Social Studies Books

I first read this in surgical residency (on the west coast at a place very much like Pacific Hospital) in the 1980's and found his thesis very insightful. It was the first time anyone talked systematically about medical errors. Residency training was changing even then, and must be very different now-I practice in a rural area far from the ivory towers-but despite being technically very innovative, surgery is a very conservative field. I like to believe the vigilance and the sense of personal responsibility to one's surgical patients remains as strong. My thinking about errors has evolved, but the gut feeling of personal responsibility for error instilled 20 years ago in residency, is as much a habit as the rituals of sterile technique. This book is a must for anyone wishing to understand medical errors and how to reduce them.

This book gives an astounding and unprecedented look into the social structure of the surgeon. After graduation from medical school, I spent 7 years in residency and another 13 years teaching surgery to residents. This book gives a sensitive and accurate description of the ethos of surgery and shows why being a surgeon is who someone "is" and not what someone "does".

This book is required reading at my ENT residency, for good reason. Bosk applies a somewhat technical (for me) sociological paradigm to a surgical residency, focusing on the relationships between faculty and residents. Again and again the issues that he so clearly elucidated come up throughout my residency. It is doubtfully of use to non-physicians, but I highly recommend it if you are beginning residency.

While other reviewers focus on how Bosk examines medical ethics, as a researcher focusing on organizational behavior and quality, I find this a fascinating study of two broader topics. First, Bosk presents a sociological taxonomy of error that anticipates later work on human error (Reason's "Human Error," Perrow's "Normal Accidents"). Second, his discussion of the process of professional socialization is a must read for anyone doing work on management and the professions.

As a medical student at the University of Chicago, Forgive and Remember helped shape my view of what good, caring physicians need to do when policing their own. I am currently on the quality assurance committees at three hospitals where I practice. I am buying several copies of Forgive and Remember for my committee colleagues who have not read this book.

The temptations of money over our patient's best interest, the medical malpractice environment, and the difficulties of practicing medicine in the era of managed care have made it diffuclt for well intentioned physicians to make a difference in the quality of care provided in our communities. I think this book will help me and my colleagues fufill the responsibilities the hospitals and our commununities have given us.

I truly believe all health care providers, attorneys involved with medical malpractice cases, and people interested in the delivery of healthcare need to read this book. It brings into perspective how all health care providers, from surgeons to orderlies, are human and make mistakes. It also shows how some mistakes are hard to forgive. As physicians we have to take this into account while assuring we always keep the interest of all patients, our own and those of other physicians, are well looked after.

I hope that in my local community all people will trust that their health care providers, despite the outcome of their care, did a good, competent job. Everyone alive, including physicians and our families, will someday become a patient.

In life it is important for all of us to learn from our mistakes.

A MUST HAVE for people wanting to learn about "teenage" issues in America. This book and Mike Males other book "Scapegoat Generation" should be required reading for sociology and juvenile justice classes.

Males has done it again in Framing Youth, a book that utterly slams the 1990's American dogma that 17-year-old "kids" need to be curfewed, uniformed and monitored at all times lest they booze, dope and kill. This book should be required reading for every politician, social worker, teacher, parent and even student. Many youth rights groups like NYRA, ASFAR and Youthspeak have already flocked to this fine piece of literature as part of their arsenal in their battles against the special interest groups and politicians that would (and do) oppress them.

I used Mike Males in a college research paper that I recently wrote, "The Politics of Sex Education," and found him fascinating. Since teenagers can't vote, they can't defend themselves against the avalanche of claims that are made against them. Fortunately, however, Males comes to their aid, arguing on their behalf, as their biggest defender anywhere. His writings were the most direct arguments that I found anywhere on teenage sexuality. I plan to read more of Males, although I can already imagine what he will say. He will defend teens against all charges, whether they are high violence rates, high drug rates, "promiscuous" sex, or tobacco use. He will help set the record straight. Teenagers aren't behaving any differently than the rest of us. They are just being blamed of all of it.

It's hard to believe, but Males has managed to follow up his acclaimed The Scapegoat Generation with another solid work. The only question left after reading Framing Youth is why hasn't the rest of the country caught on?

