Social Studies Books

I ordered and read this book without total confidence, since it was written in 1999, and--as we will probably never stop hearing--things have changed considerably since 2001 (not for the better in the prison-industrial complex or in the sphere of social services).

But even 7 years after its publication, it holds up VERY well. And--sadly--the argument is not LESS cogent or the concerns less pressing.

Journalist Joel Dyer creates an informative, critical, and iconoclastic survey of the United States' criminal justice system in The Perpetual Prisoner Machine: How America Profits From Crime. Dyer persuasively argues that contemporary criminal "justice" is disastrously impacted by violent media content, a push for privatization; an increasing dependence of politicians upon public opinion polling and campaign finance. This has all resulted in an explosion in the American prison population. The rapidly increasing numbers of prisoners, parolees and probationers is not the result of increasing crime rates, but because sectors of the American economy and political power structure find mass incarcerations to be profitable. The Perpetual Prisoner Machine is very strongly recommended reading for students of the American criminal justice system, prisoner reform movement supporters, sociologists, cultural anthropologists, and political science students.

Dyer's well-researched expose reveals the inner workings of the nation's prison-industrial complex, the funding of which depends on the maintenance of a respectable, beneficent public image. He explains that real-world crime statistics do not support the war on crime's claimed need for massive increases in prison construction so, to justify the diversion of public funds into prison and jail expansion, politicians are relying on public opinion polls which reflect the pervasive societal effects of media-generated crime anxiety. Law makers, primarily right-wing, have responded to the public's media-hyped fears with reassurances in the form of hard-on-crime adjustments to the sentencing structure and consequent increases in law enforcement and prison spending, all financed by the angst-ridden taxpayers. Voters have been refusing to approve traditional general-obligation bond issues for increasing prison construction, so politicians are shrewdly using Wall Street intermediaries to divert tax revenues from public education and crime-preventive social programs into prison and jail construction by means of lease-revenue or lease-payment bonds, which are tax-exempt, high-interest debt-investment instruments issued without voter approval. These lucrative prison bonds reward the investor class with sizable profits from imprisonment, provide public-debt financing for construction of corporate-owned prisons, and they require taxpayers to repay more money than general-obligation bonds, which require voter approval. As major political campaign contributors, well-funded, right-wing special-interest groups such as police and prison-guard unions, and the NRA, back politicians who agree to promote hard-on-crime sentencing policies such as "three strikes," "mandatory sentencing" and "truth in sentencing," which substantially increase the prison population and sustain the widely held perception of increasing need for prison and police funding. As a result, the number of prisons and police have grown rapidly, and police and prison guard pay has increased substantially. In California, for example, a prison guard is paid more than a tenured college professor in the state's university system which, like those in other states, has been decimated by the diversion of public funds into the prison-industrial complex. By 1994, prison spending had begun to exceed education spending for the first time in America's history. I think Dyer presents a well-articulated argument, backed with well-researched facts and figures, supporting the assertion that the prison-industrial complex is a self-serving, socially and economically destructive part of an officially sanctioned assault on the poor and people of color.

Joel Dyer has done an excellent job of nailing how Congress has abused the issue of crime in America and why we allow it. He's also provided an excellent argument for abandoning the private prison industrial complex and ceasing the attack on urban America and the mentally ill. As someone who works in business and in finance, it bugged my eyeballs when I realized what government is doing, allowing prisoners for profit. I've worked 32 years in a profit driven capacity and doing this with human beings, given what I know about shareholder driven environments, is unconscionable in my mind. To intentionally profit from another's pain and misfortune is heinous. America has 5% of the world's population and 25% of the worlds prisoners. We have over 1,000 prisons and 7 million people under penal control (2004). Over half of them non-violent offenders whose crime involves consenting adults (ie: life in prison for introducing a buyer to a seller of home grown pot in Indiana) or petty thievery (ie: stealing vitamins in California).

This is one of the most important books in many years that tells the truth about our prison system. We have over 2,000,000 citizens in prison in the land of the free. Most of these citizens are non-violent and about 15% are mentally ill in need medical care. With the tax dollars that we pay we treat some non-violent prisoners in ways that are just horrible. It is done by politicians who want to get reelected and understand a terrible fact that the uninformed citizens vote for politicians who advocate building more prisons and filling them to overcrowded capacity with more prisoners. Only a small percentage of the citizenship understand the terrible cost to our society with this practice. It is a cost in billions of dollars and much more. It is also a cost in respect, common sense, decency and the goodness of the American people.

