Living History Books

This book was recommemed by a specialist in treating people with attendtion deficit disorder (ADD). The pieces of wisdom are good bits of wisdom but I feel it would have been better if the author could have elaborated. The pieces of wisdom are only one two pages. Some only a paragraph or two. Perhaps given examples or some type of historical context as Robert Greene id in 48 principles of power.

Sirs: In the Amazon provided title for this book, they spelt part of the title wrong, with: 'mannual', rather than the correct 'manual'.

I have read this four or five times, and I have found that it is truly a manual to live by. If this manual replaced the Bible, the New Testament, and the Koran, people would be much more peaceful and contented. It has great common sense advice, and such a simple, humble tone. It reminds me of the Tao Te Ching, but less mystical. Every time I read it I feel better about life. I think anyone would benefit from reading it.

While some reviewers might object to the "updated" terminology of Lebell's adaptation of Epictetus' philosophy, I must say that the reason this edition is so effective is largely because the "abstract", "scholarly", "dry" language that one usually encounters (with conventional translations of Epictetus' philosophy) is here replaced with a pleasing approximation of how Epictetus himself would likely speak TODAY (assuming his native tongue were English).

IMPORTANT NOTE: Though I certainly do esteem my copy of this excellent, conventional-book edition, I must say that the alternative AUDIO edition is infinitely more powerfully effective for ME. Indeed, since discovering the AUDIOBOOK edition (an excellently judicious abridgement of this conventional-book edition) some years ago, I've found myself listening to it over and over and over, and I expect to do so for the rest of my life! I certainly can't say THAT about any other audiobook (with the possible exception of the audio edition of "How to Stop Worrying and Start Living" by Dale Carnegie). If everybody would listen to that audio while commuting to/from work (and/or at bedtime or upon waking), this would likely be a kinder, saner world.

Therefore, IN ADDITION TO (or, initially, instead of) this conventional-book edition, you should absolutely purchase the "audio download" edition of this book so that you can have it as either a conventional compact disc or as MP3 files (for your iPod, MP3 player, computer, etc.). [As of this writing, you can find Amazon's "audio download" edition by first "searching" on the ISBN number of the CASSETTE edition (1574530887) and then clicking on the "Also Available" audio download edition link near the top of the page.] The price for the "audio download" edition is remarkably low; indeed, it may well amount to the greatest "self-help" bargain you'll ever encounter!

Regarding this TEXT edition, be aware that only the latest (2007) edition [ISBN: 9780061286056] includes two RECENTLY WRITTEN essays by author Lebell: "Epi-Who? How a 200-Year-Old Dead White Male Changed My Life" and "Why Would Anyone Want to Be a Stoic?". These helpful and gratifying essays (appended to the reprinted text of the prior, 1995 edition) should prove helpful/entertaining to most readers, especially newcomers to Epictetus' teachings. Oh, btw, the latest edition also features all-new cover art.

This book is the bad Hollywood remake of a classic film. I think previous reviews are split into two different categories - one set reviewing the thoughts and ideas of Epictetus (who deserves 5 stars), the other reviewing sham 'author' Sharon Lebell (who deserves 1 star). The source material being abused here is absolute genius. Sadly it gets butchered by a woman who by her own admission doesn't know Latin and had no idea who Epictetus was until the publisher approached her and asked her to 'write' this book. The translator is never revealed (bad sign), but previous reviews are correct that the actual text has been stretched, paraphrased, and regurgitated into lame self-help-isms. It's a testament to the power of the original work that some of the main the ideas still come through. Forget the terrible remake, go watch the original!

I found this to be among the most inspiring books that I have read this year. It is not a narrative but a vast collection of small essays and notes covering topics related to changing our environment for the better. Some stories are inspirational accounts of what others have done, others are calls to action for what can be done. They focus on six categories - stuff, shelter, cities, community, business, politics and planet. There is bound to be one or two categories that matches up with your interests. As a civil engineer I found a wealth of information and resources in the stuff, shelter and cities sections.

