel indebted to this book, two are especially important to me.

1) The church at its core is a community of mutuality centered in the relationship with Christ among us. Caring for each other means mutual hearing, mutual seeing, mutual service, and mutual joy, made possible by the love of the Lord working in us as a community. These are gifts bestowed upon an intimate fellowship of love that reaches beyond itself, indeed to the world. This koinonia, as it is expressed in Greek, is the subject of the first chapter that stunned me so. It is the sole purpose of pastoral care, which is an end in itself, not a tool in the desire to obtain other ends.

2) This truth includes the second one: the distinction between pastoral care and pastoral counseling from the practice of PSYCHOTHERAPY. The elegant and compelling distinction between the two is on pages 13 and 14 of the book. If you are interested in either of these disciplines, just buy the book, and start there. It is only the beginning of the treasures, but it is most revealing.

If you should be simply a titular "believer", or a church goer with a vague notion of what is going on there, or an interest in prayer as a subject to know more about, READ THIS BOOK.

I like this book so much I wrote two mini-reviews of praise during my reading of it. As I got closer to the end, I liked it more and more. I bought an extra copy and had it shipped to a friend before I was through. I think it deserves a place on every pastor's bookshelf, but it should not stay long on the shelf- it deserves to be read over and over again.

One reason I like the book so much is that it serves two purposes, and each of those for at last two audiences. Yet all are bound together in one integrated narrative, as best described in the opening paragraph: "Pastoral care cannot be Christian unless conducted in a spirit of reverence. The work of prayer is integral to every step. If we believe that it is finally God who provides what is needed, then prayer is not optional" (p. 1). This theme is woven into the rest of the book. In the chapter on prayers of lament, Hunsinger describes Job's unseen encounter with the Holy Spirit, then writes: "The unique history that unfolds between God and Job is a paradigm for pastoral care. The decisive encounter is shown to be not between the caregiver and the afflicted, but between the afflicted one and God" (p. 149)

Hunsinger presents first a "Theology of Koinonia" in which "prayer in the context of pastoral care draws persons into intimate fellowship with God and one another" (p. 3), then lays solid groundwork for understanding that prayer is the essence of communion with God.

Chapters two, three and four speak to the listening aspect of prayer- listening to God, listening to each other, and listening to ourselves. Chapters five, six, seven, eight and nine speak to distinctive types of prayer.

The book is thus both a primer on pastoral care, and a primer on prayer. It is easy to understand, written without jargon, and develops in logical manner. It can be used by pastor and layperson alike, as individuals or as a class. In fact, there are several wonderful appendages that provide teaching tips for each chapter. These are not lesson plans, but ideas to either shape or include in your own lesson plans. For instance, the ideas for teaching Chapter Two, Listening to God include a group practice of lectio divina (nicely outlined in the suggestion) and a group discussion of which Psalms might be worth "learning by heart." Many of the teaching ideas could be used as an individual reading or re-reading the book alone.

The book is almost poetic in its style. Consider this passage from chapter eight: "What does the church have to offer when natural eloquence fails? When someone shares a great joy, is it received with the dignity it deserves, or is it trivialized with paltry words of congratulations? Does the church have the sanctified imagination that can discern the sacrifice, the faithful hoping against hope, the persevering struggle that prepared the person's heart for this longed for day? Can caregivers enter imaginatively into the long night that preceded this day of splendor?" (p. 183).

The author was my professor for one class at seminary, but I did not take a basic course in pastoral care. This book has really added to the knowledge that I need to function as a pastor, both in terms of pastoral care and in my own prayer life.

I loved reading it!!! Amazing! I've already recommended it to several people. As I was reading it, I kept thinking about how much fun it was to have excerpts from the Bible, Barth and others entwined for me to read, savor, and re-read. Hunsinger presents prayer and pastoral care in such a fresh way. Deeply grounded. Rich examples. Beautiful writing. In fact, sometimes I had to stop to reflect on the beauty of particular sentences. Thank you for the hard work and prayer that brought this book to life. It is a great gift to the church.