On top of this, studies indicate that about 10 -15% of prisoners are completely innocent and had absolutely nothing to do with the crime that they were put in prison for. This is because juries do not understand and respect the bedrock of the system which is "proof beyond a reasonable doubt." The large amount of reasonable doubt that is ignored by juries is shocking to the conscious of any good person.

A lot of detailed information, including actual photos of surgery techniques. Personal statements from FTM's were very helpful and good reading + information.

This book helped me to make the most important decision of my life. It was imformative and explained some things in detail that I was never told..even by my Dr.

I am so impressed with the accessibility to the reader who may have no knowledge or may have a faulty perception of this special group of people which has never been presented to the public in this wholistic way...beginning with the excellent personal writing and fine-art museum quality photographs by the author, to the courageous "before" pictures and poignant, varied statements of many other FTM's. And this is what seems so ground-breaking: there also are writings by physicians, therapists, historians, politicians, family members and "straight" friends, all of whom congregate to comprise a phenomenal, diverse community of expertise and information not only for the initiated, but for the uninformed socially inquisitive as well.
All other books I have seen on similar subjects seem to be "vanity" publications, with a much narrower audience possibility, in which I don't feel welcome!
This one is so rich and complete, it could be 3 or 4 books: for the members of the extended FTM community, for the documentary fine-art photography connoisseur and collector, as a text for clinicians and physicians, and for the autobiographical writer. I recommended it to the University
librarian, my minister, a gallery owner and my Mother!

I have a friend who is documented in the book. I am a totally boring hetrosexual male without a hint of mystery to my sexuality and was blown away by the feelings and photos and personal stories portrayed in this book.

Dean Kotula, in his book, Phallus Palace, argues that "what is common to all transsexuals and what distinguishes them from other sexual minorities is an aversion toward or awkwardness with one's genitals and a desire for sex-assignment surgery" (xx). More specifically, a differentiating aspect of Phallus Palace is its foregrounding of transition (surgical reassignment surgery from one sex to the other) as the central characteristic of transsexuals. Kotula supports his argument in part by: 1) speaking from his own experiences as a female to male transsexual; 2) gathering support from contributing authors, including Katherine Rachlin, Ph.D. and interviewed subject, Milton Diamond, Ph.D.; and 3) presenting the stories of several other FTMs. Kotula's purpose is to make clear the difference between transsexuals and transgender people in order to reaffirm that while they have been born in female bodies, transsexual men are indeed male, and to reaffirm their desires and need for surgery. In addition, Kotula's text is also concerned with educating and encouraging transsexual men, but also their allies to advocate for more, better scientific research, as well as improved surgical outcomes.

Katherine Rachlin's essay, "FTM 101: Dispelling Myths About the Invisible and the Impossible" nicely presents the misinformation in scientific literature that has skewed the knowledge base on FTMs. Specifically, Rachlin points to the way in which particular framings of research and particular research questions lead to findings that are shaped in specific, biased/limited ways (reminiscent of Kath Weston's introductory chapter in her 1998 book Long Slow Burn: Sexuality and Social Sciences).

Particularly interesting is Rachlin's assertion that "most [FTMs] do not become actively interested in changing their body and living in their chosen role until they learn that it is possible. Most report that the wish was always there, but without the belief that it was possible, they did not attempt to actualize their potential" (10). Phallus Palace is certainly a book that could not only introduce the possibility of (surgical) transition to FTMs, but also fortify the conviction of those considering undergoing surgery. In fact, Kotula's "Conversation with Milton Diamond" and its demystification of surgery and of some of the issues surrounding and processes leading up to surgery further acts as a resource and reaffirmation for those seeking surgery; as does "Part Four: The Surgeries" which provides interviews with doctors who perform sex-assignment surgeries, as well as detailed photos of such surgeries.

Personally, I'm skeptical of any assertion touting homogeneity of a group of people, as Kotula seems to do in regards to FTMs and their relationship to sex-assignment surgery. Also, I wish that other dimensions of difference (e.g., race, class, nationality) took an integral part within Phallus Palace's discussion of sex-assignment surgery. (I do have to give props, though, to Diane Ellaborn's essay, "Seeking Manhood: An Introductory Guide to Assessment of the Female-to-Male Adolescent" for its attention to age and the issue of transsexual youth.) Still, whether for trans scholars who may or may not agree with Kotula's narrow definition of FTMs, FTMs exploring their surgical options, or those with a general interest in LGBT Studies, Phallus Palace is a text worth glancing. (Besides, it isn't overly dense, and for some could be a relatively quick read.)