The books most valuable aspect is that it is an amazing compilation of resources for whatever areas that you decided you want to explore further. Over the course of reading this book I probably added over fifty books to my reading list.

While parts of this books are meant to alarm you into action, the overall message of the book is a positive one: envision a better world and figure out what you can do to move it in that direction. By making people aware of all of the micro projects that are being tested, one cannot help but be inspired to think of the direction that he or she will take with their life.

Although the book looks very good and most interesting, it did NOT come with the box cover, as advertised. False advertising - I would suggest not ordering it from Amazon.

This book is absolutely amazing and lifechanging because of all the important information that is in this book. You just have no idea how bad we treat the world and how close we are to destroying our lives all so we can have selfish comforts on a daily basis.

A nonsensical belief that we can solve the environmental crisis by avoiding self change. Never in our history have their been a more deluded and narcissistic generation clambering to take the helm. We're in serious trouble.

A practical comprehensive compendium of the types of practices we will need to nourish if we are to live in a Bright Green sustainable and just future. More a catalog than an essay, it is divided into sections such as Stuff, Shelter, Cities, Community, Business, Politics and Planet, giving examples of sustainable work being done in each area as well as references to relevant books and web sites. There is a strong emphasis on the potential for well-designed technologies to improve the lot of all human beings. The book is basically a collection of the types of things you will find at the [...] website.

Michela Wrong is one of those liberal journalists who blame 99% of Africa's 'problems' on the European colonial regimes and the European and American 'neo-colonial' interventions. Her book does provide a very good glimpse into the doings and crimes of Mobutu and his relatives and cronies, but excuses most of it away by referencing the colonialists who went before. Ditto for his successor Kabila of course, although the focus is mainly on Mobutu.

The United States, the World Bank, and the IMF are blasted as participants in all the corruption and downgoing of Congo/Zaire because they provided countless millions in aid money. The money was given to Mobutu in the hope that it would be used improve the economy and aid development, but of course most of it wound up being slotted into Swiss bank accounts or into the purchase of villas in the Riviera.

If these vast sums had NOT been given, the author would of course have led the pack in condemning the USA, WB, and IMF for not giving the money to help Africa, as if only they had then it would not be in the mess it is. And so on, we know the refrain by now, don't we?

Wrong brings up the Cold War as yet another dire consequence for Congo, it becoming a victim of competing world powers grabbing for its resources and influence over the region. It doesn't occur to her that really it was a tremendous boon, in that it meant that countries like that could soak up billions in handouts from the West and eyes averted from African crimes and despotism. Big chiefs like Mobutu massively exploited the West and could not have done so as deeply as without the Cold War.

I lived in Africa for twelve years and saw several countries go from colonialism to post-colonial darkness under one despotic regime or another. I have run into plenty of Michela Wrongs there, who think they understand Africa but really just can not get past their own biases.

Yes, colonialism in Congo under the Belgians did have its share of abuses. But for most Congolese it was a good thing in that it meant jobs, education, modern agriculture, medicine, order, and the building up of a functional, modern nation. The problem is that the Belgians LEFT - at the demands of wannabe despots and liberal journalists like Wrong of course - and the grasping, bloody hands that took over utterly ruined the place. And of course it has been about the same all across Africa: darkness followed by colonialism as a brief ray of light, and what came after a return to the darkness.

So why did I give this book four stars? Because of the fairly accurate portrait of those post-colonial grasping, bloody hands. There is plenty of detail on how the billions got stolen, how the economic infrastructure was pillaged away to nothing, and how the whole population was returned to about the level of the stone age which is where the Belgians first found them.

Two last notes -

Firstly, Wrong's continual reference to Mr. Kurtz and Conrad's novella 'Heart of Darkness' seems way out of place. Mobutu was no Kurtz, period. Mobutu's head would have been just another adornment on Kurtz's front gate up the river. And Conrad could not have even imagined how horrendous the post-colonial Africa would become.