While some of the diagrams leave you wanting and wondering, the heart of the book solidifies the need for small groups. Especially in a era when there is so much demand on our time and so much stress in our lives. When George related the story of Jethro and his council to Moses, I knew our church HAD to get behind small groups in a big way. George shows how small groups are the key to a church family and how they are the true ministry of the church.

Carl George's "Prepare Your Church for the Future" is a must-read for those who desire to approach ministry in fresh ways in the coming years. His emphasis on the keys for developing groups for meaningful relationships and growth are second to none!

Many churches have adopted small group ministry as a way to connect Christians and to provide support and growth for their members. George shows how small groups can become an engine for evangelism and leadership development and enable churches to break through barriers to growth. Essential reading for any church wanting to grow -- in both numbers and depth. I also recommend the follow-up book by George, "The Coming Church Revolution," which goes into greater depth and detail and provides examples of many churches from several denominations that have successfully used this model.

Carl George wrote this book some time ago, but even today, it is a highly relevant and important book for many of today's churches. The concept of small groups is not exactly a new concept. Many churches have encouraged this for years. But few churches even now have turned the concept of small groups into a far reaching and fundamental tool of ministry, outreach, and caring that permeates the entire church mission. Even today, small groups tend to be a "back burner" concept among many churches.

This book tries to draw a direct relationship between small group ministry and church size. The theory is that a church can grow only so big and reach only so many people absent a vital and large emphasis on small groups. George cites a few megachurches as examples of the kind of ongoing growth and changed lives that occur when the church embraces small groups not with a recreational commitment, but with the kind of commitment that comes when something is considered a primary mission of the church.

The small group model for church growth is a model that works, not because George says so, but because several churches who have embraced this model are growing beyond many of the ceilings that the vast majority of churches who don't embrace this model can't seem to break through. Getting their people into small groups, when emphasized and encouraged, allows bigger churches to continue ministering to people and meeting their needs by allowing the congregation to minister to itself and not overtax the staff. This accomplishes the goal of the church not having to build up a huge staff of paid people to try and meet the needs of a big congregation. Therefore, allowing church funds to be spent not on an increased staff, but on more relevant activities that are more in line with the mission that God has imparted on the particular church. Further, small group multiplication allows the church to continue to grow and reach new people in the community in ways that are non threatening.

I did not give the book 5 stars only because the book does not appear to spend a lot of time discussing how a church can really establish a vital small group ministry and structure their staff in an effective way to cultivate it. Too often, growing churches want to do good things, but do not put the kind of infrastructure in place, whether people or facilities, to administer the programs with excellence. It's the classic problem of biting off more than we can chew. The motivations of the church are in the right place in these instances, but without a clear plan in place for administering a major small group ministry, George provides an incomplete strategy for implementing this approach. This may sound like a minor point, but it isn't. Ministries that are not undertaken with excellence are ministries that fail to fully fulfill the purpose for which the ministry was created. Having an administrative infrastructure in place that effectively manages a big small group ministry while also being an infrastructure that is frugal relative to church budgets is clearly one aspect of establishing a ministry with excellence. And this aspect is not easily addressable and thus, represents a significant challenge to George's model. It is solvable I believe, but George should have addressed this in more detail, in my view.

But clearly, George has hit on something that every church can benefit from if implemented correctly. At its core, Christianity needs to be about people. And in order to meet people's needs and transform people into fully devoted disciples of Christ, the church must place just as much a priority on meeting people's needs and providing care and support as it does on spreading the Gospel message. In fact, I would argue that those two things go hand in hand, and both are strengthened by the other. Having an active small group ministry that looks for small group solutions for a whole array of congregational concerns and interests is a proven model for church growth and evangelism, and something George describes very well. A good book, a good pastoral resource.