When I looked at the title of this book, I thought that the contents would be much different than they are. It is a popular summary of the major ideas of modern physics and a short history of how those ideas were developed. I did not see where the poetry reference could be applied. While there are a few references to earlier people and times, the discussion starts with Galileo and his exploration of the laws of physics. One interesting point was that March describes a bit of the personality of Galileo, calling him " often boorish, pugnacious and petty." To most modern scientists, Galileo was a martyred hero, forced to recant under pressure from the church. The picture painted by March makes him seem more human, which I found refreshing.
The next step is to Isaac Newton and his development of the three laws of motion, his explanations of the behavior of gravity and calculus. Energy in all its' forms is the next point of discussion, followed by the famous Michelson-Morley experiment that "proved" that the Earth does not move. This leads to relativity and the role of Albert Einstein. The final section covers atoms, quantum mechanics and quarks.
The writing is very well done, all textual explanations are easy to follow and March spends the appropriate amount of time in describing the personalities of the people who made the discoveries. He also places each of them in their appropriate historical context, describing the current state of the scientific world when they made their discoveries. However, unlike some other popular writers of physics books, March includes equations in his explanations. I applaud him for this; I consider science books without the appropriate equations to be the ultimate in dumbing down for commercial advantage.

What can be said more, other than 'simply the best'?

This book is a scientific explanation of how nature works. It is not a book about how to write poetry, but how to explain and explore the world in which we live. The material is presented so that even the abstract poet can understand the concrete universe.

When I first read Robert March's `Physics for Poets', it reminded me much of the sense of science one gets from popular programming such as Carl Sagan's `Cosmos' - it presents the science theory and progress in elegant, poetic and non-mathematical terms. I have never been afraid of the mathematics (indeed, I studied mathematics to a good level at university) but have always been impressed with those who could describe for the numerically-challenged the intricacies of subjects such as physics and astronomy.

March covers topics in physics from the earliest investigations in the ancient world (back when the line dividing science from philosophy was not so distinct - as history repeats, there is a growing blurring of the line in modern physics once again). However, March does not spend inordinate time on ancient subjects or ideas such as classical mechanics (save to introduce later topics for which such concepts will be necessary). He gets to the heart of modern physics rather quickly.

March has an interesting development of various topics. For example, his discussion of the theory of relativity is very different from the typical `hard-science' physics books from which I studied. He develops intuitive descriptions, shying away from technical discussions of Lorentz transformations or frames of reference (I think this is a concept that students could grasp more readily than perhaps March believes). Despite this, March uses the traditional `frames of reference' model of travelers on a train, seeing thing in relative states as they are traveling against the more static countryside, which is itself traveling as the earth revolves on its axis, and orbits the sun, as the sun moves about the galaxy, as the galaxy spins around the local group, etc. Frames of reference can actually be fun!

Quantum mechanics is also an area of modern physics that leads to much confusion, and March confesses that there are limitations to the discussion possible without mathematical equations and models. There are simply no `real-world' analogies that can be drawn that make sense for some of the concepts. However, he does introduce key ideas such as the Bohr theory and Schrodinger's wave in ways generally accessible.

March does introduce the occasional equation - calculus is not required for understanding, but elementary algebra is needed to follow some of the discussions. March describes each equation as introduced `in English', in words that are generally comprehensible. He includes more technical mathematics in an appendix for those who desire more.

As this is a textbook, there are questions in the appendix for each of the chapters. There are also suggestions for further reading and a topically-arranged bibliography. Some of the readings are now out of print or out of date, but many of the titles still remain relevant. This is a very good book for those who know physics or mathematics and want a quick conceptual introduction or review, and for those who are not trained in physics and mathematics, humanities and social science majors, who want to gain insight into this interesting and demanding field in a non-intimidating way.

March gets it just right by employing the soft to understand the hard. I read this book during my sophomore (after having finished my ABET accredited physics) Christmas vacation. It started me on a path that lead to a very powerful and useful understanding of physics.

A good friend bought this book for me after going to a cake event in San Francisco and I am so happy she did.

The best thing about this book is that it discusses the notion that women should love their bodies. The authors say that when women love our bodies, orgasms will be more plentiful and it allows you to more freely express sexual desires. It is so important to understand your body and to express a positive sexual image especially these days when being sexy means something very different. After reading this book, I walked away with a better sense of how my sexuality can improve other parts of my life and at the same time I remembered what feeling sexy can do for my overall sense of well being.