Framing Youth, author Mike Males' follow-up to The Scapegoat Generation, is simply the best book out there in regards to understanding our adolescents' "dreadful behavior". Politicians, the media, and even what we think of as "unimpeachable scientific agencies", have led us all, even us health professionals who work with adolescents on a daily basis, to believe such a distorted view of reality, in relation to our "problems with teens", that we routinely take what appear to be logically good decisions to benefit teens, then wonder why those kids "just don't get it". In reality, it's us adults who haven't yet "got it". Mike will take you through the Top Ten Reasons Why Kids Have a Bad Rep, and afterwards I guarantee you'll be a better health professional, community activist or politician in regards to understanding adolescent behavior. Just be sure you can handle the truth, because the enemy is us.

From inside book jacket:

On July 23, 1983, Captain Bob Pearson climbed into the cockpit of a twin-engine Boeing 767, one of the most sophisticated airliners in the world. Preparing to guide Air Canada flight 143 from Montreal to Ottawa and then on to Edmonton, he checked his systems and entered into the computers the information he received from the ground crew. One of the maintenance men, in charge of fueling the craft, experienced a bit of difficulty with his math. The 767's computers utilized only metric calculations, and the maintenance man struggled to convert conventional measures into the unfamiliar numbers. He informed Pearson that the plane was fully fueled when, in fact, it was 26,000 pounds short.

The stopover in Ottawa was brief. They had no plans for refueling and now there was no apparent need.

Then, with no warning, 41,000 feet and westbound over Red Lake, Ontario, the portside engine failed. Seconds later, Pearson and Quintal, his copilot, realized that the starboard engine also had failed, terminating all electrical power. An eerie silence shrouded the plane as flight crew and passengers attempted to deny reality. They were now floating silently at 41,000 feet. The nose of the plane dipped precipitously; the gliding craft lost airspeed and altitude. They had a maximum of twenty-nine minutes to prepare for their certain death.

Freefall is the story of Flight 143. A brilliant recreation in which we relive the terror of those twenty-nine minutes through the eyes of those who experienced it. You will never look at flying in exactly the same way again.

Bill and Marilyn H offer, freelance journalists, together have produced over one thousand magazine articles and nine books, including the international bestseller Midnight Express, and Not Without My Daughter. They live in Virginia.



From back of book jacket:

Maurice Quintal gripped his cockpit microphone.
"Winnipeg Center, Air Canada 143," he called.
"Air Canada 143, go ahead," came the reply.
"Yes, sir," Quintal said. Then he spoke the four words that would carry, not only to Winnipeg ATC, but to aircraft cruising over a wide radius. Pilots throughout the skies of central Canada now picked up their ears. Gone was the droning routine of the early Saturday evening. Crew members in other cockpits turned to look at one another, as they heard Quintal's voice crackle over the radio: "We have a problem."

Suddenly, at 22 seconds past 0121 GMT, the cockpit was plunged into darkness. The bright, color-coded, easy-to-read data units provided by the flight management computer, the bank of digital displays that reported airspeed, altitude, compass direction, navigational data, engine speed, temperature, and the RPMs, fuel flow, oil quantity-- even the clock and the cabin thermometer--the entire array of "gee-whiz" electronic gadgetry in the cockpit of the world's most sophisticated airliner--vanished in an instant.
The glow of the late afternoon sun illuminated the faces of the three men in ghastly relief.

"How come I have no instruments?" Pearson asked, incredulous.

The answer was as simple as it was terrifying. The Space Age technology of the 767 cockpit feeds upon electricity supplied by generators run by the two massive engines. The engines, in turn, are powered by type Jet A-1 fuel. It had never happened before--in fact, neither Boeing, nor Air Canada, nor Pearson, nor Quintal, nor Dion had ever contemplated the scenario--but if a 767 runs out of fuel, a diabolical domino effect takes place. The engines quit. In turn, this stops the generators, halts the production of electricity, and transforms the computerized cockpit displays into darkened, totally useless cathode ray tubes. To Pearson it seemed as if the cockpit had become the darkest place in the world.

Incredible as it seemed, they had run out of fuel.

--from Freefall



This is an excellent book, especially recommended for pilots, who will understand better than most how difficult the job of the flight crew in saving this plane and its passengers and how amazing their survival was.

How can so much fictional garbage sell for $20.00 or so, while a grippingly-well-narrated TRUE story like this goes for $0.25 used - itsa bargain !

