Ball Books

This is the kind of book that gets many people hooked on reading in the first place. Calling it a page turner might sound cliche, but a well timed cliche is right at home amongst its pages. With characters that show up in your imagination in black and white, By the Balls makes you check the inside cover to see when it was 'really' written. Lets hope there are more like it on the way!

Superb. This book makes me wanna head to the nearest dive bar, sink a few stiff ones and hop into my time machine -- destination: 1942. The only reason I don't is, well, time travel and booze don't mix. So I make due with By The Balls.

For men, this book literally grabs you by the balls from the first page and never lets go (for women, this book figurativly grabs you by the balls, etc.). The character of Ben Drake is the kind of hard drinking, hard talking, hard detecting detective you just don't see anymore but really should. The mystery is pure old school P.I. with a nice dash of modernism mixed in for a concoction that sure packs a wallop. Please, I beg of you, read this book.

If only as much effort and thought had gone into the writing of this book as into the design, Ugly Town might really have had something. The covers and illustrations, the intro pages- heck, even the size and weight- are darn near perfect in exactly the retro way they intended. But the writers have a background which includes scripting comics for Dark Horse, and that's how this reads.

It's a meatless tribute to all things hard-boiled, featuring prose written in a spare (much too spare) style. Descriptions are sorely lacking, and the dialogue, while it talks "tough," is un-creative.

There is really only a couple of instances of good dialogue. Here is one: "There's nothing like a mourning widow. And [she] was nothing like a mourning widow. More like a morning window, and I could see right through her." Not classic stuff, but if the rest had at least attempted this style the book could have attained a kind of punny vitality. But no. It doesn't attempt real spoofery, and it certainly is not authentic.

It's like boys playing in sandbox much too vast for them. Descriptions of drinks and cigars give the impression that the authors just wanted to feel naughty, while a scene where the hero talks his way out of being killed by a thug is especially contrived, obvious and amateurish. Other aspects detract as well, but suffice it to say, Red Harvest this is not.

I really can't see true pulp fans being fooled by this, but give it a try... after you've read Chandler and Hammett and James Cain and Paul Cain and Whitfield and Burnett and Daly and Browne and Brown and Huggins and Brackett and Cave and Whittington and Fischer and Ballard and Bellem and Latimer and Martin and MacDonald and Gault and Spicer and Miller and Dewey and Woolrich and Nebel and Gardner and Adams and Davis and Spillane and Kane and Chase and Albert and Halliday and... you see?

There are much better out there. Lots of 'em. Then check back with the authors of this book after they've gotten some practice. Maybe they should check the above list, too.

Tom Fassbender and Jim Pascoe (alias Dashiell Loveless), have invented the worlds first time-travel conveyance out of paper and ink, and heavily fueled by Ketel One Vodka! (read this books' "About the Authors" page to decode that statement) Would you like to know more? Grab "By The Balls", their first collaborative publication from UGLY TOWN PRESS. This short, tittilating, and thoroughly engrossing trip to the world of Testacy City will grab you by the you-know-whats, and squeeze until it hurts! The shady denizens of this crime-noir fiction evokes black and white images of Turner and Harlow, Cagney and Bogart, with a nice touch of 90's Pulp Fiction thrown in to sweeten the kitty! The dialogue sings, the imagery lurks, and the whole kit-and-kaboodle works magically to revive a genre not seen since the 1940's. By the time I finished it, I swear my clothes smelled like cigarettes, and my breath like cheap whiskey! Can't wait for more!

Yet another book about the trials and tribulations of life as a junky. Young Mr. O'Neill's writing is about as dull as the supposed needles he uses. I don't know if this was cathartic for him or if he actually thought this was interesting. This book is about as insightful and enlightening as a can of soup.

One man's account of addiction and his encounters with dealers, pimps, prostitutes and musicians - told with dark humour, style and, above all, honesty.

Tony achieves the impossible: he writes smoothly about the most harrowing amounts of drug ingestion I've ever encountered. It's like watching "Leave it to Beaver" except the family is all shooting themselves up and each other up and yet it has all that tidiness of a 50's American television show. It is just because Tony has such a good command of the language. He obviously had a lot of trouble controlling his drug usage, it almost killed him.

So what does a fine writer like Tony do after writing this book? I mean, is there a market for a book that isn't about ingesting lots of drugs?

I want Tony to do well because his writing is just, well so pleasant. And that is despite the first chapter of this book having more drugs ingested than I've known of being ingested anywhere else in my entire life. Fortunately for me the pace of drug usage slowed down in subsequent chapters or I would have overdosed from the reading.

Tony is a founding member of the Riot Lit Collective, a small group of writers who have banded together on the Internet. Keep an eye on them.

This is a very atypical book. At first I thought it was going to be a drug memoir type of thing, but opening DIGGING THE VEIN I was confronted with something darker altogether - this is the authors own "Season In Hell" - a pitch black, nightmarish account of the authors heroin and crack fuelled implosion.

People looking for another mainstream recovery memoir will probably find much to complain about here. The actual writing is more impressionistic and poetic than those types of books tend to be - this is more "Junky" by William Burroughs than it is Jerry Stahl's "Permanent Midnight". The sections of the book concerning rehabilitation focus more on the cast of lost souls and burnouts who are in the hospital with the author than any of the actual `process' of recovery. AA and NA are pretty much dismissed out of hand and the thought of being a member of such a group compared to joining the Scientologists. Instead, DIGGING THE VEIN is almost a celebration of the horrors of addiction. And as such, I found the book to be quite shocking. But after I put it down I could not fault either the quality of the writing, or the purity of the author's intention. I can honestly say it is unlike any other books about heroin addiction that I have come across in recent years.