Secondly, she claims that Stanley was called 'Breaker of Rocks' for his brutality towards the various Congolese tribes he encountered. That is not true. He was far less severe towards the tribes than they were to each other, and the 'breaker of rocks' comes from his construction work of the railway across Congo - the endless rocky areas which he blasted and hacked away, amazing his African laborers along the way.

Overall, I recommend this book, readers should just disregard Wrong's trendy liberal-left biases.

This is a mostly fascinating on-the-ground report of the waning years and immediate aftermath of Mobutu Sese Seko's incompetent dictatorship in Zaire (Congo). Michela Wrong offers a well-rounded journalistic report that digs into the bizarre depths of kleptocracy, as the potentially prosperous Zaire was bled dry while Mobutu and his ever-shifting gang of cronies and yes-men lived in ridiculous luxury, oblivious as their subjects suffered some of the worst poverty and hardship on Earth. Wrong gains plenty of insight into Mobutu's style of governance, as he spread favors around egregiously and played other powers off each other in an increasingly paranoid effort to maintain his own influence, stealing or blowing away untold billions of dollars in the process. Wrong also reports on the aftermath of Mobutu's pathetic downfall, as a convoluted series of atrocities related to the genocide in tiny Rwanda eventually led to the replacement of Mobutu's kleptocracy with Kabila's thugocracy.

There is a running theme, which Wrong could have dwelled upon more, about how the ugly history of European colonialism and exploitation has forever wrecked the ability of Africa's peoples to build their own functioning societies, while Zaire suffered the tragic fate of a home-grown dictator who ruined his people as badly as the colonialists did. Cold War politics and shifting loyalties in endless proxy wars added to the misery. The tail end of the book gets a bit messy as well, degenerating into disconnected chapters on various items of interest, as Wrong's writing takes on some of the disjointed chaos that plagued the country itself during Mobutu's downfall. The British slang and grammatical patterns of Wrong's writing style can also lead to some confusion for American readers. But despite missed opportunities to dwell on some crucial historical lessons, here we get an engaging history of a dictator who is fascinating in his ineptitude and corruption. [~doomsdayer520~]

Few nations have had as sad a history as Zaire, currently known as the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Michela Wrong, a journalist for the New Statesman, has taken the time to write a book about the Congo's history particularly under Mobutu, and her experiences in the Congo during his kleptocratic rule.

Her stories are well-researched, and it's clear she's talked with many of those who influenced the history of the time. The sterile recounting of Congo's continual deterioriation under Mobutu is quite well done. What I found infuriating about this book is that Wrong never seems to ask why things happened, or were allowed to happen.

When Zaire, for instance, became independent, it boasted all of 17 university graduates in a country the size of Western Europe, and had had the Belgians pour much treasure into its development. Surely the Belgians, who deconialized, realized that the country would be dependent on Western know-how for many years. Why then, did they not leave advisers behind, perhaps advisers with a brief to make the president offers he couldn't refuse, as was the practice in other francophone colonies? One of the cataclysms under Mobutu's rule was his expelling of many non-Zairians, who left their capital behind, but not their connections and understanding of their business. The economy duly crashed. Why did neither the Belgians nor the French nor the Americans dissuade him from a policy that all but destroyed Zaire's prosperity? One reason why the above mentioned powers were loath to antagonize Mobutu were the many services he queitly performed for them during the Cold War. Why does Wrong only allude to them, and not mention them? One could continue in this vein, but I felt as if what could have become a fascinating book focusing on the crunch times when astoundingly disastrous decisions were made, instead focuses on the misery that these ill-begotten decisions wreaked, which is not as nearly interesting.

If you need to need a source for academic work on Zaire under Mobutu, you may enjoy this book, but I wouldn't recommend it as pleasure reading.

`In the Footsteps of Mr Kurtz' is a nice introduction to the intriguing life and times of infamous dictator Mobutu, from his rise to power to his less than glorious downfall. I advise it to anyone who is unfamiliar with Zaire-Congo. Very good reading is her account of the final collapse of the Zairian army. This book was originally conceived as a radio-program on BBC. It is however just that: an introduction. The author is so kind to refer to further reading in the last pages of the book. There the interested reader can find very good resources on the history of the Belgian Congo.