My earliest memories of Mass are of the first stages of the New Order. I remember having a Communion rail, then not having one. Over the years, I felt that the Mass provided me less and less grace. I have gone for years not going because there seemed to be no point. I won't say the New Order itself was bad, but in the way it is celebrated, it does seem to be susceptible to being "dumbed down" way too much. Almost by accident, I discovered that a Latin Tridentine Mass was celebrated near me every Sunday afternoon. Since then, I never miss Mass unless I have to work. It is almost like the Tridentine Mass provided something to my soul that the New Order did not. This book helps a lot to explain that phenomenon. If I felt that way, how much more deeply would the priest feel it?

Over the last few years, the students at the SSPX seminary in Winona, Minnesota, conducted interviews with priests who still say the Traditional Latin Mass as opposed to the Novus Ordo. THis little gem is the result of those interviews. None of the priests interviewed are members of the SSPX. THeir numbers include both secular and order priests, those ordained before the famous (or infamous) Second Vatican Council and those who lived through the touchy-feely drivel inflicted on modern seminarians. All have come to the same conclusion, namely that the changes that swept through the ROman Catholic CHurch in the 1960s and '70s have led to an unacceptable break with the Church's history and her Sacred Traditions. All of them would break away from their Liberal Bishops and begin providing The Mass and the Sacraments to the Traditional Faithfull in what Traditonal Catholics refer to as "Independant Chapels." SOme are cut off altogether from their pensions and have their faculties revoked by their bishops. Their interviews well reflect the bitterness of Traditional Catholics who have watched everything they love trounced in the years since the REvolution. One of them, ironically, tells how Archbishop Levada, the Pope's new appointment as head of the Holy Office, once told him how Transubstantiation "is a long and difficult word and we don't use it anymore." Others tell of years of suffering in silence and fear of being "outed" as Traditionalists. The world of modern day Catholic Tradition is a highly fascinating one and is known to so very few. The SSPX seminarians of Winona deserve a round of applause for bringing these interviews to light.

At my parish one of the easiest ways to tell a joke is to mention the traditionalist/Tridentine movement. Within minutes everyone listening will jump in to call the Traditionalists names and to mock them. I never really thought about it before but after reading Priest Where is Thy Mass, Mass Where is Thy Priest, I find myself wondering why there is so much hostility towards them.

Each one of these priests has a very sad story to tell. They preferred for various reasons to say the traditional mass instead of the Novus Ordo and they all got smacked down for it.

This is strange when you stop to consider that some of our bishops have ignored or covered up some pretty foul behavior in the past and yet these 17 men were handled with such scorn and even outright cruelty. If this is how traditionalists were usually treated in the 70s, 80s and 90s then it's no wonder why some are bitter about the experience.

The book makes for painful reading. Some of the priests here rebounded with humor, others are obviously angry and disgusted. All of them seemed sad and still a little shocked at how things have turned out. If you've ever cracked a joke about the traditionalists or was the least bit curious about them read this book and try to do it with an open mind. I'm glad I did.

I came back into the Church after a 35 year journey in evangelical protestantism. I figured that priests, bishops and the parishoners all believed in the teachings of the Church, consistent over 2000 years, or they would move on to the "church of fun" down the street. Wrong. I was dismayed beyond belief. I've always been a voracious reader and went through writings of various saints like Aquinas and St. Augustine. Where was the Catholic Church of history? It certainly isn't the one with the sign that says, "St. So-and-So Catholic Community." That one is Catholic in name only.
Through God's grace I discovered the traditional movement where people like myself will drive over an hour each way to attend "The Mass." People attend because they want to be Catholic. Read the book!

User friendly read with many tips and ideas for using your time efficiently and establishing the climate you want.

I "had "to buy this book for a class in my masters program and after using it in class and reading through it, I decided that I was NOT going to sell it back. This is a great resource and help for principals or administrators. This will be a well read and heavily highlighted book that will remain a part of my library.