On a basic sensationalist level, the book is OK. But it comes to an abrupt, and to me, arbitrary end, and I'm not sure what happens to the author, or even whether I care about him; he never gives me any reason to.

As great reading, it can't touch Hubert Selby's "Requien for a Dream," even though Selby's book is a novel.

I guess people with an axe to grind against 12 step programs will find some fodder here. But imo, it's just ludicrous for a heroin addict to say with any certainty "I was a junkie at 21 and now at 23 I'm all finished with that." Unless he still IS a junkie at 23; the book is not clear on that point whether he's decided to give in to his addiction.

Great book! I really enjoyed reading Dave's prospective of the game I love. I found it purposeful, direct and full of great solutions for improving America's pasttime. Dave has hit another grand slam! He gives everyone an action plan that includes people of all colors, class and creeds.... moms, dads, coaches and the like. Must read for young people and adults alike. Another great job Dave!

off the Bat when George Steinbrenner is the doing the introduction then you know anything can be resolved. Brother Dave Winfield is a down to earth cat who pulls no punches and wants to see More Young Black Players respecting and knowing the what the Negro League,Jackie Robinson,Larry DOlby and other Black Ball Players who paved the way through Blood,sweat,tears to play this National past time. Dave Winfield has alot of strong concepts at making the game even better and also a strong future. this is a must read book.

This book did what I expected it to. It laid out some good ideas that Winfield feels would both improve the game of baseball and improve the image of baseball. In these times of steroids (allegedly, of course) and poorly behaved athletes, a clear, "UNITED" manifesto and direction for baseball is something the game clearly needs. Winfield delivers this.

Another reviewer points out that there are no "A-ha!" moments in this. I have to agree with him, HOWEVER, I think that is really actually the point. What Winfield proposes in this book is not earth-shattering, but one must believe that implementing these changes, the game will be better, both on and off the field. What is so shocking, to me, is that implementing a lot of these changes should really be so simple that the true "A-ha!" is that they aren't already being done!

What muddles the book, though, is that the book does get to be a bit rambly. It is hard not to feel like this is a beefed-up transcription of a monologue that Winfield gave one afternoon. It seems to me, though, that any type of book, whether about baseball or politics or knitting, in which the author is making a proposal, or making a pitch to a certain way of thinking, that there will be some extent of "ramble".

I would take Winfield to task, though, in that he at times seems to ignore the white elephant in the corner of the room. He, at times, lets people off the hook a little too easily and does not take them to task. But you should kind of expect that from him. I'm not questioning his integrity, but, as others have pointed out, he has one foot in both sectors of the game- as the former player and the current executive. His allegiances are, unfortunately, prone to being a bit murky.

Having said all this, I still give this book 4 stars, because he has very good suggestions for all aspects of the game, suggestions that will surely not hurt the game. If I were to become commissioner of MLB, he'd be one of the first people I'd bring in.

Former Yankee slugger, Dave Winfield's put together a thoughtful, from-the-heart analysis of what's wrong with today's major league baseball...but it's a softball (if you will) approach to improving baseball's public image. It's heavily lacking in direct quotes. Anecdotes are few and far between, and fiery criticisms are just not there.

Apparently, Dave told himself one day: "I gotta' write down what's wrong with baseball." -And this is the result. Dropping The Ball is a nice, over-coffee review of everything about the game and what needs improvement and what to do about it. He makes some good points, but very few are of the "Ah-hah!" eye-opening variety one might expect of someone on a mission of change.

One of the forever-recurring themes of the book is that "[MLB] isn't doing enough to market [baseball] properly" hence, he says, the drop-off in fan interest across the board. He gently complains about the inferior abilities of some players, but doesn't address league over-expansion, which may be the cause of it. Too, Winfield could have zeroed-in on the hows and whys of over-priced tickets...and the major-league out-of-pocket costs for game-day hot-dogs, beer, pizza, parking and Pepsi. He didn't. Dave, what about the new pasteurized, kid-friendly, Disney-land-like stadiums that waterdown youngster interest in the game? [Didn't Las Vegas learn that pandering to the under-12 crowd just didn't work?] -And how come corporate elements can easily get playoff tickets while the average fan doesn't have a chance? Dave doesn't say. He (only in passing) mentions the crazy-high player salaries, but our author doesn't attribute big-time fan disinterest in and detachment from the game to them.

--But one thing is clear. Dave gets a little worked up over the decreasing percentages of Black major league baseball players...but then seems to concur with MLB's decisions to go on outsourcing to the Dominican Republic, Cuba, Venezuela, Mexico, etc. to get large rosters of cheap (but decent) players into today's baseball games. The numbers of White players is also on the decline, he points out, but not a whole lot is made about those stats. On and on, he treats the lack of Black athletes in the game as a true major problem. Maybe it is, but I don't think he fully made his case.

Dave Winfield is still a baseball insider, being an exec for the San Diego Padres MLB team. Maybe that's why this book lacks the focus, luster and impact of a true motivating force. Like MLB itself, the focal point of the book is generally ho-hum. It's like a current US Senator sincerely (?) writing about "making Congress `better'" -without naming names or overtly coming down on all of the "guilty." Now, how would that work?

This book is chock full of warm, heart-felt generalizations and sentiments, repetitions, and excuses. Winfield's put down some lengthy but sketchy plans for his "Baseball United." His "solutions" are all very nice, but "improving" an already successful multi-billion dollar organization [MLB] seems mostly an aimless gesture that leaves this reader flat. Not much fire. Not much "insider" revelation. A fast, pleasant read...but there's not much new or deep here. Winfield kind of dropped the ball on this one....

Being a person who noticed the whiteness of baseball crowds for years now, I took to the call to urgency made by Winfield and Levin in this book. Baseball has suffered a number of problems over the years, and this book struck me as one that was written as a labor of love by a Hall of Famer who wanted to see his sport do better for itself, and not written as a brash "tell-all" expose.