This book is like glue. Once you put it into your hands you can't put it down. This is a story based on factual events that could not have a better ending. Great analysis of the chain of events that led to this incident. I strongly recommend it.

Hey, my name is chris, i happend to be on flight 143, the flight this book is wriiten about. when it happend, i was only 3, although i still remeber it. I read this book when i was 12, and from my memories of the flight, it was dead on, great book.

I read this book while on a recent 10 hour trans-Atlantic flight to pass the time and kind of spice things up (e.g. turn my long flight into a Disneyesque "Roller Coaster of Death" ride, where you really know you're going to step off perfectly intact at the end).

This great non-fiction book gives a detailed recounting of Air Canada flight 143, which in 1983 ran flat out of fuel while at 41,000 feet over Middle of Nowhere, Manitoba. Yes, TRUE STORY! (Don't let the 41,000 feet scare you -- altitude is your friend when out of fuel).

The writers give a little biography of some of the key crew members and passengers, which was only somewhat interesting to me (however, I was very interested in the flying history/experience of the cockpit crew). The star of the story however, is the fuel-less Boeing 767 and the frantic efforts of the Air Canada team to get the plane on the ground safely.

Authors William and Marilyn Hoffer did an excellent job of providing the technical aspects of the aircraft and industry without ever going over my head. I felt like I understood at each stage of the story, why something had happened to the aircraft, and what the impact was. Ditto for the sequence of actions by the entire flight crew.

I'm assuming the reader has figured out that this wasn't a mass loss of life disaster (duh, there is even a previous Review by a person that claims to have been on the flight). Not wanting to give too much away, I'll merely add that many fortuitous "coincidences" in the tale were not lost on me. Such as: Captain Bob Pearson was a hobby glider pilot (767s are not designed to "glide", but when in such straits, every bit helps), and, another occupant on the plane "vaguely recalled" a possible landing sight. There were many such bits and pieces which fit together and kept this from become a huge disaster. I was AMAZED at how many things were outside of the pilots scope of training and flight manual contingencies (This was 1983. Things are better now.?).

Plenty of white-knuckle moments. There were even some injuries . . . the source of those is a bit of irony. A few slow parts to the book, but then back to the cockpit and the excitement. The suspense becomes literally heart-pounding as the plane sinks ever closer to the ground.

It's an easy, quick, and rather educational read. Pick up a copy for your next long flight.

This book describes many impacts of environment destruction in many countries like Egypt, India, China and Arabia. But the best thing is its explanation of how this has affected women. The parts on the ancient Middle East offer important insights for understanding what happened to the women's roles in history.

I was surprised how much is packed in this book. It mixes the history of religions, empires, migrations of people, with big movements of environmental destruction and healing. Somehow it all fits into one huge story of people's efforts to live on our planet. Sometimes it's so detailed I had to put it down for awhile, but then I got curious about all the questions it raises. I never thought that making deserts could generate so many waves across the world, or turning the land green again could change life so much.

According to Griffith, we have been slowly denuding the land and turning it into desert for several thousand years. The places where civilization began in the Middle East were degraded first, and a circle of largely man-made desertification has spread outward ever since. As we've depleted nature, people in the affected areas often moved away in waves of migration toward greener areas. And where people degraded their environment, there have been big impacts on their culture and way of life. Griffith describes how environmental destruction has affected things like politics, religion, or economics. It's a very colorful, expansive book, and makes you realize how old a lot of our modern problems are. It also makes solving these problems seem quite possible, since many groups of people are having some good success. I found it a dense book that's packed with information on many countries in many periods of history. It took me a long time to read, but was well worth it.

This book tries to explore what happened in the past when people have turned their land into a desert. How has that affected society, politics, women, religion, etc? To answer, Griffith gives many stories from Africa, the Middle East, India, China, or Europe. One thing he looks at closely is the fate of women in areas where the land became unproductive. And in this he gives one of the most convincing explanations of of why inequality developed between men and women in certain parts of the world. To balance this Griffith tells inspiring stories of how local people have struggled to heal their environment and recover the benefits of a healthy countryside.

This book covers over 10,000 years of social, economic and environmental changes. It shows how our destruction of nature has changed society over time. The stories it tells are powerful and well written. I think it's a great book for anybody who really likes history and wants a peaceful and healthy environment in the future.