Michela Wrong does suffer from some prejudice towards Belgium and the Belgians not uncommon in the UK. Apart from King Leopold II, the role of the Belgian monarchy and the Belgian governments, especially while supporting the brutal Mobutu dictatorship is hardly present and when mentioned it is downplayed. Not a word on the part that King Baudouin and Prime Minister Gaston Eyskens played in 1959-1960, especially concerning the assassination of Patrice Lumumba. I strongly suggest The Assassination of Lumumba by Belgian journalist Ludo De Witte for a good background on that period.


The author points out that it took an American historian to dig up the facts about King Leopold II's barbarity. While the author is absolutely right in pointing out that Belgium has still not come to terms with its own colonial past, and while King Leopold's Ghost by Adam Hochschild is a must read, it is NOT the first published account of that period. That honour goes to the Belgian former diplomat Jules Marchal. But even so, in 1985 he still had to use the pseudonym of A. M. Delathuy and go to the small leftwing publisher EPO (Education Prolétarienne - Proletarische Opvoeding) to get the first ever book published of a ruthless campaign that would nowadays be labelled as genocide. All big Belgian, French and Dutch publishers flatly refused it. Unfortunately this book is only available in Dutch and French, not in English.


Michela Wrong does give credit to this book, stating that it is only available in French (and Flemish if you can read it) ...Two small remarks here, there is no such thing as a Flemish language. I know that even recently a quality newspaper like The Guardian still claims that `the Flemish Belgians speak Flemish, a language related to Dutch'. The author does not have to take my word for it, she can go check any library and ask for an Flemish-English dictionary, there is no such thing. She can also come check the curriculum in any Flemish school, where she will find that students learn mathematics, geography and `Dutch' at school. While her apparently not so well informed ears may find it odd to hear that the Flemish speak Dutch while not being Dutch, maybe it will help to point out that also the Austrians speak German, that the Brazilians speak Portuguese etc ... Do the Flemish have a different accent than the Dutch? Yes; certainly, but so do Texans, Jamaicans, Australians, yet they all speak English. I also do not understand why Michela Wrong finds it necessary to give a demeaning remark ... if you can read it ... Dutch is the native language of 16 million Dutch and 6 million Flemish, that is more than all Scandinavian languages combined. Another detail that reveals her prejudice towards Belgians and Flemish is that the only Belgian politician she mentions by name is Leo Tindemans who she misspells with a typical `German' double `nn'. Of all Belgian Prime Ministers that ever played a role in Zaire-Congo, he was the least active on Zaire. Every Belgian knows about Tindemans' personal distaste for Mobutu (the feeling was mutual).


A good introduction to Mobutu indeed, a translation into French and Dutch (I can read it!) is more than welcome.


Lode Vanoost (Belgian native Dutch speaker, 7 years old in 1960, no strings attached to Congo), Brussels, 26 November 2006

Anyone who wants to understand the Congo should read two books, Michela Wrong's In The Footsteps of Mr. Kurtz and King Leopold's Ghost: A Story of Greed, Terror, and Heroism in Colonial Africa by Adam Hochschild. I also heartily recommend both books to anyone studying Conrad's Heart of Darkness, which is too seldom seen as an historic account as well as a literary novel. Wrong and Hochschild explain why the last 100 years of bloody tyranny in possibly the most mineral-rich country on earth has laid the groundwork for 100 more.

Hochschild gives us the first half of the century, when King Leopold II of Belgium, a man whose inferiority complex knows no bottom and whose greed no limits, jumps into the feeding frenzy for colonies and comes up gripping the very heart of Africa, the vast area around the Congo River and it's tributaries that would later become the Belgian Congo, then Zaire, and today is the Democratic Republic of Congo. This is also the setting for my novel, Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo. Wrong covers this era also, but in less depth, helpfully referring readers to Hochschild for the full story.

