Missouri Books

I've always been interested in all types of animals. My parents bought this for me when I was about 10 or 11. I played outside a lot, as a child, and was always discovering frogs, toads, lizards, snakes, and turtles. I was constantly referring to this book to identify the various specimens I found and sometimes caught (I always let them go immediately after). I practically had this book memorized. This is a great book for any Missouri outdoors person. Especially if they are going into areas where they might encounter snakes. I think it's important to be able to identify which snakes are venomous and which are nonvenomous. So many people mistake harmless species for venomous snakes and kill them. Anyway, this is a great book.

Poor choice of common names, contains some out-dated scientific taxonomy. Photographs and artwork are great. Text is good. The only book available on Missouri's herpetofauna; buy it, and wait for a newer, modern version.

I do a tremendous amount of close-up photography, "critters" of all sorts, flowers, etc. I spend quite a lot of time in the field. I have found this book very handy for initial identification of species. I will grant you that there is a bit of outdated material in this volume, but for my purposes this does not matter as I use other books for further research. The photographs and distribution maps are great and for the most part the text is quite helpful in identification. The book is easy to pack (along with my flower and bird books) and as I said, it is quite useful and helpful. For an indepth study though, you will want other works to supplement this one. Recommend this one highly.

This book shows pitures of every reptile and amphibian in the state of MO. It also has everything about them as well. I would really like to meet Tom R. Johnson.

When I picked up this book on Missouri River politics I hardly expected it to be so engrossing! The author is a reporter for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, and he recounts here some of the stories he collected that were too in depth for that publication. He writes in a journalistic style; focusing on interviews he lets the voices of people affected by river management carry the book. In sidebars after almost every chapter he presents well-chosen histories not directly related to the politics that add a great deal to the main text.

I learned a great deal about the Missouri River from this book, from its recreational opportunities to its commercial usage. I did not know the government was still taking so much land from the natives so far into the twentieth century; it is hard to imagine that so many people could lose their way of life at the signing of a pen. If the book has any weakness, it is that the interviews necessarily focus on people whose needs are not being met by the politics, so it is something of a downer. Still, it well communicates a love of the river and the history of man's intervention to change it.

This book has it all: exquisite text, well-researched material, interesting format, a "plot" with as many twists and turns as the river itself, and an ability to haunt the reader long after the book is done. Lambrecht's book reveals the history of 20th century activities along the Missouri that is seldom (if ever) taught in our schools. From industrious ambitions, the battles over water, and an account of the indigenous tribes who have lost their culture to Western ways of industry, Big Muddy Blues also presents a hope of reclaiming the wild nature of the Missouri River. The author guides the reader along a closer examination into ways public policy, administration and private interests prioritize the work of government agencies. Lambrecht--the Washington DC Bureau Chief for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch-- travelled the River and talked with people affected by it, now and in the past. Anyone interested in the interplay among government bodies, grassroots efforts, concerned individual action and politics in general will love this book. Readers of nonfiction will appreciate the engaging manner the material is presented. People living in states that border the Missouri River or have water supplies and wildlife affected by it should add this to their reading list... sooner rather than later. One of the best books I've read in a long time. Big Muddy Blues is a gift to citizens, government agency administrators and law-makers everywhere.

In "Big Muddy Blues", Bill Lambrecht has woven intriguing, though somewhat unsettling, tales of one of our most precious resources - water. Specifically he speaks of the Missouri River, but I found myself drawing correlations to other bodies of water dotting our country. If man's need for control has so skewed the patterns of the Missouri, how many other rivers, streams, lakes and bays have suffered the same fate - and with what result? Asking questions of various individuals and groups whose livelihoods are intertwined with the Missouri, Lambrecht presents their answers, but allows the reader to draw conclusions.

Disjointed though the writing style appears from time to time, there is a pattern. Lambrecht's tales, of politics and special interest groups, take the reader back and forth through the life of the Missouri - from the days of Lewis and Clark to the present.

I praise Lambrecht for raising awareness, of the great Missouri River itself as well as of the politics and factions that are affecting our water resources and environments that rely upon them.