This book is a real breakthrough for women of all ages who desire to fully embrace their sexuality and break free of outmoded codes of sexual behavior. This is not a technique or clinical advice book, but rather a real live connection to women's true fantasies and turn-ons,vividly brought to life by honest sexually-driven women - a shattering of obsolete stereotypes! A statement in the chapter "Express yourself" especially hit home with me: "At the end of the day, you are defined by how you feel, not by what someone else thinks of you". So true. For any person, man or woman, who feels passionately about women finally coming into their own as whole human beings, this book is the real deal.

Play with yourself. Play with a friend. Play with a toy. This book explores most imaginable areas of female sexuality, including the parts that women are ashamed of discussing, and those that we, as women, are anxiously waiting for it to be OK to discuss!

If you are a woman buying this book, read it alone in a quiet, comfortable place. Chances are, you will not be so much shocked as relieved. Much of the book says things "out loud" that you thought you should be embarrassed about. If you are anything like me and everyone I know that has read CAKE, you will finish reading every last word and wind up shutting the book thinking, "Wow, I'm glad I'm not the only one!" You might call yourself a "freak," but you'll be saying it this time with a positive, not negative, connotation!

If you are a man buying this book, do so with humility. The woman's body is phenomenal -- inside and out -- and this book seems to cover that in detail over 304 informative, captivating, nearly self-turning pages! Don't think of CAKE as some sort of insider's guide to be taken advantage of as if the "secret" to being a player is being revealed, because if you learn anything from CAKE, you'll learn that we, ourselves, know best how to make ourselves FEEL the best, and neither batteries, nor men, are required for that feeling! If you are wise, this book will make you more humble and more aware of the endless possibilities in how to bring your woman to the most amazing feeling in the world. And keeping her there!

This book is not what you would expect. More than a typical how-to guide, A Piece of Cake succeeds where other fail by putting forth the philosophy that sexual equality between men and women is a necessary component of feminism. This is the first book that I have read that successfully melds sexual thought with a feminist twist. Bravo. It's about time.

I have been a CAKE member for two years now and seriously recommend any girl to become one - I have had the most fun of my life at CAKE parties and I mean it! As for the book - it's a greatttt read!! It's sexy, kinky, funny, open-minded, extremely on-point, and SUCH A TURN ON! Girls - you definitely need this book - it will open you up to a whole other level!

Having borrowed this book from our public library I wanted a copy of my own to use as a resource for children's programming at our local historical society. It gives so much information and the illustrations are wonderful.

There are times when history books written for the younger set are wonderful sources of information that most 'adult' (or mature) history books do not touch upon. And "A Pioneer Sampler" is one of those books.
It is written in storyform about the daily lives of the Robertson family, pioneers living on a backwoods farm in the 1840's. Throughout this 237 page book we learn, in a fun and interesting way, how this family dealt with the everyday living that a typical family of the time might have lived: their chores, crafts, eating habits, their spare time. Tools used, how to milk a cow, making maple sugar, harvest time, visiting a general store, building a house...so much interesting historical living written in a very simplistic manner.
Interspersed throughout are sidelines of information pertaining to the subject being written. For instance, there is a chapter about a peddler's visit to the family and the families reaction to this traveling salesman. But, at the end of the chapter, there are a few pages thrown in speaking of individual peddler's trades and how they do their crafts.
Most of the chapters are set up in this way, which adds greatly to understanding more fully the chapters.
I would love to see more books in this form for other era's in American history, as this style or history writing can entertain and teach all - kids as well as adults - who have an interest.
Highly recommended.

The Pioneer Sampler

The Pioneer Sampler is a fun and fascinating book. It tells about a pioneer family. Can Nekeek and Willy catch fish by hand? You'll find out. This is a fun book.
I'd give this book a five *...

I loved this book. I read it before I gave it to my daughter. It is a fictional family, but all the information is true to life. Interspersed with the story of the Robertsons, you can learn how to make your own cheese, dip a candle, or learn to tell the time from the sun.
This book will add to your library, and is a nice complement to Laura Ingalls Wilders books. Homeschooling familys will enjoy it, I know we did.