Where she picks up steam, though, is with Joseph Desire Mobutu, better known as Mobutu Sese Seko, who became the archetype African strongman dictator. She paints a remarkably nuanced portrait of the man, exposing not just his brutality but his cunning; his charm as well as his lust for power. Wrong witnessed Mobutu's last days and tells us how he ultimately lost control of the nation he ruled for over thirty years.

Mobutu didn't rise to office on his good looks and winning personality--he was essentially put there by the CIA. He also didn't retain power simply because he was good at exercising it; France, Belgium, and the United States, not to mention the World Bank, kept him there with military support and an endless stream of dollars. The tale of how he played the First World like a violin is fascinating. Mobutu's nationalization of foreign-owned assets and his machinations with the White House sparked several plot elements in Heart of Diamonds: A Novel of Scandal, Love and Death in the Congo.

Wrong gives us a highly readable account of Mobutu's demise. "The Leopard" as he was known, had grown increasingly distracted and detached from his power base. In the last years, he spent most of his time in the Xanadu he constructed in Gbadolite in the middle of the equatorial forest, leaving the country's affairs to a network of cronies and relatives who plundered the nation in his name. The Rwandan genocide of 1994 set the stage for his downfall. Mobutu sided with the Hutus, and when he ordered the Tutsi refugees who had fled into Zaire to leave under pain of death in 1996, Rwanda, Uganda, and Burundi joined forces to drive him from office.

Wrong also explains how Laurent Kabila picked up where Mobutu left off as ruler and manipulating despot. Unfortuantely for the reader, her account was published before Kabila's own assassination in 2001.

Paired with Adam Hochschild's well-researched history, King Leopold's Ghost, Michela Wrong's book gives the reader a better understanding of this deeply troubled nation.

I read Matilda bone for a class assignment for humanities. The book was about a girl named Matilda that was assigned to be an assistant to a bone setter named peg. She lives on blood and bone alley. When she arrives she doesn't know anything that's going on around her. After a while she gets to know the people and her boss peg. And life goes by easily after that

I gave the book a two and a halve because to me it had lots of detail but also lots of small problems, I prefer to read about one big problem otherwise the book doesn't interest me. I'd probably recommend this book to someone who likes medieval problems and how they solved it then.

I am writing this review, because it was a humanities class project. I am reading
Matilda Bone, I would give it two stars.

Matilda is an unfortunate orphan who arrives at Blood and Bone Alley. To help a bone setter named Peg. She has never even imagined herself picking up a mop! Now she must help Peg with dirty dishes and bloody bones. Matilda finds herself meeting lots of greedy people!

I would prefer to read a different book, because this book has a lot of little problems. I like one big problem, but that's just my opinion. The story keeps going on and on, and it never has a meaning. It gets better at the end, it actually makes since. Matilda Bone has a lot of details.

I would recommend this book to someone who loves details and gruesome parts in the book. What I mean by gruesome is rotten eels and bloody bones. If you like smelly eels and bloody bones, then you would really like this book. Gruesome things come up in this book a lot!

When (in Medieval England) 14-year-old Matilda is apprenticed to Red Peg, the bonesetter, she feels like a duck among chickens. Raised to read French and Latin, to pray often and mortify the flesh, she suddenly finds herself in a world where literacy is vanishingly rare and not appreciated, where prayer is ignored and the flesh taken seriously. She begins to learn that prayer and religion is not the answer, but down-to-earth action is.

This book is a marvelous window into medieval medicine (if that is not too grand of a word to use for it) and life in general. In it we meet a pompous stargazing doctor, an ill trained but capable woman physician, a leech, a near-sighted apothecary, and a host of others. The author added an interesting appendix on her research into medieval medicine, complete with a short bibliography, should you wish to read more on the subject.

I must confess myself to being somewhat uncomfortable with the author's treatment of medieval Christianity, but I do not believe that her characters acted at all out of character for medieval people. So, I do recommend this short, but fascinating book.