Bill Lambrecht's BIG MUDDY BLUES takes a timely look at the history and the future of the longest river in the United States. It is full of intriguing detail about the river's geography and its inhabitants (notably the pallid sturgeon), the characters who depend on it for their livelihoods, and the woeful land grabs, degradation, and politics that have altered the course of one of the U.S.'s greatest natural resources. But Lambrecht's admiration for and belief in his river (he comes from St. Louis) leave us with glimmers of hope for the future health of the river. His engaging style and neatly-organized chapters contribute to an excellent read.

I would have given this book 5 stars, but the writing style is a little simplistic. However, the plot is great and the tone is WONDERFUL. I hated to put this book down. I kept wanting to know whodonit - and what happens between Meg and the Detective!

prose, clean and precise, propels this mystery/bittersweet love story. The first-person narrative is vibrant and sexy: P.I. Meg Darcy and her elusive object of desire Sarah Lindstrom stay with us, whetting our appetites for the subsequent 3 volumes in the series (the 2 that are published don't disappoint in their interweaving of mystery and romance). Though the excellent J.M. Redmann's Micky Knight has more more kinks in her personality (and more baroque mysteries to solve), Meg Darcy compares well in her 3-D characterization.

Not bad, for a first time out. Characters are well defined, the story line was plossable, wished that one of the "Loose ends" would have been assisting Womens shelters or Homelessness but got theme anyway. hope to see more of these authors

P.I. Meg Darcy works for her Uncle Walter, at Miller Security where they are steadily active in both investigations and security for local unions, businesses, and individuals. When a friend, Ann Yates, comes to Meg for help in the wake of her grandmother's murder, Meg reluctantly takes on the case. The old woman had apparently wandered away from a nursing home and was strangled by a serial killer who the cops have been unable to catch.

In the course of the investigation, Meg meets up with an old acquaintance, the enigmatic and distant police detective, Sarah Lindstrom, to whom Meg has always been attracted. The further Meg delves into the case, the more contact she has with the taciturn cop, and it's only a matter of time before fireworks begin, both on the case and with Lindstrom. As it turns out, all is not as it seems in the cemetery murders.

The story is told in first person, and Meg's sense of the world around her is wry and insightful. She is particularly amusing when pondering over the remnants of her love life. The cast of characters involved in this twisty mystery, including her best friend Patrick, are richly drawn, and the writing is crisp and focused. Cemetery Murders is an excellent debut, and I look forward to reading the next three installments.
-Lori L. Lake, Midwest Book Review

As a Missourian and a professional historian, I looked forward to reading what many consider a classic (even Boatner cites Monaghan). I was misled. This is an insufferable book, almost unreadable, a waste of time. Presuming to knowledge he cannot have, the author is pleased to describe (without citations) the innermost thoughts of historical figures. He insists on calling William Clark Quantrill "Charles;" writes Elias Boudinet for Elias Boudinot. Wallows in cliches (e.g. calls James Lane "the Grim Chieftan" at every opportunity until you want to gag) and racial stereotypes (e.g. his characterization of the "primeval passions" of naturally savage Indians, p. 210; see also every reference to black people). His writing style is so florid and bombastic at times as to rob it of clarity. Thus, while he describes obscure battles covered by few other scholars (hence the second star), it's sometimes hard to tell what's going on. If you want the politics of Bleeding Kansas and the early days of the war in Missouri, see the second volume of Nevins's classic "Emergence of Lincoln" and the first volume of "War for the Union;" if you are interested in the bitterness and hatred that fueled the violence in Missouri during and after the war, Fellman's "Inside War" is the book to read. But don't bother with Monaghan.

This book explains very well why there was so much violence in the Western scenario. If you like, it also explains the violence following the civil war in the reconstruction era. If you are used to draw a gun whenever you see a political opponent one should not be surprised about the cruelties committed by the Klan after the war.

This book also shows the problematic stand the civilized (Indian) nations were confronted with, being forced to choose between Union or Confederacy.

To all Southerners, this is a ballanced account descibing that particular period of time. Buy it.

A very well written book on the history of the Civil war west of the Mississippi. Monaghan covers many of the battles I had tried in vain to locate details on. Covered are the battles of: Carthage, Wilson's Creek, Pea Ridge, Prairie Grove, and Westport. I especially found interesting the involvement of the Five Nations out of Oklahoma. Much is covered concerning the conflicts between Kansas and Missouri, but Texas, Arkansas and others are treated with some detail. Monaghan's writing style is excellent, giving you a good feeling for what happened. You will read and re-read this one.