I suppose that I was right in that regard. Winfield and Levin do truly love professional baseball as a game, and they make a lot of valid points: dwindling interest and participation by inner-city blacks, the economic advantage of "farming" Hispanic players versus fostering them in our own communities, and presenting ideas that would help build bridges between major-league baseball teams and players with their communities.

I suppose that, feeling a great sense of appreciation for Winfield's points led to me feeling so disappointed in this book. Much like Winfield's baseball, it's still something to admire and appreciate, but there is a great amount of untapped promise. Winfield takes a very real and noticeable demographic change to a ludicrous extreme when he talks about "the last African-American ballplayer." It may be his attempt to sculpt a "modest proposal" for baseball, but it does not contain Swift's shrewd irony.

In addition, Winfield laments that the NFL and NBA are succeeding where baseball is failing in working with the community; he also is bothered by the structure of baseball scholarships for college students relative to the same sports. In the end, one gets the feeling that he isn't in the least bit concerned about improving genuine opportunities for disadvantaged children with an interest in sports. Instead, I feel that he's merely upset that these opportunities aren't centered around *baseball*.

The book contains this idea throughout it, underneath the surface of Winfield's arguments. His discussion of the MLBPA player's trust is evidence of that, when he spends several pages lauding how the NBA and NFL promote their charitable works. His concern isn't the degree of involvement as much as it is the public perception that good things are being done. I find that rather self-centered and bothersome.

There are still great points made in the book. Winfield's criticism of the economic structure of baseball in the past, in the current era, and the phony nature of the MLB commissioner as a patsy to the owners is accurate and needed. His (possibly ironic, given his career trajectory) concern with the lack of "legacy" players (like Kirby Puckett), who stay in one town for their entire career, is surely related to the lack of camaraderie between players, teams, and community; how can one become enamored with a city when a trade or free agency may jeopardize that at any time?

Ultimately, though, I think the kinds of policies Winfield suggests for "Baseball United" are naive (if he thinks that we can shift from the current era of profit-hungry owners to one of community-oriented philanthropists so quickly), misdirected (yes, providing inner-city kids with opportunities to play ball is great, but since we know so few people make it to the big leagues, couldn't such money be better appropriated for the disadvantaged?), and self-serving (that he's more concerned with his legacy and baseball's legacy than with actually improving conditions for ballplayers and communities).

Winfield clearly loves baseball, but just as he wishes MLB could live up to its potential, so I wish this book would have lived up to the promise its dustjacket seems to suggest.

It's always great to read about the behind the scenes of the I Love Lucy show...I knew most of what I read already, but REALLY enjoyed the photos from the author's collection.

I was in my 20's when Lucy and Desi first aired. It is simply
the best comedy show ever and that includes the writing. I always
wondered just who these superb writers were. Now I have found out
due to this excellent book. The show was so very funny, you do
wonder what people wrote the lines but then you also know that
they had to have Lucy. Her timing was better than I ever seen in
any actor and actress. Thank you, Madelyn, it was indeed a joy
to read your rememberances.

A good biography of one of the brains behind the Lucy factory. Knowing the limitations and talents of Lucy helped make the Lucy icon what it is today. Giving Desi credit where it is long overdue, and busting a few myths that Lucy herself liked to perpetuate, this is a good read of behind the scenes and one of, if not the first, female comedy writers.
Her trials as one of the first female writers doesn't seem to stop her excellent comedic writing abilities and reminds all of us how hard it was for those first female TV writers. Perhaps this is one of the reasons Lucy was so funny - because she had Ms. Pugh there to bring the male writers up (not down) to reality.

Having read tons of other books on everything tied to Lucy, I was especially happy to come across this memoir of what I consider to be one of television's best writers. Ms. Davis writes succinctly but thoroughly and entertainingly about many of her memories associated with what many people consider to be television's all-time best sit-com. It is a great, fun read for anyone interested in "I Love Lucy."

Madelyn Pugh Davis tells us upfront that this is no tell-all tome...that to dish on longterm employers Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz would be unfair since they are dead and cannot defend themselves.
She also adds that as the writers of "I Love Lucy," she and her partner Bob Carroll Jr. were in the dark much of the time about personal scandal and gossip.
This is the crux of her book. Desi Arnaz called her the 'Girl Writer' when he wasn't mangling her given name by calling her 'Mallen.' He called Pugh and Carroll 'the kids' or as he pronounced it, 'the kits.'
Pugh's stories of her own beginnings in the TV and radio writing trades would be absorbing enough - but chuck Lucy, Desi and company in the mix and you have yourself a page turner.
Pugh writes with warmth, enthuiasm and energy (qualities by the way in which she admired Arnaz).
Straight out of college, she was turned down for a job as a newsletter writer for a meat-packing company. As she wittily points out, the meat-packing company smelled bad and somebody with the last name of Pugh shouldn't be working in a place like that.
Her adventures up to and including all the incarnations of "Lucy" are absorbing. She dishes in an amusing, professional and tasteful way about hard-headed Lucy and working with gues stars like Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton - and that famous 69 carat diamond ring.
As an ardent Lucy fan,I loved hearing about how Pugh and Bob Carroll jr. drove up to northern Calfornia to meet the North famly whose marrriage and staggering 20 children led to the screenplay for the Ball-Fonda classic, "Yours Mine And Ours." (A Desi Arnaz idea).
There are tons of nuggets here - both professional and private. When Pugh married her college sweetie, Dr. Richard Davis, she moved herself and her small son to his Frank Lloyd Wright house in Indiana. She hated the house both because its construction design lent itself to dark bathrooms and a miniscule kitchen, but also because strangers dropped by unanounced to get a look at it.
The chipmunk watching her each morning is hysterical. Movie version, anyone?
The author says that for her, it is gratifying when fans tell her they watch "I Love Lucy" when they are feeling blue and it gives them a lift. I will keep "Laughing With Lucy" handy so that I may dip into it on my 'off days' as a reminder that even the original Girl Writer had her share of ups and downs.