Matilda Bone by Karen Cushman is a book full of compassion and friendship. When Matilda's father Lord'leufuerd goes to London Matilda becomes an assistant for a bone setter. Bone settters are people that can heal injured bones and Peg, Matilda's mistress teaches Matilda lots of new things. She meets new people when her father is gone and while she is with her mistress,Peg. Matilda is a selfish girl and doesnt like to be bossed around. But how long can Matilda take these orders by some bone setter?

This book has thought me a lot about friendship. Is is filled with Friendship during this book. It is very well written too.

Great for our medival unit study. My children enjoyed listening to this book on tape. We were not disappointed at the end of this book. It is very good with details from that period.

This was the last book in Elizabeth Hoyt's Prince Trilogy. This book is the fourth book I have read by her, and she is quickly become one of my very favorite authors. She can tell a darn good story that has some humor and intensity, with a hero and heroine that are believable. And she has done it again with Simon and Lucy's story. I loved Simon. He was never serious and joked about everything... until he met Lucy. **He was honest with his feelings, as was Lucy, something that's not done in all stories, since so many are based on misunderstandings and internal conflict.** Anyways, Lucy could see right through with him and he lost it when she told him that she felt like she had known him forever after knowing him for a couple of days. What I sincerely enjoyed about The Serpent Prince was that we went along a cute little journey while Simon and Lucy got to know each other. This was a superb story, and Elizabeth Hoyt can't crank books out quick enough for this reader. If you have not read any of her books, you are really missing out!

I just read this, and liked it the best of all the "Prince" books. Unlike in many historicals, the dueling scenes here are as violent and disturbing as they must have been live. The characters were very different from each other, but I found their connection and the ultimate redemption convincing. This one made me cry. Good work, Elizabeth!

THE SERPENT PRINCE may by my favorite of the Prince books. What can I say? I'm a sucker for an elegant savage. And the hero of the novel, Viscount Simon Iddesleigh, may be the best example that I have ever encountered of the type. Pale, lithe, urbane, with a too-clever tongue, he pretends to be a fop but is too obviously driven and intelligent for anyone to believe the charade.

The novel begins when Iddesleigh is abducted, beaten, and left for dead in the tiny town of Maiden Hill. The heroine of the novel, Lucinda Craddock-Hayes, finds him lying by the side of the road and has him taken back to the family manse, where she can nurse him back to health. The moment that Simon wakes, something clicks between them.

One thing I liked very much about THE SERPENT PRINCE is that while secondary characters frequently jump to the conclusion that if there is trouble in paradise, it's probably because Simon is running around like a tomcat sleeping with other women, Simon never questions his love for Lucy - or his ability to remain faithful - and Lucy, for her turn, doesn't doubt him either. In so many romance novels about rakes, the heroine is constantly racked with fear, convinced she can't keep (or deserve) her man's interest. In THE SERPENT PRINCE, the connection between Simon and Lucy is solid and true from the beginning, and the faith that the couple have in one another really brings that home to the reader. They love one another, it's real, and that's that.

No, it would take something truly dark and terrible to separate Simon and Lucy. That something is Simon's determination to revenge his brother's death by killing all the men who conspired to cause it. As the novel opens, he's already killed two of the four men responsible - in duels - and although the killings don't sit lightly on his conscience, he's not even tempted to change course and find another way.

There is something truly brutal, feverish and animal, about Simon. It comes through in his single-minded pursuit of revenge but it's present in his love for Lucy, as well - the edge of desperation and ferocity always lying just under the surface when he's with her. It's simply part of his character, and not really subject to change. This is another thing I liked about THE SERPENT PRINCE - Simon isn't declawed once he embarks on the road to marital bliss. Lucy anchors him enough to keep him from self-destructing; she gives him something to live for, and that changes some of his decisions; but Simon is never domesticated or tamed. At the end of the novel, he's still the elegant savage that I melted for at the beginning.

I recommend THE SERPENT PRINCE wholeheartedly. The characters are wonderful, the romance heartwrenching, the sex sizzling. It's a tour de force.

As Dorothy said to the Scarecrow- I think I'll love you most of all ... okay she said miss, but same sentiment. The Serpent Prince completes Hoyt's Prince Trilogy with Viscount Simon Iddesleigh tale of loss and heart wrenching love and it is my favorite of the three.