Fanatical politics of the western frontier, immigrant abolitionists with loaded Spencer rifles funded by mysterious personages back East, cut-throats, gin heads and horse thieves, colorful character descriptions... This book ranks up there with Pea Ridge by Shea and The Civil War by Foote. Absoltuley a must read.

i thnk this was a good book except for the fact that at the ending it did not tell who the spy was it left the reader hanging too much but overall it was good like i said the ending was bad when it did not tell who the spy was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

(IM AM 13 IM NOT 12 I PUT 12 SO I CAN PUT THIS REVIEW)!!!!!

As an educator of upper elementary students, I think the whole Orphan Train Adventures series is outstanding! It tells a tale while weaving in historical events. It makes learning history more interesting because the stories are told from a young person's point of view!

This is the best book i have ever read and it is very exiting packed with adventures and friends to learn. i was so exited when i read almost every page. the only bad part was at the end when the book didn't tell you who the spy was.

The guns swirling around you make you want to turn and run, but you wont.....at least Mike wont. Want to read a wonderful story of the Civil War and the urge that gripped the teens in America during that great war and made them run and join the army? Want to know why the nickname for the Civil War is "The Boys' War"? Well, you'll find out in this wonderful book about the war that claimed the lives of so many and destroyed and brought families together. A wonderful book, that can be a curse because you wont let it down. Enjoy this wonderful tail of the bullets flying and the men dying at your side...........

DEAR PAPA, DEAR HOTCH: THE CORRESPONDENCE OF ERNEST HEMINGWAY AND A.E. HOTCHNER isn't a light introduction: it's a scholarly collection recommended as a college-level pick for any collection strong in the works of either writer, presenting for the first time the collected correspondence between writer and agent. Hotchner adapted Hemingway's works for stage, movies and TV: these letters cover the final quarter of Hemingway's life and packs in nearly two hundred letters, cables and cards between the two. The result offers plenty of intriguing details and will prove a 'must' for any serious Hemingway scholar, in particular.

In his Preface, Hotchner writes:"I was young and struggling and vulnerable." What these Letters reveal is that "Hotch" was ambitious, greedy and manipulative. Just read the exchange concerning the "True" article (pp 172-179).Though De Fazio and the University of Missouri Press are to be congratulated for their Herculean accomplishment, those familiar with other Hemingway letters/memorabilia and scholarship, published and unpublished, know why Hotchner "had fallen out of favor with Mary"(Preface 12), as well as with other family members, true friends and many Hemingway scholars. Conrad Aiken, who early on saw Hemingway's genius, wrote, on the occasion of T.S.Eliot's death 40 years ago, "that this is the age of the ex-wife and the editor."I would add a third category: the "so-called friend."

I had a hard time rating this collection of letters, postcards and cables between Hemingway and A. E. Hotchner, Papa's friend during the last decade or so of his life. If I give "Dear Papa, Dear Hotch" 5 stars, what do I give my favorite book of all time - Hemingway's "In Our Time"? Since Amazon's rating system won't allow for more than 5 stars, I plead "nolo contendere." This book deserves 5 stars because it is the best it could be. Comparison with Hemingway's crafted work is not the point.

That said, "Dear Papa, Dear Hotch" is a gift to all who love Hemingway. I congratulate DeFazio for a job well done. Gathering all the pieces of this intriguing story must have consumed countless hours and required lots of legwork. The process of deciphering Hemingway's penmanship and the necessary research to illuminate arcane references was surely daunting at times. A.E. Hotchner's Preface & DeFazio's Introduction are fascinating and admirably set the stage for what is ultimately a poignant story of friendship & loss.

_Dear Papa, Dear Hotch_ is a triumph of precise editing: of scrupulous annotations that make this record of the final years of a great American writer come to life. The reader goes along effortlessly, instructed as necessary in diverse particulars-baseball trivia, the names of well-known trapshooters (!), the identities of guests at long forgotten gatherings, advertising slogans, specs for aircraft, Hemingway's confusion of a story by James Thurber with one by Ring Lardner. Those who have ever tried to run down one such datum will appreciate the scholarship, variousness, exactness, and energy of Albert J. DeFazio in presenting this collection.