A graduate student of mine discovered, she said quite by accident, Dennis Shulman's Genius of Genesis on the Internet, and gave me a copy. I am very glad she did. This book is a well written, careful, respectful and I would even say loving analysis of the foundational stories of the Book of Genesis. It is an essential addition to any library devoted to the examination of the Bible, Old or New Testament.

Shulman writes with deep appreciation for complexity and with a tolerance for multiple understandings of the biblical texts, both of which are truly rare in contemporary books about religion. His breath of knowledge ranges from the traditional commentaries of the talmudic rabbis to those of St. Paul, John Calvin, John Wesley, Martin Luther, John Milton and even Mark Twain.

Although Shulman is a Jew, this book is quite appropriate for use in a classroom, like most of mine are, in which we study the Old Testament from a traditional Christian perspective.

As far as I can tell, this is Shulman's first book. I look forward to his future work on the Bible.

I recommend this book for any Christian who wants to gain a profound understanding of the first book of the Bible.

A few weeks ago, I happened to hear Dennis Shulman interviewed about his book on National Public Radio, and I was so impressed with him and what he said that I immediately orderd his book. Shulman's book is an outstanding, comprehensive and loving analysis of the Book of Genesis. Although I have been reading these same Genesis stories for more than forty years, since my childhood, I now feel like I finally understand them. What's more, because of this wonderful book, these stories now speak to me. Shulman's book is a good read and a work of inspiration. Thank you, Dennis Shulman, for your book.

When I received the E-mail from the Jewish Press announcing that Dennis Shulman's Genius of genesis was selected as its August Book Choice, I ordered it not expecting much. I have read many books about Genesis, from Norman Cohen to Aviva Zornberg to Bruce Feiler and most recently, Leon Kass; and found little in any of them that was new or interesting. Shulman's book surprised me. The scholarship is vast. The Genesis characters and narratives come alive. The perspective is open minded, interesting and novel. I highly recommend Shulman's book for anyone (Jew, Christian or agnostic) who is looking for a deeper understanding of the biblical stories they grew up with.

I just finished "The Genius of Genesis" by Dennis G. Shulman and I am moved.
If you only read one book this year about psychology or religion, it should be "The Genius of Genesis."
And if you only have time to read one chapter, it should be the final chapter, Chapter Six. In this chapter, the author integrates a vast library of thinkers and perspectives, including among others, Freud, Jung, Maimonides, Fromm, and develops a message that is not only scholarly and wise, but inspiring.
I hope that "The Genius of Genesis" gains the attention it deserves.

This is a quick and wonderful read. For example, in Genesis, he points out that psychological transformation and the eventual recognition of moral and social responsibility are played out in a unique generational context from Abraham to Joseph. He makes this and other valid points that certainly take the bible away from simple "fundamentalist" interpretations.

For any observance level, Jewish or Christian I highly recommend this book. Its not boring. There are nuggets of insight and wisdom in every chapter.

This book has certainly become a treasure to my girlfriends and I. Our dear friend Loretta had to leave us, she died of cancer. Her story is in this book on page 20. Lauren Cowen and Jayne Wexler have done such a supurb job recapturing her spirit on paper. This tribute alone indicates the tenderness and compassion shown in their artistic talent for conveying the everlasting bond of girlfriends. Many of the stories contained in this book remind us of our soul's thirst for love of our female friends. Famous or not, rich or poor our needs are the same.Each story will touch your heart. Take my advice and cherish your girlfriends while they are here.

I recently purchased the book "Girlfriends" by Jayne Wexler and Lauren Cowen for my girlfriend. She had recently lost her best friend from childhood to cancer, so I thought the book would be theraputic for her. I couldn't have been more right! She treasures this book. The images captured by Jayne Wexler are poignant and Lauren Cowen's words will certainly strike a chord with any woman who has ever had or has a very special friend. I had purchased their earlier book, "Daughters and Mothers" as a Mothers Day gift for my Mom and know how much it meant to her. Wexler and Cowen seem to have a keen insight into what matters to women--and express it beautifully in both pictures and words. Either of these books would make a great gift for any woman.