Barbara Greenwood has written a wonderful book that is as much fun for adults to read to children as it is for the children to read themselves. She doesn't just 'tell' about the Robertson's, she 'shows', drawing the reader into their lives...a pleasant place to be. I especially love Granny's story about how she came to America,on a ship, from Scotland.

The book is beautifully illustrated...all the way through...by Heather Collins. The pictures are so well done that, even as an adult, I would like to step into the scene!

There are instructions for simple, fun activities such as growing a potato plant, dyeing fabric using an onion, or making a cardboard jumping jack; pioneer games that will even entertain today's children for hours such as shadow shapes or knucklebones; and recipes that are easy for children.

Reading this book to a child is a great 'stress releaver'...it's like a little escape from the treadmill of life!!!

Dr. Leary maintains a high ground in his defense of the value of the psychedelic. This is the early work and a must have.

Wow! What a book! Leary is a real psychedelic guru, not in the orthodox sense, but really a man ahead of his time, a Galileo in the charter exploration of the mind and consciousness. He started off as a conservative Harvard professor, yet not so conservative, as he had his own ideas. But after his religious experience, and that's what psychedelics do - the expanding of your consciousness to a religious experience - he became aware of the societal and cultural chessboards - the games - and here became outspoken apart from the Harvard rationalistic mindset which rests on only one static frame of a multi-dimensional, dynamic existence.

I read this book smiling, over and over again. I walked down the street with a smile, mostly for Leary's optimism, then his frank and bold statements, which in most part I agree with. His style sometimes just makes you laugh and smile and say to yourself "I wish I had the guts enough say this." And although his predictions did not come true, you can't help but subjectively comprehend the 60's atmosphere, enveloped with the baby boomers in their youth taking up the majority of the population and their experiential drug use in psychedelics, which in turn, brought forth all the femininity of creativeness, patience, tolerance, peacefulness and artistic development that was permeating the entire American culture and spreading around the world and thus brought on the male dominated aggression of control and police power. So Leary's optimism and predictions were really a good assessment of the time despite their failure to come true. And nothing makes me sadder than to see his predictions fail from the creative mind expanding youth to our current male power, controlling and agressive society.

You can write Leary off as a kook from the conservative's point of view, the rationalist who never "experienced," and that's the KEY here - never experienced a trip under favorable circumstances and environment. Leary is the same as other heretics and kooks of history, a Galileo of mind exploration and conscious expansion, a Guttenberg of exoteric enlightenment, as in this book as well as one who clearly recognizes the need for new symbols that relate the esoteric experience of LSD, of cellular memories, of DNA language outside the mind, of experiential journeys that can only be told under a new language, as the microscope discovered new world had brought forth, as quantum physics brought forth and every other new fields of exploration that can only be described outside the current symbols we currently use.

Leary on page 141: The lesson I have learned from over 300 sessions, and which I have been passing on to others, can be stated in 6 syllables: Turn on, tune in, drop out. "Turn on" means to contact the ancient energies and wisdoms that are built into your nervous system. They provide unspeakable pleasure and revelation. "Tune in" means to harness and communicate these new perspectives in a harmonious dance with the external world. "Drop out' means to detach yourself from the tribal game. Current models of social adjustment - mechanized, computerized, socialized, intellectualized, televised, Sanforized - make no sense to the new LSD generation, who see clearly that American society is becoming an air-conditioned anthill. In every generation of human history, thoughtful men have turned on and dropped out of the tribal game and thus stimulated the larger society to lurch ahead. Every historical advance has resulted from the stern pressure of visionary men who have declared their independence from the game.

On page 196: My philosophy of life has been tremendously influenced by my study of oriental philosophy and religion. Of course, what the American, regardless of his religious belief, doesn't understand is that the aim of oriental religious is to get high, to have an ecstasy, to tune in, to turn on, to contact incredible diversity, beauty, living, pulsating meaning of the sense organs, and the much more complicated and pleasurable and revelatory messages of cellular energy. To a Hindu, the spiritual quest is internal.

Different sects of oriental religion use different methods and different body organs to find God. The Shivites use the senses; the followers of Vishnu are concerned with cellular wisdom, contacting the endless flow of reincarnation wisdom which biochemists would call protein wisdom of the DNA code; Buddhist manuals on consciousness expansion are concerned with the flash, the white light of the void, the ecstatic union that comes when you're completely turned on, beyond the senses, beyond the body.

On page 202-203: What we're doing for the mind is what the microbiologists did for the external science 300 years ago when they discovered the microscope. And they made this incredible discovery that life, health, growth, every form of organic life, is based on the cell, which is invisible.