The 161 letters here were written in the final dozen years of Hemingway's life, in his decline, after he, arguably the most famous writer living, had said what he had to say. As such they make for increasingly sad reading. We see Hemingway's effort to recapture the vitality and tragic dignity that make at least two of his novels and several dozen short stories key documents in American literature and in American self-concept. The letters from A. E. Hotchner-at once a slick, opportunistic sycophant, a cheerfully dutiful factotum, willing to do whatever the once great man asks, and a competent adaptor of original work-do not brighten the picture, nor is it always easy to read "Hotch's" imitations of Hemingway's deliberately scabrous language ("Goddam but I'm glad about the [Nobel] prize," etc.) Sometimes the interplay between them has a sick fascination, "Hemingstein" trying to persuade himself "Everybody will be okay" and "Krotchner" feeding this illusion. One comes to the notes with a sense of relief. They are the real gen.

A six page appendix, in which Hemingway objects to Hotchner's proposed deletions in _The Dangerous Summer,_ reveals more about the drift of Hemingway's writing practices than anything else I have read on the topic.

An outstanding book; I loaned mine to someone, can't remember to whom. Will buy another one. Two books, including Comanches by TR Fehrenbach, are too similar in their portrayal of the Amerindian to suggest that the authors are prejudiced. I am convinced that Denig called it as he saw it. The writing might seem pompous but that's the way authors wrote in those days. However, the importance of these books (Five Indian Tribes and Comanches) is to help Americans understand what is going on in Iraq today. Talk about relevance. Go back and read the NY Times article about the five Iraqi tribes in the immediate area protecting Saddam before he was captured. It is absolutely uncanny to see the parallels between the Amerindians in the 1800's and the Iraqi tribes today. During the time when I lived in that part of the world (Turkey, Syria, Iraq) my first thought was, my God, these are just like the Indians I grew up with in Williston, North Dakota. Absolutely uncanny. So, I wouldn't waste my time arguing about the picture these authors paint about these people; I would rather use these books to help understand and explain what is going on in Iraq today.

I entirely agree with the other reviewer that Denig was very prejudiced about Native Americans. For me, the value in the book - and it is great - is to have rare information about these tribes before their near-disappearance. Denig seems to save his harshest criticisms for the tribes that were most independent, and his stories about these groups give us a glimpse into their lives. I would very much recommend this book to people who are interested in the early 19th century world of the Upper Missouri.

This is a SUPERB work. The information is accurate beyond all possible doubt. It, like The Kiowas (Civilization of the American Indian Series) , The Indians of Texas: From Prehistoric to Modern Times (Texas History Paperbacks) , Scalp Dance: Indian Warfare on the High Plains, 1865-1879 , Life Among the Apaches (Bison Book) , Nine Years Among the Indians, 1870-1879: The Story of the Captivity and Life of a Texan Among the Indians , and also Three Years Among the Comanches: The Narrative of Nelson Lee, the Texas Ranger form the perfect antidote to the deluge of Politically Correct hogwash "Fiction-as-Fact" non-history books out there ( like Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee ) and absurd, totally unrealistic motion pictures a la "Dances With Wolves".
It is amazing that when it comes to books written by eye witnesses who lived during the time of the "wild" tribes, everyone today seems to think they're highly biased to say the least. I mean, logically, what would an eye witness know?! Take as "fact" what some present-day leftist, bleeding heart hack has written instead! This is the illogic that plagues ALL well-programmed Politically Correct zombies out there.
Now, if you want your eyes opened up WIDE concerning actual, accurate Frontier history - including the activities, life styles, and aggressiveness of the various tribes of Plains Indians, simply pluck up the courage to read the titles I've mentioned above....including this book, of course!
And, for all the PCers out there, I DARE YOU to read this and ALL the other titles I've listed in this review, and THEN see if you can honestly say that this author was biased ( unreasonably ) against the Amer-Indians of the Wild Frontier. Also, after reading all these books, see if you can sit through another viewing of Dances ( or should I say, DUNCES ) with Wolves and not feel like its an ordeal!

i have heard alot about the man and the book from many people. so i decided to buy the book and read it myself. i must say that for a person that lived with the indians for such a long time it seems to me that denig could not overcome his prejudiced ideas of a civilized or "savage" people and although he describes the manners of the indians in much detail he speaks about them with great arrogance, prejudice and contemp much of the time. to call the indians savages, heathens, and some more contemptuous words like these after living with them for years and marrying one of them, does not show much for the man. one should take his information with much prudence and caution.