When I was a new assistant principal, I bought this book for a resource for my job. I am glad that I did. Not only did it help me throughout my assistant's career, but it assisted me while I worked on my master's.
It is a hands-on resource book that can help with many situations or prepare you for new situations. In our jobs, every day is a surprise, so the more effective resources that we have on our shelf, the more relaxed we are when it comes our way.
I believe that this is a book that should be in the curriculum of every college campus preparing dynamic, future principals.
Cathy Blair

I am two thirds through this book, but there is so much advice and consciousness-raising information that is thoughtfully presented and very much need that it's not necessary to wait until I finish the book to write a glowing recommendation. There are ideas I will need this year to boost collegiality and morale. Some of the problem-sharing ideas are quick and easy to implement, too. I would like to have read more about interviewing and hiring teachers, but other than that I am quite pleased. I'll pick up this book often as a refresher.

This book is perfect for me, a freshman in college. It is very inspirational and definately starts the day out on the right foot. I would recomend this to anyone from 13 to 73, this can be read through year after year and be applied to an ever growing, ever maturing christian male. You won't be dissatisfied.

I picked this book up on a whim...a last minute purchase, without even looking inside at most of the content...I've had it for more than two years now, and I've made it a daily practice to read the chapter for the day before leaving my house to go to work...This collection of Bible lessons and day to day experiences from so many different authors has brought a great deal of peace into my hectic life...I would highly recommend this book to any man, single or married, with or without children...my favorite passage has got to be the one from Max Lucado..."Choose This Day"...GO BUY THIS BOOK!

This book culminates many different sources into one, practical, and intelligent synopsis for men. This book is good for men ages 15 and older seeking to either form, renew, or solidify their values based upon those in the Christian faith. However, this book also provides great moral guidance without being too "preachy". It is very reader-friendly and can take four minutes to read a daily devotion that will leave you reflecting upon its merit for hours. In addition to the devotional passages, there are carefully chosen passages of the Bible that relate to the contemporary topic at hand. Without a doubt, this is a book that I will give to both my father and son - and that I will continue to re-read for years to come.

I acquired my first copy of this book at a used book store. Since then I have purchased dozens to give to friends and associates. It is simply the best men's devotional I have found. It is often the highlight of my personal devotions. One reason the book is so good is that the author has skillfully selected from some of the best Christian authors - classic and current. The range of contributors, subjects and perspectives is impressive. Mr. Harrison seems to have a natural instinct for selecting gems of thought that hit home and challenge men to take and live their faith seriously and productively!

I found this book extremely useful!!
Is all I wanted to know -as a first approach to protestant worship. I reccommend it to all the people interested in protestant traditions, differences and origins. Besides, the book is very well-written (so you won't get tired of it easily!) and it is not excessively long. It's a great option!

As one who has studied liturgy at the University of Notre Dame and as one who has had a long interest in Protestant worship traditions, I found Professor White's work exceptional. Few other persons, if any, could pull together so much information from such an array of sources and present it richly in a way that is very understandable. As one who has a library of several hundred books on liturgy, this work would definitely be one of the five or ten that I would keep if I had to get rid of all others.

Ever wonder how different denominations came into existence? where did baptists come from? what is the history of methodism? in a consise chapter on each of the major denominational developments following the reformation, James F. White traces the origins of each denomination, and follows them through to their modern incarnations. excellent for the beginning church historian.

As I was going through my inquirer's class in the Episcopal Church, I ran across this book in the local Bible Book Store. It only encouraged me to continue. I absolutely recommend it to everyone interested in Protestant Christianity. For example, I was totally baffled as to why the church I was attending had the choir separated from the congregation and facing each other or a blank wall, in a completely illogical manner. Once I read Professor White's description of the church buildings encouraged after the rather ambitious Catholic Revival in the Anglican Communion, I understood.
But that is only about one chapter in this comprehensive book. Professor White describes with dispassion and accuracy the worship of virtually all the mainline Protestant denominations and their development since the Reformation. If you find this topic interesting, this is an indispensable book.

If you are looking for an analysis of basic Christian beliefs that will most likely make you take a second look at all you were taught in church, than this is the book for you. The author is relentless in her deconstruction of so much of the Christian myth that has been misconstrued as history. She urges the reader to get beyond the literalization that has dominated Christian thought since the enlightenment and to see the Bible for what it is...a theology book. This is a highly readable and, dare I say, "fun" text to delve into and would make for great discussion in a study group. If you like the writings of liberal Episcopal theologian John Shelby Spong, you will enjoy this text immensely.