You've never seen a cell; what do you think of that? Yet it's the key to everything that happens to a living creature. I'm simply saying that same thing from the mental, psychological standpoint, that there are wisdoms, lawful units inside the nervous system, invisible to the symbolic mind, which determine almost everything.

And I don't consider myself that mystical - unless you'd call someone who looks through a microscope a mystic, because he's telling you about something for which you don't have the symbols. Or the astronomer who detects a quasar and speculates about it.

On page 208: Every time you take LSD you completely suspend - you step outside of - the symbolic chessboard which you have built up over the long years of social conditioning. And you whirl through different levels of neurological and cellular energy, continually flowing and changing.

Your symbolic mind is flashing in and out. You never love your mind during and LSD session. It's always there, but it's one of a thousand cameras that are flashing away. Of course, the LSD freak-out, or paranoia, is where the symbolic mind freezes any aspect of the LSD session and defines a new reality, which can be positive or negative.

Read this book.

This is the single most influential book I have ever read. Completely legitmizes and encourages religious experiences through psychedelic means. Anyone currently using psychedelic drugs or interested in them should read this to gain greater understanding of their power. Learn why LSD and other are really illegal, the government knows they free minds!

...if you wish to stay the same because believe me, once you read it, you never will be. I got this book when I was about 26-27 years old when I felt as though I was just passing through life and not really living it. I felt like everything was "ho-hum". All of my senses were set to dull. Inside of me there was just this gnawing ache that there has got to be something more...not just "out there"...but "in here"...in my heart, in my soul, in my mind...

And then along comes Timothy.

Irreverent, Rebellious,Smart-Ass Timothy Leary espousing the Truth that all advancement in life is already in our very DNA. It dwells deep within the very marrow of our bones because we, as a species, were not meant to stand still...we were not meant to live lives of quiet desperation...we were meant to behold a world that burns and sparkles with Light.

People tend to think one is hallucinating when one sees vibrant colors, when everyday things seem to shine with a new brilliance, when even the song from a songbird feels like a musical triumph, but this is how life really is, boys and girls! We are hallucinating when we think that the world is dull and thick and leaden...we are hallucinating when we think that we are just these heavy clods of biodegradble clay that stalk the earth. We are here to discover...or should I say, uncover the paradise that is already within the invisible realms of the ancient mind that dwells within us and we in it.

Does this mean you have to take LSD in order to experience the jewelike radiance that all of life is made in and out of? Not neccessarily and I am not advocating that you do. What I am advocating is that you allow yourself to get enthused about life. Enthusiasm literally means to be filled with God. God wants to know Itself as you...as me...in each and every moment of creation.

Read Timothy Leary. Marvel at his excitement for life, join him in the mind & soul rebellion against flaccid governments and soul controlling religions and their warped politics and dissapointing creeds both of which are more than happy to think and decide for you, laugh in joyful relief that you are not a body with a soul, but you are a soul with a body,and be willing to stray from the pack of lemmings that's headed for the edge of the cliff only to drown in the shallow seas of mediocrity.

Open your eyes.
Open your mind.
Open your soul.
Open your heart.
Open this book and let the tingling in each of your 40 trillion cells remind you are here to do more than exist, you are here to LIVE and to LIVE WELL.

Peace & Blessings to this this place we call the world.

This work is a hallmark for questioning authority, pursuing individual freedom and happiness, and working to build a more enjoyable and enriched world. Lovers of liberty would be well-advised to study this work thoroughly, and then pass it along to the nearest religious extremist. It will surely get a reaction.

If you're new to the field then Program Evaluation provides a framework which makes sense of the various approaches. The authors have an easy style, sparing the reader from unnecessary jargon where they can. The introductory chapters provide a brief philosophical and ideological background to alternative approaches to evaluation. I came across this text during an introductory course in Instructional Design so it helped to place evaluation with what I had already covered on learning theory.

I received my book quickly and its condition was exactly as described - even better. I am extremely pleased with both Amazon's service and their products. Thank you for an excellent customer experience.

This book was easy to read and gave excellent examples and case studies. it was short and to the point and didn't drag on an idea. It was also informative in that it gave you when it was the author's bias or actual studied facts.

This book is used as a text book in my graduate class on evaluation in Instructional Technology. The book is clear, easy to understand, thorough and a good "primer" on evaluation.