This is VERY worthwhile. I have all three and they work well together, but this is a must have.

Obviously not as good as the full edition text, but also has a few shortcomings you might not expect. For example the Tanner scale for males includes the G scale photos but not the P scale. The female is fully included, and one could deduce the P from this, however, that requires an extra flip.

There are other similar shortcomings, but overall it beats carrying the 50 pound text around.

I received this item with no problems. It was exactly what I needed. Glad I made the purchase online, saved myself 10 dollars!

This extremely handy reference appears to follow the outline for Nursing Assessment presented in more detail in Jarvis' Physical Examination & Health Assessment book. You will not be able to find detailed information about every finding and its interpretation; instead, the editors very skillfully picked and chose what include and what not to include. The result is a hand book that will very quickly direct you to the very assessments and tests that can be performed for a particular system along with some basic information on expected and unexpected findings. I find myself using the resource most as a refresher, reminder, or guide to assessing a particular system that do not do all the time, or when presented with findings I don't recognize. Sample charting is provided as well, which is oftentimes very helpful. I did give it a 4 star instead of a 5 star because of the frequency with which I wish just a little bit more information were given about the expected and unexpected findings. More often than I would like I find myself moving past this book to a larger book to find those details. Nevertheless, when making a handbook that can fit in the pocket, some details must be left out, and overall this was done very skillfully to provide the nurse with a very useful and highly recommended tool.

Systems covered are:
-Mental Status
-Nutritional & Growth
-Skin, Hair, & Nails
-Lymphatic
-Head and Neck
-Eyes
-ENT
-Chest & Lungs
-Cardiovascular
-Breasts & Axillae
-Abdomen
-Female/Male Genetalia
-Anus, Rectum, & Prostate
-Musculoskeletal
-Neurologic
-Head-to-Toe

I found this book to be very useful. I am currently in nursing school and this book is a great tool to guide assessments. My professor said that this was even helpful when she was in Nurse Practitioner school.

Defines the truth about our relationship with Israel. A whole nation on America's welfare rolls. It is very obvious, that American Middle East policy is formulated and directed from Tel Aviv, where a ruthless ruler, wanted by the World Court for crimes against humanity, is challenged by a Nobel Peace Prize winner. You would never know that by reading the daily distortions, served by the American media. Magnificent book, equalled only by Liberty, ...

Ever wondered why US politicians like to so often proclaim the mantra "Israel is our ally, I will always stand by Israel, etc."? Ever wondered why the US continues to grant Israel billions of dollars each year despite Israel's behavior and despite international condemnation of its actions? Then you must read this book, for in here you will find the answers. "The Passionate Attachment" explores the intricate relationship between the US and Israel, on many levels, and the sources and roots of this special relationship and passionate attachment. The text is very well-written and reads with the suspense of a good detective story, except this describes history.

Also Recommended: The Samson Option by Seymour Hersh, and They Dare to Speak out by Paul Findley.

This excellent review of our relationship with Israel explains a great deal about how and why we find ourselves the enemy of so many people in the Middle East. Our unqualified backing of Israel has led to disaster.
Sadly, support for Israel is seen by many Jews as a litmus test for a person's views on Jews - and is the reason why so many Jews who oppose Israel's policies have been called "self-hating" Jews. There is little doubt that the organizations that Israel has set up to influence American policy has fostered this idea. All too many American Jews have bought into this propaganda.
The other reviewers have told you what this book is about so I won't repeat what they have said.
What fascinates me is that you cannot find this book - copies of it are more rare that first editions of "Light In August". Why is that? Why hasn't this book been read, reviewed and studied as should be? Written by one of the few heroes of the Vietnam era who were part of the State Dept, this book has been "suppressed" in the way that almost all books or writers who question our policy toward Israel have been. How can that happen, and why has it happened?

I deplore their pro-Arab/Israel propaganda, but this review will seek to accomplish only one objective: to examine as to what George Washington had said in his farewell address, and to give an analysis in order to determine as to whether or not the Balls' efforts to enlist George Washington in their pro-Arab/Israel causes are successful. At the risk of giving away the ending of my review--which the title of my review has already done--the answer is that their efforts have failed.

As the Balls explain in their book, the main title of their book is based upon a phrase that George Washington had used in his farewell address of 1796--the full text of which can be found online at www.ourdocuments.gov, document #15. George Washington begins with his announcment that he was not going to seek reelection for a third term. He then urged Americans to avoid excessive political party spirit and geographical distinctions. Finally, on foreign affairs, he warned against establishing long-term alliances with other nations. It is this last point that the Balls have emphasized and quoted from in their efforts to enlist Washington in their pro-Arab/anti-Israel cause. The Balls' on page 47 also quote the then Secretary of State John Foster Dulles as also referring to Washington's farewell address making the same point as does the Balls. (I am assuming that the Balls are quoting Dulles accurately.) Indeed, here is the foreign affairs part of the address that the Balls have emphasized:

"Observe good faith and justice towards all nations; cultivate peace and harmony with all. Religion and morality enjoin this conduct; and can it be, that good policy does not equally enjoin it? It will be worthy of a free, enlightened, and at no distant period, a great nation, to give to mankind the magnanimous and too novel example of a people always guided by an exalted justice and benevolence. Who can doubt that, in the course of time and things, the fruits of such a plan would richly repay any temporary advantages which might be lost by a steady adherence to it? Can it be that Providence has not connected the permanent felicity of a nation with its virtue? The experiment, at least, is recommended by every sentiment which ennobles human nature. Alas! is it rendered impossible by its vices?