This book was recomended to me after I read Eunichs for the Kingdom of Heaven (another real thought provoking book). This isn't a book where a pissed off person starts going off on religion and such with no logic or reason. She is thoughtful and careful, giving many good refrences for each topic. What she says makes sense. Even if you are caught up in the fairy tale and all, read this book. It can help make sense of your beliefs.

In a well-researched and thoughtful way the author explores those aspects of Christian belief that are difficult to accept on face value (like the virgin birth, the tendency to blame the Jews and excuse the Romans for the crucifixion, very different Christmas stories, and miracle stories) and peels away layers of theological presentations and pious fantasies to give us a glimpse of original worship and spirituality. Her writing is provocative and at the same time it is funny. I laughed out loud as I read sections of the book. If you are open to questions about Christianity and the development of religious beliefs you might enjoy this book very much.

There are people who will wonder, after reading this book, if one can remove all of what Ranke-Heinemann calls "fairy tales" from Christianity and still have a practiceable religion left when you're finished. I would answer that yes, you can. And if you can't, you have a highly impoverished understanding about what the gospel is all about (which is true of most Christians, unfortunately).

Ranke-Heinemann, an eccentric but brilliant theologian, focuses her efforts on deconstructing the "fairy tales" of the Christian tradition, and does so with a good sense of humour. At first she comes across as very anti-faith, but this proves to be a false impression. It is only the false beliefs that need to be put away.

She makes no effort to "reconstruct" Christianity after she's finished "deconstructing" it, but this is not the point of her book. If you want to find a fresh approach to Jesus, I highly recommend Marcus Borg's "Jesus: A New Vision" and "Meeting Jesus Again for the First Time."

An earlier reviewer suggested that someone who likes the writings of Jack Spong will enjoy this book as well. This is probably true, but the comparison is far more flattering for Spong than it is for Ranke-Heinemann. Spong's books are never as well-written or well-argued as this. Spong is a lightweight compared to Ranke-Heinemann.

Phil Crosby has the most coherent view of achieving quality of anyone I've read in 25 years of management. I continue to come back to him when I hit a quality problem in our company or those from whom we buy. This book is the best summary of his philosophy, in my opinion.

Philip Crosby is widely recognized as a quality pioneer for the concepts he drove homw with Quality is Free and Quality Without Tears. After reading, Quality Without Tears, I was struck by how deep a conviction he held that his concepts were valid. It's easy to say that now that they have become widely accepted, but it takes a visionary to act that way when they're a somewehat new approach.

The concepts which Crosby developed were a extension of the work of Dr. Edwards Deming (who also has published a bunch of books) and Crosby's work seems to be the basis of the later Six Sigma approach that proved to work so well.

A solid understanding and committment with the concepts presented on this book: the absolutes of quality, the fourteen steps process and the individuals role, will cause quality to happen if the company decides to be involved in the life long process of quality improvement.'Hassle free offers better working relationships, a smooth system and happy employees'

In Quality Without Tears, Crosby adds new layers to his original "zero defects" philosophy. He offers fourteen steps for quality improvement in teams.

Let's look at one of them, Step 6, "corrective action." The common problem with "corrective action," says Crosby, is that people don't understand what the term means.

Suppose, says Crosby, that you suddenly found a grizzly bear in your back yard: "The answer would not be to set up an armed camp to protect yourself from the bear. This is the sort of action that takes place when parts of an organization are given a shoot-to-kill license. All that results is a lot of yard that can't be used and several dead bears."

Corrective actions have to begin by identifying the source of the bears.

Another step is Zero Defects Day: "Many people rarely have exciting days at work . . . A well-planned, dignified, Zero Defects Day on which management understands what it is talking about is a delight that will be remembered forever."