Kansas City Jazz is a chronicle of the golden age of jazz music, an era that put Kansas City on the map along with the more heavily documented jazz havens of New Orleans, Chicago, and New York. Jazz authority and former record executive Frank Driggs combines his talent Kansas City native and radio host Chuck Haddix to present an in-depth chronicle jazz styles that encompassed rough-and-tumble urban blues, and pounding piano music that would come to be known as "boogie-woogie". A tour of jazz cultural landmarks such as the Reno Club and colorful profiles of jazz figures from Mary Lou Williams and Big Joe Turner to Jimmy Rushing and Andy Kirk, along with an inset section of black-and-white photographs, distinguish this "must-read" for jazz music history enthusiasts.

Any serious student of Jazz needs to know about the Kansas City sound. The book reiterated what I already knew which is that KC was a major contribitor to bebop and to r&b due to the styles that came togteher from that part of the country. Generations of musicians were influenced by the Basie Band and Charlie Parker. You will also get an education of what life was like in the black community of a midwestern city. Kansas City, which happens to be one of my favorites among cities, had a parallel identity with the world of Negro Leagues baseball and both jazz and baseball are remembered through a museum which I plan to visit soon. I recommend the book to anyone unfamiliar with the subject and interested in jazz.

Great book, both of the other reviews so far are quite good. It's good to see a city with such a great history finally getting a thorough treatment.

As a Kansas City native, I would like to point out that co-author Chuck Haddix is quite possibly the best DJ in town, as well as a fine author. His Friday and Saturday night show The Fish Fry plays some of the best jazz and blues anywhere. You can learn more as well as listen to past shows at http://www.kcur.org/fishfry.html, there's a link to the archives on the righthand side.

With vivid descriptions of the "wide-open" town of Jazz era Kansas City and its dramatic denizens, you can envision the scenes of Basie's coming of age, Charlie Parker's KC childhood and musical evolution, big bands dueling each other, glamorous theaters and giant dance halls, bars open 24 hours, remarkable women, "sporting men," police looking the other way, and so much more. The extensive research really pays off with quotations from reviews and ads from "back in the day," interviews with legends, a generous array of photographs, and a cohesive and accessible presentation of information from many sources. The sights, sounds, scents, and sentiments conveyed by Chuck Haddix and Frank Driggs in Kansas City Jazz: From Ragtime to Bebop are the next best thing to a time-machine. Next, Oxford needs to put out a companion CD (or DVD with photos and copies of the original media) with the recordings of the music and performers to help us fully appreciate the musical innovations from the Paris of the Plains.

This book is less about the Jerusalem that Bellow visited and more about himself. Indeed, his presence is so pronounced that he appears more fascinated with his own perceptions than he is with what he is witnessing, or so it seemed to me. While the writing is clear and vivid, I can now recall virtually nothing of what he describes, except for himself and his personal reactions - it is he who sees things more clearly than his hosts, etc etc. After 100 pages, this is boring. Alas, I got nothing out of this and it is also badly dated.

Not recommended.

How can one describe this classic book on Israel? At one level it is a personal account of one American writer's journey to Israel and England and back but scratch beneath the surface and you see the incredible panoply of faces and voices that is Israel. Here is A.B. Yehoshoua who writes "that because our spiritual life ... cannot revolve around anything but [political questions], you cannot spare yourself, spiritually, for other things." Here is a bomb going off in London just as it recently did in Israel. And here is Saul Bellow mourning the "six young [British] people" who were murdered while simultaneously noting that "the difference is that when a bomb goes off in a West End restaurant the fundamental right of England to exist is not in dispute."

Here is Abu Zuluf, editor of El Kuds whose automobile terrorists have blown up because he is trying to follow what Saul Bellow feels is a "line of conciliation and peace."

Here is the Greek quarter in Jerusalem covered in grapevine; there is the Jewish quarter where the principal relic is the ben-Zakkai synagogue, blown up by the Jordanians when they took over in 1948 and as Saul Bellow walks toward it he hears, somewhere, as Arab boys are racing their donkeys down a hill.

Here is a Yemenite synagogue; there a Souk, the public market. And everywhere there is a profusion of communities: Arabs, Jews from Arab lands, Asian lands, Europe, Africa, Christians, Kurds, Hindus.... Everywhere a cacophony of voices; everywhere people mingling, arguing, making peace, making war, while philosophers philosophize and writers write.