It is refreshing to see a coffee table book that has not only wonderful pictures, but inspiring stories. Lauren Cowen has captured the essence of the female spirit across the ages. It exemplifies the many different sides and interests of women. All share the common bond of female camaraderie. These stories depict real women who in their daily lives support each other. I was truly inspired by the group of women who courageously took care of their dying friend. Their bond with each other appears so strong that it transcends death. This would be an exceptional human interest story to pursue. These women are not famous, but truly rich in their caring and compassion for each other.

From the moment I saw the cover I knew that "Girlfriends" would be a beautiful book to hold, peruse, read, and give as gifts to the women in my life whom I call my bosom buddies. The photography is stunning and evocative, the words reflective of what it means to be a female. Simple and solid, "Girlfriends" reminds us of how little it takes to anchor us in a commercialized world that suggests we need more.

this is a great book to give to your best friends for the holidays- the stories are unique and the photos are spectacular- you can read one story every day for inspiration.

I gave this great book to my college-age daughter and she really loved it. She gave it to her room mate who read it and gave it to someone else, and now we've lost the thing. I would highly reccommend that every father give it to his daughter, but in order to get pumped up himself, he should read it first.

This makes a great gift and terrific coffee table book, which is where I have it displayed. Three sisters take a two year journey across America and interview all kinds of girls across the land. Girls who succeed in inspirational ways, girls who succeed against the odds, girls who succeed just becasue of the kind of girls they are. You meet prodigies, you meet artists, activists, poets, basically you meet ordinary girls with extraordinary goals and aspirations. This book not only looks at WHAT these girls do, but WHY they do what they do - what motivates them? Accompanying these wonderful short studies are incredible photographs. An enchanting book that will appeal to every generation.

"Girls" was an interesting book full of girls who had reached their goals. It was fun to read, and made me think about who I really want to be. It was inspiring, but some of the storys were a little boring. It was really a great book, though, and I reccomend it!

This books makes me teary-eyed at times I think it is so amazing. I would have LOVED having this as a teenager and would have gained such inspiration and friendship from the girls portrayed. The title decrsibes the book so well -- these are ordinary girls who do some one thing extraordinarily. I think that's really important because the readers will not be intimidated or feel that this kind of success is unattainable for them. Instead, I think they'll feel that they could be like these girls - and there are so many girls out there who are already amazing like the ones in the book. I bought this book for my 4 year old daughter and so look forward to her gaining encouragement, and inspiration, and joy from GIRLS.

I'm a new father of a girl and I found this book inspired and inspiring. The photographs are beautiful and the essays cover a variety of girls doing amazing things. It's the perfect gift for that special girl you know. It shows that girls lives are as large as they want them to be.

Since I was born in 1945, World War II and the Holocaust had always been history to me. So when I spent five years working in Germany, I constantly wondered about the older people I met--"How did you respond to Hitler's regime? What do you feel now?" Even with Germans of my own generation, the topic was one I felt uncomfortable raising.
I have found Mimi Schwartz's book fascinating because she acknowledges very human conflicted feelings, the need for Gentile Germans to feel they did the best they could to help their neighbors, the deep-seated fear of a Jewish survivor who wants to believe people are basically good, the almost militant fervor of a young German Gentile seeking to discover the darkness of his parents' past. And Schwartz raises timely questions about conflicts between Christians, Jews, and Muslims that trouble this century.
Beyond the topic, I am intrigued with issues of writing memoir which Schwartz's book raises. How much should an author reveal about personal feelings? How does the writer reconcile conflicting memories? Can a writer allow herself to become vulnerable? To be too naive?
I have hardly been able to put this book down since finding it at the library, and now I want a copy for myself to highlight and reread.

In Good Neighbors, Bad Times, Mimi Schwartz writes a highly nuanced account of the Holocaust and how it affected the small German town where her father was born and which he remembered fondly until his death in the 1970s. While other reviewers have suggested this memoir for a Holocaust shelf or course, I recommend it to Christians seeking to understand how religious prejudice can blind us to the humanity of those who worship differently.

Schwartz writes engagingly of growing up in a neighborhood of mostly Jews and longing to break out. She did this by first attending the University of Michigan and later (after marrying her Jewish boyfriend) assimilating into the predominantly Christian town of Princeton, NJ. Schwartz seems to have identified more with her mother, a city girl, than her father, who was born into a cattle trading family and left the village referred to here as Benheim to fight in World War I. As a soldier, he saw how Jews were treated in Russia and when, in 1933, he attended a rally at which thousands of enthusiastic Germans saluted Adolph Hitler, he knew to leave.