Recognition also plays a role. An organization recognizes people who can serve as "beacons." These are the people who shine so brightly that they help keep everyone heading in the right direction:

"Many managers feel, somewhat cynically, that people are being paid to do their jobs and that's that. This attitude reflects an insensitivity to people that is a trademark of many hockey-style managers."

To drive his philosophy home, Crosby cites an unusual case study:

In "A Quality Carol," Emory Spellman falls asleep on a bus. A spirit appears and takes him to see his deceased partner. The partner is repairing thousands of defective items that their company has made.

This is punishment ...

"... For being the cause of the hassle other people had to live with. For not preventing these things by being interested in quality."

The apparition warns:

"All these years, you have treated quality like something you could take in or take out. Well, unless you change your ways, you are going to wind up right next to me, forever and ever, twenty-four hours a day. No time off, no visitors, no meetings ---- just all the problems you ever caused."

Predictably, three more visitors appear.

Quality Past is a former college professor who wants to retract something he had taught Emory. The misinformed lesson was to cut corners on quality.

Quality Present appears as a woman who tries to sell him on the quality vaccine. Failing in that, she brings Emory's customers to him through a television screen. One after another comes into view with a litany of complaints about the company's products and services.

When Quality Future enters, Emory finally sees the light. The final and most portentous visitor is a "severe looking person carrying a briefcase and dressed in a black three-piece suit." He has just bought the company from a bankruptcy court.

Emory returns later in the book and applies Crosby's methods to avert that fate.

Warwick has been raising by mail for years. This easy to read book offers charts, graphs, and systematic approaches to this successful, albeit investment-heavy, form of fund raising. This is an excellent book to get started or to review systems already in place.

I have seen him speak and then got this book. It is very entertaining but most of all it addresses the subject very methodically. Every reader will recognize the mediocre and unmoving writing that he is fixing and cleaning and transforming. If you are new to fund raising and need a primer on writing the annual letter (often the only fund raising small organizations do) look no further. The Expression "he wrote the book..." may just have been coined to describe this.

I used the basic approach he advocates and turned a dismal campaign around 180 degrees: from break even/loss to real money from a very tired (of the organization) list.

I have seen him speak and then got this book. It is very entertaining but most of all it addresses the subject very methodically. Every reader will recognize the mediocre and unmoving writing that he is fixing and cleaning and transforming. If you are new to fund raising and need a primer on writing the annual letter (often the only fund raising small organizations do) look no further. The Expression "he wrote the book..." may just have been coined to describe this.

I used the basic approach he advocates and turned a dismal campaign around 180 degrees: from break even/loss to real money from a very tired (of the organization) list.

I have seen him speak and then got this book. It is very entertaining but most of all it addresses the subject very methodically. Every reader will recognize the mediocre and unmoving writing that he is fixing and cleaning and transforming. If you are new to fund raising and need a primer on writing the annual letter (often the only fund raising small organizations do) look no further. The Expression "he wrote the book..." may just have been coined to describe this.

I used the basic approach he advocates and turned a dismal campaign around 180 degrees: from break even/loss to real money from a very tired (of the organization) list.

This is truly the story of the CSS Alabama (nee 290) that was commissioned to be built in Liverpool in 1862 for the exact purpose of being a raider and to search for and destroy members of the Northern Merchant Marine. Along with it's sister ship CSS Florida (nee Oreto), it was built and mostly crewed by Englishmen. Under the Queen's Foreign Services Act, when Britain was neutral it was illegal to build men-of-war for either side.

But there was a weakness in the law such that you could build 'ships' as long as they weren't armed; but you could sell them weapons separately. This is exactly what was done to launch the two raiders, who were then outfitted in the Azores. The rest of the story centers on the efforts of the Alabama and it's crew, and the US Ambassador to the Court of St.James to get the English government to admit they broke their own laws.

DeKay does a fine job in describing the Alabama's effect on the US merchant marine and the popularity of the ship and it's crew in the minds of the world public. In the end, the Alabama causes over $5 million in damages (about $100 million in today's money), and makes the buying of insurance to be prohibitive to drive a large part of the fleet to be sold or kept in port.