And he sits down to dinner with families who have lost children and as he passes dishes (Sephardic dishes, Indian dishes, Arab dishes, European dishes all mixed together) "on the Jaffa Road, because of another bomb, six adolescents-two on a break from school-stopping at a coffee shop to eat buns, have just died."

"This is how we live, mister," a cabby tells Bellow (in what language: Ladino, Hebrew, Arabic?), "his voice cracking. "Okay? We live this way."

Well known , Nobel prize winning author , put his pen to the service of recording his 1975 visit to the Land of Israel and his thoughts on the dillemas faced by Israel at the time , and on world politics at large in the mid 1970's.
The author puts down his observations , from his thoughts about Hassidim on a plane from Heathrow to Ben Gurion airport to a secular kibbutz near Ceasarea, and his meetings with leaders and thinkers in Israel such as former Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban , Jerusalem Mayor Teddy Kolleck , poet and journalist Chaim Gouri and professor Yehoshafat Harkabi as well as Arab figures like Mahmoud Abu Zuluf , editor of the al Kuds , at the time the largest Arab language newspaper in Jerusalem , who'se life , and the life of his children , the author reports where threatened for his relatively 'moderate and conciliatory' line.

Although Abu Zuluf later became a stooge of Arafat and the PLO.
Bellow observes the Israeli people as lacking in rancour or bitterness against the Arabs , despite being constantly under the threat of anihilation and targeted by terrorism.
The threat of anihilation , of a second holocaust , looms permanently in the Israeli mind , leading one of Bellow's aquaintances to observe that it would be a horrible irony if the Jews being gathered in one place enabled a second holocaust to become a reality.
since before the State of Israel was established the Jews of Israel have had to live with terror , an example in this book being a homicide attack ""on the Jaffa Road, because of another bomb, six adolescents-two on a break from school-stopping at a coffee shop to eat buns, have just died."

It is because of his relatively sympathetic portrait of the Israeli people in this volume , that Bellow came under attack from anti-Israel high priest of the ultra-left , Noam Chomsky.
Bellow muses on the attempts made by Jean Paul Sartre to balance his understanding of Israel, with his sympathy of the Arabs and his anti-American stance.

This book was written in the embryonic stages of anti-Israel hatemongering from leftwing academics in the West , alhtough it must be noted that all their propaganda was created in the old Soviet Union , where the 'Zionism is racism' canard was created .
In a heartfelt plea the author writes: 'I sometimes wonder why it is impossible for Western intellectuals...to say to the Arabs " We have to demmand also more from you. You too-the Marxists among you in particular- must try to do something for brotherhood and make peace with the Jews , for they have suffered monstrously in Christian Europe and under Islam. Israel occupies under one sixth of one percent of the lands you call Arab. Isn't it possible to adjust the traditions of Islam , to reinterpret , to change , to change emphasis , so as to accept the trifling occupancy? A great civilization should be capable of humane and generous flexibility. The destruction of Israel will do you no good, let the Jews live in their small state".
In reporting on a converstaion with Professor Jacob Leib Talmon , Bellow reports Talmon's warnings that 'the fate of Jewry in Israel and the Diaspora , is so closely linked he says , that the destruction of Israel would bring with it 'the destruction of corporate Jewish existance all over the world , and a catastrophy that might overtake US Jewry"
Alas , in the 30 years since this was written , leftwing academics (and the media) around the world have been the main force in hardening Arab attitudes , by taking up anti-Israel hatred to Nazi-like levels.

While the author has an overall understanding attitude of the Israeli people , he is rather less so of the Jewish residents of the disputed territories of Judea and Samaria, not quite seeming to understand the depth of the Jewish right to and connection with this part of the Land of Israel.

Bellow came to Jerusalem as celebrated novelist . Every door was open to him , and he met with Israelis from all walks of life. He writes an essentially sympathetic and understanding account of Israel and its special situation. He knows the score in terms of the Jewish past, the great sufferings many of the survivors living in Israel have gone through. He understands the constant threat from their Arab neighbors under which Israel lives. But he tries to see the situation too with sympathy for the Arab side. His basic line politically is of the left, and he clearly favors political compromise.
The book does provide a pretty fair picture of Israeli society. But it is possible to quarrel with Bellow's basic orientation which is that of a Diaspora Jew who does not feel any call to Aliyah to Israel, and does not have much understanding or sympathy for a good share of its population, the religious.
All in all though this is an insightful look into Israeli society by a commentator of great intelligence and literary skill.