"In the execution of such a plan, nothing is more essential than that permanent, inveterate antipathies against particular nations, and passionate attachments for others, should be excluded; and that, in place of them, just and amicable feelings towards all should be cultivated. The nation which indulges towards another a habitual hatred or a habitual fondness is in some degree a slave. It is a slave to its animosity or to its affection, either of which is sufficient to lead it astray from its duty and its interest. Antipathy in one nation against another disposes each more readily to offer insult and injury, to lay hold of slight causes of umbrage, and to be haughty and intractable, when accidental or trifling occasions of dispute occur. Hence, frequent collisions, obstinate, envenomed, and bloody contests. The nation, prompted by ill-will and resentment, sometimes impels to war the government, contrary to the best calculations of policy. The government sometimes participates in the national propensity, and adopts through passion what reason would reject; at other times it makes the animosity of the nation subservient to projects of hostility instigated by pride, ambition, and other sinister and pernicious motives. The peace often, sometimes perhaps the liberty, of nations, has been the victim.

"So likewise, a passionate attachment of one nation for another produces a variety of evils. Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists, and infusing into one the enmities of the other, betrays the former into a participation in the quarrels and wars of the latter without adequate inducement or justification. It leads also to concessions to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others which is apt doubly to injure the nation making the concessions; by unnecessarily parting with what ought to have been retained, and by exciting jealousy, ill-will, and a disposition to retaliate, in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld. And it gives to ambitious, corrupted, or deluded citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation), facility to betray or sacrifice the interests of their own country, without odium, sometimes even with popularity; gilding, with the appearances of a virtuous sense of obligation, a commendable deference for public opinion, or a laudable zeal for public good, the base or foolish compliances of ambition, corruption, or infatuation.

"As avenues to foreign influence in innumerable ways, such attachments are particularly alarming to the truly enlightened and independent patriot. How many opportunities do they afford to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils? Such an attachment of a small or weak towards a great and powerful nation dooms the former to be the satellite of the latter.

"Against the insidious wiles of foreign influence (I conjure you to believe me, fellow-citizens) the jealousy of a free people ought to be constantly awake, since history and experience prove that foreign influence is one of the most baneful foes of republican government. But that jealousy to be useful must be impartial; else it becomes the instrument of the very influence to be avoided, instead of a defense against it. Excessive partiality for one foreign nation and excessive dislike of another cause those whom they actuate to see danger only on one side, and serve to veil and even second the arts of influence on the other. Real patriots who may resist the intrigues of the favorite are liable to become suspected and odious, while its tools and dupes usurp the applause and confidence of the people, to surrender their interests.

"The great rule of conduct for us in regard to foreign nations is in extending our commercial relations, to have with them as little political connection as possible. So far as we have already formed engagements, let them be fulfilled with perfect good faith. Here let us stop. Europe has a set of primary interests which to us have none; or a very remote relation. Hence she must be engaged in frequent controversies, the causes of which are essentially foreign to our concerns. Hence, therefore, it must be unwise in us to implicate ourselves by artificial ties in the ordinary vicissitudes of her politics, or the ordinary combinations and collisions of her friendships or enmities.

"Our detached and distant situation invites and enables us to pursue a different course. If we remain one people under an efficient government. the period is not far off when we may defy material injury from external annoyance; when we may take such an attitude as will cause the neutrality we may at any time resolve upon to be scrupulously respected; when belligerent nations, under the impossibility of making acquisitions upon us, will not lightly hazard the giving us provocation; when we may choose peace or war, as our interest, guided by justice, shall counsel.

"Why forego the advantages of so peculiar a situation? Why quit our own to stand upon foreign ground? Why, by interweaving our destiny with that of any part of Europe, entangle our peace and prosperity in the toils of European ambition, rivalship, interest, humor or caprice?

"It is our true policy to steer clear of permanent alliances with any portion of the foreign world; so far, I mean, as we are now at liberty to do it; for let me not be understood as capable of patronizing infidelity to existing engagements. I hold the maxim no less applicable to public than to private affairs, that honesty is always the best policy. I repeat it, therefore, let those engagements be observed in their genuine sense. But, in my opinion, it is unnecessary and would be unwise to extend them.

"Taking care always to keep ourselves by suitable establishments on a respectable defensive posture, we may safely trust to temporary alliances for extraordinary emergencies.

"Harmony, liberal intercourse with all nations, are recommended by policy, humanity, and interest. But even our commercial policy should hold an equal and impartial hand; neither seeking nor granting exclusive favors or preferences; consulting the natural course of things; diffusing and diversifying by gentle means the streams of commerce, but forcing nothing; establishing (with powers so disposed, in order to give trade a stable course, to define the rights of our merchants, and to enable the government to support them) conventional rules of intercourse, the best that present circumstances and mutual opinion will permit, but temporary, and liable to be from time to time abandoned or varied, as experience and circumstances shall dictate; constantly keeping in view that it is folly in one nation to look for disinterested favors from another; that it must pay with a portion of its independence for whatever it may accept under that character; that, by such acceptance, it may place itself in the condition of having given equivalents for nominal favors, and yet of being reproached with ingratitude for not giving more. There can be no greater error than to expect or calculate upon real favors from nation to nation. It is an illusion, which experience must cure, which a just pride ought to discard."