He also gives plausible reasons for why the anti-slavery British would be pro-Confederacy. The splitting of the american nation would insure that England would remain the premiere merchant marine for years to come and insure the continued supply of cheap (slave grown) cotton for it's textile mills in central England. There was talk of eventually weaning the South away from Slavery (which was abolished in the Empire in 1818) but it was just lip service.

The confederacy's navy during the civil war is a very impressive display of piracy on the high sees. While most of the attention always focuses on the iron ships it is often forgotten that there were several others out there raiding the north's commerce. This book puts quantifiable numbers and daring high sees escapades onto the same page. It is a very fast read and one that gives a new perspective on the civil war. The South's daring strikes and the north's eventual efforts to hunt down and put a stop to these raiders are cataloged here and make for interesting reading. There is also a very interesting subset that looks at European policies towards the United States during this time period and a perspective that is not often gathered can be seen here. This is a must have for true civil war buffs.

Astonishing revelations fill this book. Perhaps you thought that the American civil war was fought in America and was decided at Gettysburg. The story is not so simple. The English ruling class favored the South so strongly that they flaunted their own laws and found ways for the Confederacy to build and outfit raiders in England. These few raiders destroyed the American whaling fleet and ran insurance rates so high that the American mercantile fleet was driven from the seas (and suffers to this day). The cotton textile industry in England was in disaster. Workers were naked and hungry. The ruling class was on the verge of recognizing the South and forcing an armistice on the two parties. Then the North launched the most effective barrage of the war. Charity in the form of food and clothing came from the North to the unemployed textile workers in England. The English under class, against their own short-term interest made its voice heard, and England remained neutral.

Chap 1. Montgomery: Mallory, the Confederacy's Secretary of the Navy selects James Bulloch to build a raider navy in England. Mallory has never met nor heard of Bulloch, but on the recommendation of a mutual friend (Judah Benjamin, the Attorney General) and a brief interview decides Bulloch is the man. It was an excellent choice. Astonishing.

Chap 2. Liverpool: Bulloch arrives in Liverpool unexpected and with no credentials. He presents himself to a man he has never met, Charles Prioleau, the managing director of the Confederacy's unofficial English bank, who agrees to fund the venture. Astonishing. Prioleau introduces Bulloch to an English lawyer who sets about gutting English law to allow the building of warships, on the grounds that warships without guns aren't warships. Astonishing. Do these guys know a secret handshake?

Chap 3. Number 290: Bulloch contracts the building of warship 290. Obviously a warship, but without weapons, the customs inspector ignores it.

Chap 4. Nemesis: American Quaker, Thomas Dudley comes to England to oppose Bulloch.

Chap 5. The Enrica: 290 is named Enrica. Dudley and Bulloch vie.

Chap 6. The Passmore Affidavit: William Passmore, English able seaman attests that he was recruited to join the 290, with clear understanding that it was a warship for the South. This is clearly against English law.

Chap 7. Escape: The English drag their feet and Bulloch barely gets Enrica out of England.

Chap 8. Terceira: Enrica receives her guns and supplies in a neutral port. Semmes takes command. The ship becomes CSS Alabama.

Chap 9. First Blood: American whalers around Azores are destroyed by Alabama.

Chap 10. The Grand Banks: more destruction.

Chap 11. Off the Georges Bank: and more destruction.

Chap 12. The Pirate Semmes: battle in the press.

Chap 13.'An Instance of Sublime Christian Heroism' : England is close to meddling in US affairs. Not so astonishing if you are the biggest baddest nation on the planet. America sends charity to England. The English working class wins one for Lincoln. Astonishing.

Chap 14. USS Hatteras: Semmes lures Union gunboat USS Hatteras out into the Gulf of Mexico, sinks it, and rescues survivors.

Chap 15. Straws in the Wind: CSS Florida joins the war.

Chap 16. Brazil: more ships seized. CSS Georgia joins the battle. Semmes turns a captured ship into his auxiliary vessel.