This text surveys evaluation theory and practice in a manner that is easy to understand and teach. It's appropriate for undergraduate or graduate work in performance evaluation. The authors do an excellent job of reviewing the history and key literature. They also briefly explain popular methodologies and discuss different approaches, such as objective and holistic. The book includes case study material that highlights processes, advantages, drawbacks, and potential problems of evaluation efforts. The authors avoid consulting hype and focus on building the evaluation body of knowledge. An update with Fitzpatrick listed as the first author is now available and also is excellent.

'Quinceanera!' has got first hand accounts of moms and families who have been there..planning their own childrens coming of age. Some used party planners, some did it themselves with help from friends and family. This book has been VERY HELPFUL in planning my oldest daughter's quinces in 2002 and I've dug it out again to plan daughter #2's quinces in 2009.

The greatest book around to help plan for your daughters Quinceanera. It has help me see many traditions I did not know existed. Must have if you are planning a party.

This book was abousoulty the best information that I have found on quinceanera's out there. It takes you step by step giving great examples of menu's and ceremonies.

I am starting my own event planning business and this book has given me knowledge that I did not know previously.

I would recommend this book to anyone that is planning a quinceanera, it will save you a lot of stress and anxiety.

I started working on my daughter's quinceanera 1 year ago and found this book invaluable. It's very comprehensive and covers everything for all latin cultures. I incorporated a little of everything to create a customized quince for my daughter, with an emphasis on the religious aspect. This book gave me ideas and explored topics I didn't know existed. Thank you Michelle for writing this book.

My daughter and I found this book at a small book store three years ago and could not wait to begin planning her Quinceanera which was January 13,2001! Michele really helps you begin your planning and organization with her research and the ideas that others had shared with her on their Quinceanera. Since the area we live in does not cater to "La Quinceanera", her book helped us get started. The Quinceanera was better than my daughter had imagined and the best night of her entire life. Fred Meyer's bakery at Fisher's Landing, Vancouver WA makes the Juventud Encantada cake featured in her book. Michele provides great ideas for the "recuerdos" and shopping for invitations for that very special day! We found the "Quinceanera CD's" at Borders.com and Tower Records.com THANK YOU MICHELE! We are looking forward to her new book on the Hispanic Bride's Wedding Planner. Although we can wait for wedding!

I thought this book was great. I respect and love Dyson as a thinker and leader. There were a few things in the book that I dont necessarily agree with Dyson on, but who cares, thats life. The only person I need to agree with 100% is God. Overall his thoughts are deep, logical and thought provoking. Dyson is my favorite writer and Black Leader.

I met Michael Eric Dyson at UNC. I did a book report on the African American Church last year and got a lot of my information from Race Rules. He has a lot of ideas to strengthen the black culture and in his book he shares some great views on why black churches fail and why some don't. There was a part in the book about black leadership, but I was dissapointed that he didn't talk about Tupac becasue he was a leader in rap music and he was a voice for black people.

Dr. Dyson is amazing as he explains race in America. At first when Dr. Dyson started talking about OJ Simpson I started saying to myself "oh no, not again." However, that touchy subject was not too bad and I did not get as angry as in past conversations, books or reports. There were comparisons and constrasts between Farrahkan and Colin Powell pertaining to the million man march that seemed very insightful. Such as Colin Powell thought the million man march was a good conceptual ideal, but due to the fact that Farrahkan was the march's organizer he boycotted the million man march. This book actually makes you think about things in life and it is not one of those books that you just read and then put down and don't think about anymore. Race Rules has me now reading "I may not get there with you" and I am already so into that book. Dr Dyson keep up the good work.