A Conservative Classic

Like many great books, this book has gone largely unnoticed by the current establishment. History, however, will correct this, I believe, as this is probably the best work in political philosophy in the last 45 years. People definitely will be reading and discussing this book 300 years from now.

This book can be appreciated by both layman and academic alike, and while naturally appealing to conservatives it will also will please learned liberals and thoughtful environmentalists.

I saw a review of this book in a conservative publication and was intrigued enough to buy it. The book is a series of seven essays, of which the first five were very thought-provoking and contained some excellent discussion. I would recommend the book on the strength of these alone. The basic idea is that we have stronger ethical obligations to those close to us. Fleming also emphasizes that in the messiness of human existence hard and fast rules that will allow a person to always make the correct decision are nearly impossible to come by. Fleming makes a good case for these points, and I think he is convincing. I loved Fleming's lines "moral certainty belongs only to saints and homicidal maniacs" and "men and women are not unidimensional figures cut out of cardboard by a philosopher's scissors."

I especially liked Fleming's comparison of wealthy nations providing food aid to the Third World to a lifeboat, in which we have an obligation not to take on more passengers either as immigrants or consumers. I agree that it is ethically permissible to refuse aid to societies that do nothing to reduce their population. In my opinion, any charity that provides food or medicine to poor people but does not provide birth control or other means of reducing population has a lot to answer for. I also liked Fleming's application of the same principle to taxes. When the money for yet another hare-brained income transfer scheme is coming out of what I earn for my family, don't expect me to like it.

Fleming wants the foundations of conservative ideas questioned also, which I think is excellent. For example, Fleming discusses the Christian commandment that we should love our neighbor as ourselves. Since no ordinary person possibly can or does love his neighbor this way, it seems pointless to base an ethical system on this. Objective points of view, taken to their natural extremes, will inevitably turn us into monsters who will kill for some higher cause or other. I liked Fleming's line that "one sign we are dealing with a superstition is the unwillingness of the believer to question basic assumptions," which he applies to Christianity. I've seen far too many Christians in precisely that position.

In the last two essays Fleming seems to get bogged down, though there are still some good points made. In the essay "The Myth of Individualism" Fleming argues that we should put less emphasis on the individual and more on community. That's fine as far as it goes, but arguing that our society's problems really come from seeing ourselves as individuals struck me as taking this idea further than his evidence will support.

In the last essay "Goodbye, Old Rights of Man," Fleming occasionally seemed to me to be contradicting much of what I had agreed with in the earlier essays. For example, he talks about abortion as killing real unborn children to promote an abstract quality of life. This strikes me as exactly the sort of hard and fast rule that he said was inadequate to deal with the messiness of human existence. I agree that you shouldn't abort a child for trivial reasons, but then you shouldn't have a child for trivial reasons, either. Is it wrong to abort a child if there are already too many children to properly care for in the family? If the parents have serious genetic defects? What if the local community is starving? What if the local community would starve if the population doubled? I agree with Fleming that today's obsession with rights has gotten out of hand; but it's not only the liberals who sometimes take this too far.

Fleming has a tendency to make sweeping statements irrelevant to his argument, without providing any support for them. For example, he calls today's environmental havoc, such as pollution, the residue of Western liberalism. He dismisses all of American art, and the theory of evolution, with the same casualness. Well, I'm a scientist who believes in evolution. I'm a little surprised that Fleming doesn't, given that evolution is all about the sort of messiness and contingency Fleming is writing about. I would suggest pairing this book with something on evolution, such as Stephen Jay Gould's book "Wonderful Life".

Fleming's ideas can be taken too far, which Fleming seems unaware of. It is all very well to be concerned first for our own families, but taken to an extreme the result is nepotism and corruption. The Renaissance popes are the classic example of this, but it is a serious problem in many countries. In the Philippines even the proper handling of church funds is nearly impossible, because people feel that if their families ask them for money they must give it, even if the money is not theirs. Nepotism is a problem in the U.S., as shown by the political career of George W. Bush, a man whose sole qualifications for office appear to be his famous father and an uncanny ability to remember people's names. Too much ignoring of abstract principles like equality can lead to disaster too: look at what happened to the ancien regime of pre-revolutionary France, and to the Russian czars.