Chap 17. The Laird Rams: At Laird's, Bulloch is building two seagoing ironclad rams that could pulverize the Union Navy's wooden ships, shell Union harbors, and turn the tide of the war. Congress debates whether to authorize a raider war on British mercantile shipping. The British begin to wonder about the beast they unleashed. They need not worry for about half a century. The US cabinet considers sending a squadron of ships to destroy the rams at dock. US envoy Adams informs Lord Russell that there will be war if the rams put to sea. Russell detains the rams. Astonishing.

Chap 18. Simon's Bay: CSS Alabama is getting worn out and the crew is getting surely. The Sea Bride is captured and sold. Semmes infuriates the crew by using the proceeds for operating funds instead of paying it out as prize money.

Chap 19. Singapore: Semmes finds that the American mercantile fleet won't come out of harbor.

Chap 20. To Cherbourg: Semmes takes Alabama to Cherbourg in France, looking for a dry dock and intending to pay off the crew and request replacement.

Chap 21. Battle: No dry dock facilities are available and the USS Kearsarge shows up. Semmes figures if he waits that more Union ships will show up, so that his best chance is to fight now. The CSS Alabama badly needs repair, is leaking, has moist powder, defective fuses, and broken machinery, but Semmes chooses to fight. Alabama is lost.

Chap 22. The Shenandoah: Bulloch purchases Bombay trader Sea King to be christened CSS Shenandoah, which destroys the American Pacific whaling fleet.

Chap 23. The Claims: the war is over and Britain finds that the side it did not support now has the largest, most-modern, most experienced Navy and Army in the world. The USN has double turreted sea going monitors that could destroy any British vessel without being scratched. The upstart is angry and dangerous and wants reparations. Congress passed a watered down neutrality act, based on the British act, that would allow Irish Republicans to outfit of merchant raiders in America and operate against Britain. Astonishing. Britain's government will not settle, but wealthy interests in England begin to consider that maybe they had more to loose by not settling.

Chap 24. Sumner's Speech: Senator Sumner gives a rousing speech in the senate attributing half the cost of the war to British perfidy. The speech is a sensation.

Chap 25. Geneva: Bismarck's German Confederacy emerges. Britain sees two dangerous upstarts that might unite against her. It looks like a really good idea to settle the Alabama claims.

Chap 26. l'Envoi: The precedent set by the Alabama tribunal eventually becomes international law. Astonishing.

James Tertius (is that Ter-tee-us, or Ter-shus?) de Kay is one of the most fun writers of military history alive. He's only hurt by the fact that he writes things on obscure and unusual topics, or treats them from an unusual angle. One of his books (Chronicles of the Frigate Macedonian) is essentially a biography of a ship, and another (Monitor) is that combined with a portrait of the man who designed her. One book mainly recounts a battle (The Battle of Stonington) in which no one was killed. The Rebel Raiders recounts the Confederacy's efforts to build commerce raiders in Britain, and the American authorities' attempts, largely unsuccessful, to stop them.

The first portion of the narrative is devoted to the construction of the ships in Britain, and James Bulloch's efforts in this regard. The second portion recounts Raphael Semmes' cruise in command of the Alabama, culminating in the famous battle off Cherbourg. A third part, shorter than the other two, recounts the efforts of the American government after the war to recoup the losses suffered by the American merchant marine because of the Alabama's cruise. Many ships that weren't sunk were sold to the British, who wouldn't, of course, pay full price or sell them back after the war.

De Kay is especially good at personalities, and this story abounds with them. Bulloch and Semmes are portrayed as interesting characters, and Charles Francis Adams, the American minister in London (a 19th Century ambassador) is active throughout the story. It's fascinating.

I do have a few criticisms. There's no index, and the one map given is inadequate. There was an attempt to recount all of the vessels purchased in Britain during the war, but the Stonewall, which made it out of port, and wound up in Cuba only to find out the war was over, isn't mentioned. Perhaps he's left that out for another book.

Given all of that, this is a wonderful book, and I recommend it strongly.