This part of the farewell address does indeed contains all of the parts that the Balls, as well as the readers here who have given this book favorable reviews, had quoted from--and more still that appears to make thir case appear to be very strong. Could it be that our founding father and first President of the United States, George Washington, would have supported the Balls' pro-Arab and anti-Israel cause? The answer is ... not quite. Seven paragraphs after the end of the passage of Washington's farewell address that I quoted above, Washington explained his motive in having advised the United States to take the aforementioned courses of action as follows:

"The inducements of interest for observing that conduct will best be referred to your own reflections and experience. With me a predominant motive has been to endeavor to gain time to our country to settle and mature its yet recent institutions, and to progress without interruption to that degree of strength and consistency which is necessary to give it, humanly speaking, the command of its own fortunes."

In other words, the reason why George Washington had advocated both that the United States avoid spilting along geographical and partisan lines, and that in international affairs that the United States avoid long-term alliances with other nations, was because the Uniited States was not in a position to take a lead in international affairs and to be establishing favorable relations with some nations and unfavorable relations with other nations because the United States was at that point a very young (twenty-years old), inexperienced country that consisited of only thirteen states, and that the United States needed time to gain both strength and experience. Therefore, the best way for the United States to use this time, the United States should seek peace with all nations and not play any favorites in any conflicts going on in the world. What neither George W. Ball nor John Foster Dulles realized (John Foster Dulles died in 1958, George W. Ball in 1994, two years after the publication of this book) nor Douglas B. Ball realizes, though Washington did as evidenced by the last part of his farewell address, was that after the United States had gained both the time and the strength to become a powerful nation, the United States might eventually be in a position to show favoritism toward some nations, and--if necessary--adverse relations toward others. From Washington's day to our own, the United States would undergo several more wars--including against Britian and Mexico, as well as a Civil War in the second half of the nineteenth century, and to expand our country from having thirteen states to fifty. Therefore, while George Washington's advice of the United States to avoid having long-term relations with other nations and to favor one or certain nations over another or others had made sense back in 1796, it no longer made sense in the twentieth century (nor makes sense here in the early twenty-first century). Indeed, another former President of the United States, Harry S Truman, agreed with this analysis. In his second volume of his Memoirs, Truman, in explaining the importance for the United States to give financial aid both Greece and Turkey in order for both of those nations to defend themselves against the Soviet Union in 1947, and of describing the opposition that Truman had encountered as well as another international situation that took place when Truman was a US Senator, wrote the following:

"A President has little enough time to meditate, but whenever such moments occurred I was more than likely to turn my thoughts toward this key problem that confronted our nation.

"We had fought a long and costly war to crush the totalitarianism of [Adolf] Hitler, the insolence of [Benito] Mussolini, and the arrogance of the warloads of Japan. Yet the new menace facing us seemed every bit as grave as Nazi Germany and her allies had been.

"I could never quite forget the strong hold which isolationism had gained over our country after World War I. Throughout my years in the Senate I listened each year as one of the senators would read [George] Washington's Farewell Address. It served little purpose to point out to the isolationists that Washington had advised a method suitable under the conditions of his day to achieve the great end of preserving the nation, and that although conditions and our international position has changed, the objectives of our policy--peace and security--were still the same. For the isoloationists this address was like a biblical text. The America First organization of 1940-1941, the Ku Klux Klan, [William D.] Pelley and his Silver Shirts--they all quoted the first President in support of their assorted aims.

"I had a very good picture of what a revival of American isolationism would mean for the world. After World War II it was clear that without American participation there was no power capable of meeting Russia as an equal. If we were to turn our back on the world, areas such as Greece, weakened and divided as a result of the world, areas such as Greece, weakened and divided as a result of the war, would fall into the Soviet orbit without much effort on the part of the Russians. The success of Russia in such areas and our avowed lack of interest would lead to the growth of domestic Communist parties in such European countries as France and Italy, where they were already significant threats. Inaction, withdrawal, 'Fortress America' notions could only result in handing to the Russians vast areas of the globe now denied to them.

"This was the time to align the United States of America clearly on the side, and the head, of the free world. I knew that George Washington's spirit would be invoked against me, and Henry Clay's, and all the other patron saints of the isolationists. But I was convinced that the policy I was about to proclaim was indeed as much required by the conditions of my day as was Washington's by the situation in his era and [James] Monroe's doctrine by the circumstances which he the faced." [Harry S Truman, Memoirs, Volume II: Years of Trial and Hope, 1946-1952. (Garden City, NY: Doubleday & Company, Inc., 1956), pgs. 101-2, emphasis in the original.]

"For the isoloationists this [Washington's farewell] address was like a biblical text. The America First organization of 1940-1941, the Ku Klux Klan, [William D.] Pelley and his Silver Shirts--they all quoted the first President in support of their assorted aims." We can now add George W. Ball and Douglas B. Ball, and apparently also our former Secretary of State John Foster Dulles--who also invoked Washington as well--to the list. The Balls did not include this information because apparently did not want their readers to know that neither they nor Dulles were the first ones to invoke Washington's farewell address, that prior to their invoking Washington to support a United States policy that would be pro-Arab and anti-Israel, the isolationists, including the Ku Klux Klan, various so-called "America First" organizations, etc. had also cited Washington in order to argue in 1939-1940 that the United States should not intervene on behalf of Great Britian against Hitler's Nazi Germany, or that after World War II was over, by other isolationists who argued that the United States should not help either Greece or Turkey defend themselves against Joseph Stalin's Communist Russia. Because if their readers were to find out this information, then this might cause their readers to conclude that the Balls' invoking Washington in order to argue that the United States should favor the nondemocratic--and in a lot of cases, dictorial/totalitarian--Arab States over tiny, democratic Israel to have less appeal and be less compelling than they would if they were not aware of that information. Therefore, the Balls attempt to enlist George Washington as part of their pro-Arab/anti-Israel cause is unsuccessful.