There is absolutely no doubt that this is a great book. The author, as is evident from the book, is a keen thinker and is as intelligent as he is funny. This book was a great reading experience for me, especially because I am neither black nor white. I loved the first part where Mr. Dyson talks about the O.J Simpson trial and how that has changed the playing field. He very deftly, avoids passing judgment on O.J, the man. Even though the author cannot be accused of justifying O.J's actions, he most certainly can be credited for trying to paint a picture in which O.J's actions can at least be objectively understood. This, to me, was extremely interesting. As far O.J. Simpson is concerned, Mr. Dyson has been successful in evoking a response of "Why not?" as opposed to "Why?" The book covers important topics like the failures and successes of the black church and the deficiencies in the present black leadership. One thought, which runs throughout the course of the book, is the author's consistent support for women's causes. A self-described feminist, the author has been very effective in talking about women's issues, specially the state of black women and the inequalities they have had to face due to not only their race but also their gender. Mr. Dyson gathers enough courage to criticize black men for the treatment they have meted out to the women folk. However, at times, Mr. Dyson sounds like he is desperately trying to gain support from black women as their only true sympathizer. I had the feeling that the author was sacrificing sincerity to gain a little goodwill. Mr. Dyson has taken a middle path solution to the question of racial equality. He agrees with both the integrationist ideals of Colin Powell and the separatist beliefs of Louis Farrakhan, but denounces both as being the only road to racial salvation. He tries to be politically correct so as not sound as either a rebel or a wimp. The author's discussion of the popular culture can be counted as another plus of this book. I specially liked his treatment of the subject dealing with the politics of nostalgia and how the elders blame the black youth for all the ills and reminisce about the 'good old days in the hood'. Probably the author's support for hip-hop and rap endeared this book more to me. As a great fan of rap music, I couldn't agree more with the author. However, I was disappointed at the fact that the author never mentioned Tupac Shakur, who I think has been one of the most important players in the history of rap music. Throughout the course of the book, I got the impression that the author was trying to prove to the world that he does not shy away from calling a spade, a spade. But whatever his real intentions, Michael Eric Dyson has been very effective in painting a true picture of the realities of race in this country and how it still dominates our life, more than we want or imagine.

Heard the taped version of RACE RULES, written and read by
Michael Eric Dyson . . . it is a collection of essays that deal with
the problem of racial division in America, as well as with divisions
within the black community.

Dyson, a former welfare father and now an ordained Baptist
minister and professor of Communications Studies at the University
of North Carolina, starts by talking about O.J. Simpson . . . I recall
initially thinking, "not this subject again," yet was pleasantly
surprised by how he got me to realize that there was more--a lot
more--to the subject than the media presented . . . another essay
dealt with the sate of black women and the inequities they have had
to face due to not only their race but also their gender . . . lastly,
I found it fascinating how Dyson agreed with both the integrationist
ideas of Colin Powell and the separationist beliefs of Louis Farrakhan--and
then denounced them both as being only road to racial salvation.

Dyson made me think about subject matter that ordinarily isn't on my
radar screen . . . for that, I'm grateful.

Excellent review of sensitive issues regarding race, ethnicity, and the criminal justice system!

As a graduate student in criminal justice - I find it enjoyable to read subjects that directly impact my course of studies and my profession. Race, Crime and the Law is one of the few books that I would STRONGLY recommend to every criminal justice, sociology and law student. In fact, I would recommend this book to anyone concerned with the current state of race relations within the United States. Kennedy's style and in your face writing is powerful and persuasive. This book is not written in the typical, arrogant style of many professors. Instead Kennedy writes this book for the masses.

This lucid work of kennedy's is a comprehensive and beautifully written examination of race and its ralation to the criminal justice system and the law. Kennedy's arguments are superb, and he supports everything that he says with hard evidence, leaving his sound biases and premises the only things left to be considered. Kennedy is, even in this last matter, careful to make this book an exploration rather than a persuasion, and while he does make arguements and try to persuade the reader, he does not condemn his opposition and he certainly does not limit the scope of his thinking in any way possibly detrimental to the flow of ideas.

Schools in America have always taught us with blindfolds on. It's up to the American people, [mainly people of color] to find the truth. The negative race relation state that America is today, is a direct result of the pre 1900's. Randall Kennedy shows us in this book how slanted the laws were during slavery times and what do you know, things haven't changed all that much.

1st & foremost, this is the BEST book i've read in a long time. Kennedy acheives what Gates & West do NOT ... an intelligent discourse on important issues currently facing racial minorities that is rooted in fact. he offers facts & precedent to support his opinions, views & hypothesis ... as opposed to rhetoric supported by rhetoric.

the book dissects the historical perversion of criminal justice/law enforcement to perpetuate the oppression of racial minorites. then it uses this historical context/premise to draw a picture of the current state of the relationship/role of the criminal justice system & law enforcement in minority communities. The book has brilliant sections on racial profiling, the war on drugs and the death penalty. each of these issues are dissected from a viewpoint of the critical legal issues ... and Kennedy finds time to interject his own opinion, SUPPORTED BY FACTS. Kennedy presents his material in a logical & organized mannner ... but not always concise. although i'm not a lawyer, it felt very much like a legal brief at times ... but it was still easy to read.

... highly, highly recommended, although it is a bit thick.