While Arthur Loewengart and his brothers came to the United States, other villagers emigrated to Palestine, which was still under British rule. In the end, all but 89 of the village's Jews escaped. They were deported to camps where only two survived. Throughout her childhood, Arthur told Mimi that people in Benheim were different, kinder and more principled than the typical Nazi. After he died, she wondered if what he said was true. She began to connect the dots between survivors in New York and Israel and the German village where no Jews live today.

Her journey both physical and metaphysical is told here. It is a story of small kindnesses (and cruelties) in the midst of unimaginable larger horrors, and how truth is deeply textured but well worth knowing.

"Before Hitler, everyone got along," according to the author of "Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village". This a true story of decency and compassion in a small German village and how its generosity stood in the face of an empire of Nazi hatred. Author Mimi Schwartz recalls tales from her father and goes on a journey that spanned over three continents and a dozen years to get the more complete story of her father's village and learns interesting details about it all from every interview and discussion. "Good Neighbors, Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village" is highly recommended for Holocaust studies shelves and for anyone seeking a more upbeat account of 1930s Germany.

As those who lived through the Holocaust are rapidly disappearing, this sensitive and open-minded work captures the anguish and inner conflicts of Jews and Gentiles living in a small German village during the Nazi period.
Knowing a number of the people Mimi Schwartz depicts, I can enthusiastically attest to her accurate portrayals.
For those of us born after this time, but still bearing some of its burden, there are important questions: What was the flavor of 400 years of mutual tolerance? How did this harmony disappear? What can we understand about ourselves in reflecting on the daily moral challenges of life lived under an evil regime?
There are no easy answers here, but a moving and true story.

2008 marks seventy years since the tragic events of Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass. On November 9, 1938, the Nazis unleashed a wave of destruction against Germany's Jews. In the space of a few hours, thousands of synagogues and Jewish businesses and homes were damaged or destroyed. Mimi Schwartz, author of "Good Neighbors / Bad Times: Echoes of My Father's German Village" wasn't born yet. She would be grow up in Queens, New York, on milkshakes and hamburgers, and her father's stories of life in Germany, a life she had very little interest in. Her father grew up in Benheim (the name of the village has been changed to protect privacy), a little village of Christians and Jews in southwest Germany where according to all accounts Jews and Christians lived peacefully side by side. No allied bombs fell on Benheim during WWII so much of it is still preserved. The synagogue which was attacked during Kristallnacht is still there, now as an Evangelical Church. One can still visit the Jewish cemetery with 946 old graves.

Schwartz was in a village in Israel when she saw an old Benheim Torah and was told that "the Christians of Benheim rescued the Torah for us during Kristallnacht." That story sent her on a quest to discover all that she could about this little village, to determine if, like her father had always told her, Benheim was special in that the people there got along and would do anything to help one another.

In "Good Neighbors / Bad Times" Schwarz interviews many old Benheimers, some in Israel and some in America. She also visits Benheim several times, a village which now has no Jews. The Jews that were there either escaped in time or were killed in the concentration camps. Only two Benheimers who were interred in the concentration camps survived. The other eighty-seven were murdered. On her journey, Schwarz discovers a series of individual stories and individual perspectives which each tell part of the whole story. She discovers both the Jewish and the Gentile perspective on what happened. She struggles with knowing what everyone knows now versus what people knew then. There was a large swastika that had been erected in the town in 1934, but as one Benheimer stated, "It was not important; no one knew what it would mean." She learned of other kind deeds that occurred in Benheim and of a second Torah that was saved and is now located in Burlington, Vermont. She learned of how good people struggled to live through such difficult times, of people too scared to take a stand and the punishments that came to those who did. She learned of children being indoctrinated with hate in the local school and parents who struggled to fight against it.

"Good Neighbors / Bad Times" is a valuable work of social history. It is so important to preserve the stories of those who lived through these tragic events. In the end, Schwartz decides that Benheim was special, that decency managed to prevail there despite the Nazi hate that infected the land. As Schwartz states, "decency is often such a solitary act; it's evil that draws a noisy crowd." "Good Neighbors / bad Times" is recommended for anyone who wants to learn more about Jewish / Christian relationships during the World War II era. It would also make a wonderful text for a college course on the topic.