"The Passionate Attachment" is an in depth study of the relationship between the United States and Israel. The title is derived from George Washington's warning against "Passionate attachments" with foreign nations. Such attachments result in:

"Sympathy for the favorite nation, facilitating the illusion of an imaginary common interest in cases where no real common interest exists...It leads also to concession to the favorite nation of privileges denied to others, which is apt...to injure the nation making the concessions...by exciting jealousy, ill will, and disposition to retaliate in the parties from whom equal privileges are withheld...It gives to...citizens (who devote themselves to the favorite nation) facility...to tamper with domestic factions, to practice the arts of seduction, to mislead public opinion, to influence or awe the public councils."

The authors then proceed to explain how the relationship between the United States and Israel violates Washington's warning and proves all his predictions of the consequences of a "Passionate attachment."

The first section of the book covers the history of the relationship from the foundation of Israel in 1947 to the date of writing in 1992. The Balls explain how the inordinate influence of Israel began when a politically weak Harry S Truman capitulated to Israeli pressures to ensure Jewish support in the crucial 1948 election.

The only President who seems to have earned the respect of the authors is Dwight D. Eisenhower who, unlike Truman, owed no political debt to Jewish voters and who was sufficiently rich in political capital to permit an adherence to a principled policy.

Beginning with the Kennedy administration, the Balls indicate that American administrations have repeatedly sacrificed American interests on the altar of Israeli demands. Among the low points of the relationship was the 1967 attack by Israeli forces on the USS Liberty, a U. S. Navy intelligence ship whose existence threatened Israeli plans to occupy the Golan Heights before international pressure could force a cease-fire. Rather than responding to this attack on the U.S. Navy as it would if directed from any other quarter, the Johnson administration wrote it off as a case of mistaken identity. In subsequent administrations the retreat from principle has continued.

The authors illustrate how, as the relationship developed, supporters of Israel were able to create the illusion that Israel served as a valuable American asset the Cold War struggle against Soviet expansionism. The authors explain how the Coalition which won the Gulf War proved that Israel's days as a strategic American asset, if they ever existed, were over.

Much attention is devoted to the relationship between Israel and its Arab neighbors. It is refreshing to read an analysis of the recent history of the Middle East which is not filtered through Israeli apologists. The authors explain the background of developments in Israel and the Arab portions of Palestine. The Israeli policy of national expansion of military conquest, the expulsion of Arabs from conquered land and the colonization of those who have remained under the Israeli yoke are explained in detail. Acts of Israeli terrorism against Arabs are given due attention, despite the record of Israeli denials which are routinely accepted in American circles.

An eye-opening chapter is devoted to the strong influence of Jewish pressure on American politics and how it is reflected in American foreign policy toward Israel and the Arabs.

Particularly timely chapters are the ones on the neglected American-Arab relations and "Terror and Reprisal" against America and Israel. The moral and financial costs of the Passionate attachment are followed by recommendations directed to both the United States and Israel on ways to advance the interests of each in the Middle East.

This book is both edifying and shocking. It is edifying in that it presents a different views of the state of America's role in Middle eastern affairs that that to which we are normally exposed. This book is shocking in that it shows millions of Americans and several administrations as subordinating American interests to those of Israeli in the determination of American policy. This book is a worthwhile read for anyone interested in the truth about American Middle Eastern policy.

Karen Ball writes with a gifted pen. REUNION is brimming with God's loving spirit, Karen's marvelous zest for life, and a page-turning story of two very special people who discover the real meaning of true love. Definitely a keeper!

Lori Copeland, author of FAITH and JUNE

Just finished reading REUNION. What a GREAT sotry. I just fell in love with Connor and Taylor and the whole family. Thanks to Ms. Ball for writing this book and I look forward to more of them from her!

I read REUNION and was greatly blessed. I hope there will be other books from Karen Ball in the future. Thanks to Ms. Ball for adding to my reading pleasure.

This is a great book! I loved it. It not only makes you feel the characters emotions, but gives you the little details of their lives that really bring you into the story. This book really has the qualities that separate an OK book from a great one! I can't wait for more!

I have read many inspiriational comtemporary romance novels, and REUNION is at the top of my list! The characters are so well-developed, they come to life. There are so many twists and turns to the story that it keeps you guessing. Too many books are predictable from page 1, but Karen Ball was able to capture my interest and bring me along through the entire story without my figuring everything out. The spiritual condition of the characters and how they turn to the Lord in their good times and bad depicts clearly the life of Christians.

I love animals and nature, but was never really interested in wolves before. Karen was able to give me a wonderful admiration for these creatures through REUNION. I have shared the book with family and friends and they all loved it!

Thank you for sharing your gift, Karen, and please keep them coming!

This is one of the best books i have read. Clear, in depth, and intelligent. Academic and also well written!
I highly recommend it.

This is one of the finest affirmations of Emanationism of the Neoplatonists, i.e. that complexity in nature doesnt require Supernatural causes as exposited by Creationists. While this book does not deal with philosophical-religious principles, that its premise is the explaination for complexity in nature as merely Phi (golden section) ratios, it does provide the backbone for Emanationism, of the metaphore for the Cosmos in Platos Repuplic 509d-511 wherein Phi is given as the principle Logos (ratio/'tapestry') behind complexity in nature.

This is a lyrical celebration of natural beauty and underlying complexity. Not only that, the book itself is beautifully typeset, composed and arranged. A real pleasure to read, aesthetically and intellectually. Sheer wonder.

I hope some publisher will do the world a favor and keep this book in print. It's a classic that belongs on the shelf right next to D'Arcy Thompson's "On Growth and Form." This might seem strange for me to say, but if I were to design an educational curriculum for people learning my profession (oncology), this book would be mandatory. It is highly recommended for anyone interested in morphogenesis. If anyone knows where I can buy 10 or 20 unused copies, I'd appreciate hearing from you (wmshea@earthlink.net).