Dr. Fleming's book, The Morality of Everyday Life, presents seven essays that examine, in depth and detail, the unraveling of our culture and government. What's that, you ask? What do I mean, "unraveling of our culture and government? Well, okay, take a look around. We do know, for example, that the combined various levels of government costs us half our income, that our hard-earned wages that we use to feed, house, and clothe our families is being transferred, by government fiat, to people we don't even know (not to mention the funding of certain, select corporations and fulminating academics), and countless other inane programs. Programs which are proven and utter failures, such as the $6 trillion war on poverty, environmental restrictions taken to an absurd level such as prohibiting oil exploration in a barren wasteland. Or how about the disintegration of the family and acceptance of degenerate sexual lifestyles? Or perhaps we could examine the countless times in our society when innocent people are convicted for simply protecting their homes and families.

These are just a sampling of the problems Dr. Fleming seeks to explore in his book. Dr. Fleming argues that since the birth of classical liberalism in the seventeenth century, a century that gave us "universality, rationality, individualism, objectivity, and abstract idealism," Western Civilization has developed a flaw in its ethics, moral behavior, and thus in the construction of its state apparatus. He points out that the two primary political philosophies, liberalism and conservatism, have both embraced a "farsighted" or "long view" of human life. The problem, then, is that both political "positions (liberalism and conservatism)" in order to engage this farsighted, idealistic, perspective of mankind (modernity) have in the very act of "freeing themselves from the shackles of particular circumstances and traditions" introduced an ethical virus that eats away at the traditional duties and obligations of the individual while disenfranchising the very foundation of human society, the family.

This sort of "one size fits all" thinking that government and society are pushing us towards is at once, both dangerous and absurd. For example: a man murders a storekeeper during a robbery. In a one size fits all society, the woman who kills her abusive husband in self defense would receive the same punishment

In his essay "Hell and Other People", Fleming describes the eighteenth century and the philosophies of "Voltaire, Kant, and (later) the New England transcendentalists" as the time when the concepts of "universal brotherhood, international law, and world government reemerged." The twentieth century saw the idea of a "just state," or government that is committed to "economic equality," the idea that one is to "sacrifice private life to public good," (can you say "eminant domain"?)not to mention the onslaught of self-righteous who are constantly interfering in the private lives of citizens. So the state has become the vehicle of moral certitude and each of us, through the wisdom of the state, is to take his place as "deputies" in providing for the necessary expansion in order that it might provide, among other things, largesse to the "underprivileged," justice for all, and, of course, the ever elusive, equality.

Dr. Fleming does not, however, stop at just revealing the problems, but details how America, as a people, can reverse the trends he has cited. I will stop short of discussing Fleming's outline and leave that to the reader to discover. This is an exceptional work from a brilliant author.

Monty Rainey
www.juntosociety.com

THE MORALITY OF EVERYDAY LIFE is one of the more interesting books on ethics that I've read in a while. Thomas Fleming, a top paleconservative writer, contrasts an "ancient alternative" to the liberal tradition. The liberal tradition (growing out of Descartes, Locke and others) is characterized by certain assumptions: Individuals and governments are the central players in ethical considerations; moral behavior is a question on rational decision-making; moral principles must be applied with equal consistency to all situations.

Yet the ancient (and in fact almost universal) way of looking at moral questions is different. I have different obligations to different people. My duties to family and the world are not equal. Charity, as they say, beings at home. To the liberal "citizen of the world" this is provincialism at its worst. "[T]here is a consistency of tone, a certain universal high-mindedness that is impatient with distinctions and disdainful of irrational attachments. Sentiments of loyalty, because they are not entirely rational, do not yield their secrets to analysis or measurement." [p. 103.] People who profess a love for mankind first and foremost have the tendency to be cruel to their family and friends. It's easy to justify almost anything in the name of one's love for mankind. (A point made in Paul Johnson's suggestive, if problematic book, INTELLECTUALS.)

Dr. Fleming's book, as one might suggest by my brief description, is hardly rationalistic and abstract. There are plenty of examples from "everyday life" illustrating the arguments of the book. My only complaint is that I had hoped Dr. Fleming would have situated his ethical approach within the tradition advanced by writers of the Old Right. Richard Weaver and Robert Nisbet are mentioned once, and Russell Kirk not at all.