I saw the play on PBS and was amazed at the production. It was one of the best plays that I have ever seen. I have been in search of the video version of the play for years and have yet to find it. I have the cd version of the Philadelphia cast of The Gospel at Colonus, but I would be ecstatic if I can own the video/dvd version of the play. If anyone knows where I can get a video version of the play, please share the information with the rest of us.

This play has been one that will not be easily forgotten. A really good play for all to see. I am searching really hard to find the video/disc. The soundtrack to it is great but seeing would put me there with the orginial cast especially the narrator and performers. Please email me and tell me how to acquire one. Great and wonderful play.

The Gospel of Colonus "Greatest Performances" on video IS the BEST performances I have ever seen. I have searched HI and LOW for the video and still no luck. It has to be away to get this video!!! All I have is the PBS version (shown in 1985)and you can imagine how it is now. (sad face) But I recommend that EVERYONE see this performance. The story of Oedipus transformed into a gospel play that will send shivers up your spine! As you look at the video, you will forget where you are at the moment and think that you are there. I am sure the book is great, but the PLAY is AWESOME!!! I believe the play is MUCH better than the book because you can live it an feel what each character is feeling. THEY NEED TO PRINT THE MOVIE!!! WE NEED BACK BY POPULAR DEMAND!!!

I want the tape as well! Saw it on PBS and like the rest of the reviewers can't find it any where. HELP!

Yes, this video performance must be re-released! How important is this production to me: 1987 -saw this live seven times! 1997- took 15 people to see the 10th Anniversary show! Have the soundtrack on vinyl, cassette and DVD. A good friend GAVE me a copy of the PBS performance (still in excellent condition).

Here's a production that is more than just creative staging. It's a life lesson about forgiveness and redemption.

A Grandparent's Gift of Love is a beautifully written book about love and is an inspiration to all. This book is for anyone who remembers relationships they have had with grandparents and anyone who wished they knew their grandparents. Once you pick up this book it is difficult to put it down. Immediately you become a part of all the stories and picture them as though you were there. What I especially like about this book is that you can pick it up and read a section and then continue to read another book if you so desire. This is the kind of book you can skip around and read at your leisure although I doubt you will want to put it down once you have begun. I can't wait for Edward Fays' next book.

This is a book that hooks you right from the very vivid
introduction. The personal trauma encountered by the
author & his fiancee was the motivating force behind the
creation of this unique book. The remarkable diversity
of the stories with a seemingly unending cast
of very real characters brought me to the point where
I could not wait to get to the next tale!

I wholeheartedly recommend this book to people of all ages.

This book just bursts with chronicles that truly warm the heart. I opened the book to simply leaf through it and found myself unable to put the book down. The messages conveyed in this collection of stories are pleasurable for anyone that has experienced unconditional love, not just grandparents.

It is a rarity to see a negative experience turn into something so positive. I am sorry for the circumstances that brought this book to fruition; however, I have much admiration for the author as a human being because I find it an amazing feat that he created something so inspiring from something so tragic. Truly Uplifting!!

From beginning to end, this book was one that I could not put down. The introduction to the book is deeply touching and really gives an insight to the author and how this book of grandparent stories came to be. The stories made me both smile and cry. I was very close to my grandmother and miss her very much. There were many times while reading the book that I was reminded of her incredible love and generosity. I would recommend this book very highly.

I met the author, Edward Fays, at one of his book signings and have also seen him on a good morning show in Texas. At his book signing, I was enthralled with his compassion, intensity, and sincerity, as well as his persistence in getting this book published. The book itself is utterly fantastic and I highly recommend it as a gift for yourself or for anyone whom you care about. The only time I put the book down was when I was forced to wipe the tears from my eyes, as I read a myriad of touching, heartwarming, and inspiring stories. The piece on Chester the shinelologist is particularly moving and one that burns in my memory. Bravo! I wish this author the best, and congratulate him and those around him who helped make this book successful - especially his two brothers whom I had the pleasure to meet at his book signing. I am thankful for the opportunity to read this book and share it with my loved ones. I hope to meet Edward Fays again and to read his next work...