The Self-Made Tapestry: Pattern Formation in Nature written by Philip Ball gives us some answers to long-standing questions as to why there are patterns in designs in nature that reoccur in seemly unrelated objects.

Biologists are used to the idea that form follows function. The shape and structure of a biological entity whether it is a protein molecule, an organism, or the wind blowing ripples in a sand dune all have a purpose and a function. These are things I was curious about when I was studying in college, things that caugh my attention as interrelated but how and why. Of course, things in my life became more complex, but these questions still always seemed to weigh in the back of my mind... A tree with limbs and a lightening bolt look simular and so too roots and nerves.

Well, "The Self-Made Tapestry" explains the why and how of why these simularities do exist. This book explains why these are not just coincidences. As nature weaves it tapestry through self-organization it employs no master plan it just applies simple local interactions between the component parts. The component parts inpart a common self-organization to energy conservation allowing for typically univeral patterns.

What I liked about this book is the author has put complex theories into non-technical language along with adequate illustrations show the reader how these patterns come about.

If you looking for a book on explains some of life's and nature's mysteries this is the book for you as it is highly readable and you begin to understand why things are as they are. The book reads like a textbook , the chapters build upon one another making for an accumilation of knowledge bases on a solid foundation from the start.

This book is a solid 4 stars giving the reader a adequate knowledge of the hows and whys of nature. This book only has very minor flaws, but that is all. I would highly recommend this book for you home science library as it would make a worthwhile addition.

Good book! Highly recommended by the instructor of our director's class for community theatre.

SENSE OF DIRECTION is a text every director will want to take a look at, even if, years later, some of Ball's advice seems dated (or too expensive-he was not a man to shy away from large budgets and extended rehearsals if he thought them necessary.) In person he could be rather abrasive, to the point of being ridiculous, like Ross Hunter in a caftan. But on the pages of his book, he exhibits a warm, spiritual nature, almost like a priest. Since the days of the Chekhov dynasty, the director has of course assumed near divine proportions in the theater and you get the feeling Ball enjoyed that role, but he is often very courteous towards his actors. He even goes so far as to say that "one of the director's most important qualifications is knowing when NOT to interrupt his actors."

He was a professional director and the book covers every contingency from "first reading to opening night." Some of Ball's advice is not going to help you if you are an amateur. He gives the advice that actors, like cattle, can't hold too many ideas in their heads at one time so he urges the director to come up with a shorthand of small verbs or nouns with which the actor might make himself aware at all times. "Seduce," for example, might be his direction to the actor playing Cleopatra. Sounds elementary, but it works! After all, he was the man who boasted that he discovered Annette Bening.

He notes that often, for the first ten minutes of a play, the audience finds itself uncomfortable, with a marked realization of the artificiality of theater. They are sitting in a dark room and watching a bunch of people all lit up pretending to be real. As directors our job is to make those first ten minutes fly by so that the dream can swamp the audience and take them along with us on our journey. In passages like this one, he writes beautifully. Within a year or two after completing his book he was summarily fired from ACT and not long after that he had left this world for another, behind the curtains of life. Sad ending for what was once a glorious if eccentric career.

This book has opened my eyes to a greater view of the audition process as an actor. It has also awakened a fire in me to direct. I am planning on directing my first play this coming Fall, and I really feel prepared with this book and the class I'm taking now. A great text for discussion for directing classes.

Engagingly written.

Mr. William Ball, the former artistic director and founder of The American Conservatory Theatre in San Fransisco, boils down almost forty years of teaching, acting and directing experience into possibly the most effective,educational and practical document about directing. I shudder to use the word text book as that term implies dry academia- an approach which leads to the the death of the theatre- but really this book is indespensable to any theatre director. Ball lays out in a logical, simple and jargon free manner the nuts and bolts of building a balanced right and left brained community which has complete and utter access to the creative impulse. Everything in Ball's book is transferable, practical (sorry about using that term again but it is true)and impeccably rendered. For any theatre director, I strongly suggest purchasing this book as the foundation of any library. Five out of five stars.

William Ball's "Sense of Direction" has some excellent information for those involed in, or thinking about becoming involved in, directing. However, Mr. Ball is coming from the world of professional actors and sometimes his advise is not applicable for directors involved in educational theatre.

this is a real meat and potatoes book, which i think is a good thing. the worst thing about reading books about excersise is hearing about stuff that you dont need to know. this book is for people who have the time and desire to go to the gym at least 4 times a week. no half-hearted efforts here.
if you follow the book's schedule YOU WILL MAKE GAINS. this i think is the key to this books effectiveness. its not the lifts that he chooses or the number of sets/reps persay- if you have been lifting for sometime, most of the concepts will be pretty commen sense. he also leaves things open for you so your lifting sessions dont get stale.
I think one word sums this book up...simplicity. everything is done for you, you just need to have to drive to do it!

this book is very useful and is great when needing some extra info or just alternatives. i'm following the workouts in the book and am very pleased with how they translate to the field as well as just my overall health, fitness, and endurance.

I have rarely seen such detail in such a small space. Gets right to the point with easy-to-follow concepts, instructions, and pictures. Online resources are also helpful.

The illustrations are excellent. This book offers all the help you need to get started in your training for rugby. It even provides charts so you can keep a record of your progress.

I'm a multi sport athlete who trains all year round regardless of what sport I play. I bought a few of these Ultimate Guide to Weight Training books, and they definitely helped me train specifically for the different sports that I play. Then about a year later I received an email from amazon that there was a new edition out. These upgraded editions are even better than the originals, with more articles and a lot more sport-specific information. I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who plays a lot of sports or wants to specifically focus on training for one sport in particular.