When Lucy Craddock-Hayes comes upon Simon for the first time, he is naked and left for dead on the country road near her house. When she discovers "he ain't quite dead yet" she brings him home. He awakens later to an angel sitting beside him and in that instant Simon is found, and Lucy is lost.

With his humor, easy manner, and the tale of the serpent prince he charms her, as if he is no more than the man he portrays. But Lucy sees past all the banter to a man who awakens her slumbering soul and stirs in her desires for not only erotic love but also a world she never realized she longed for.

And she's right. He is more than he seems, but it's because of the man he believes himself to be that he eventually leaves her to her country life only to realize he can't live without her.

It doesn't end there. Oh no, not till Simon faces his inner demons and Lucy realizes she can not give up until she's redeemed his very soul.

The Serpent Prince is sexy, full of great characters, a tad maudlin at times, but always entertaining. Definitely not to be missed!

Highly recommend this one!

This is a book that reads like a synopsis instead of the full, actual novel. It's a quick little Harlequin when it should be a huge, lengthy, massive Kathleen Woodiwss-sized mega-novel.

The hero, Simon, is a marvelous character, tortured and revenge-mad underneath a light and witty foppish exterior. How delicious! The heroine, Lucy, is grave and calm and lovely, different from the usual run of flighty heroines. The plotline is not too overused, and feels pretty fresh, overall.

The problem is, the characters--all of them, but especially Simon and Lucy--feel like they're sketches instead of the finished product. They need to be further fleshed out. The book itself also feels like a sketch to me, and it really needs to be further fleshed out, more depth added, more details, more explanations, more scenes that show who the characters are and what they're doing and why.

The romance between Simon and Lucy is very sudden and feels uneven, sketchily written. I was surprised when Simon proposed to Lucy--it felt like it came out of nowhere. The secondary characters, like Christian, Rosalind, and Patricia are horribly under-used, and definitely need more time spent on their sub-plotlines. They barely feel like real characters at all.

This book could be so much MORE than it is. It's watered-down, thin, it needs to be much meatier.

If this book took more time to delve into the characters, and even the setting and especially the motives and action and backstory, this book would be an absolute gem, a keeper for sure. There are such marvelous elements to this book! But unfortunately it's too thin and light.

Simon really is an interesting and attractive character, though. I liked what I did read of him. I'd love to have been able to read more.

Hackworth is the ultimate soldier. He has been there, done that, and his record gives him the credentials to call a spade a spade in military matters. Recommendations and condemnations are posited on the basis of what is best for each soldier and his defense of our country. Even his technical descriptions are easily understood by an average reader. The writing flows naturally, and Hackworth's integrity is clear on every page. Honor, duty, country. Hackworth was all about that, even without the ring of West Point. He lived it; all of us owe him respect.

Love him or hate him, you can't deny that David Hackworth has a story to tell. "Hazardous Duty" is his very persuasive diagnosis of the problem with American armed forces. Hackworth has "been there." Hew has led men in combat in Vietnam and experienced the "ticket punchers" who were less interested in destroying the enemy than in feathering their resumes. In this book, he takes us from the rice paddies in Vietnam to the scorching sands of Iraq and Kuwait in order to show us the weaknesses in the American fighting machine.

Hackworth takes dead aim at the "military-industrial-congressional complex," the source of much of the problem, in his telling. His "perfumed princes" ride the military promotion machine to high rank while arms manufacturers pad their expenses and congressmen use the revolving door to lucrative jobs in the arms trade. The media and public are bedazzled by a few "smart" bombs and glad-handed into shelling out more tax dollars for Flash Gordon wizzbangery. Meanwhile, the grunts on the ground are outfitted with obsolete weapons and uniforms manufactured for the wrong climate.

Hackworth portrays himself as a soldier's soldier, more interested in what happens on the ground than in some major's efficiency report. His devastating analysis of the debacles of the Grenada invasion and the Iranian hostage rescue are the first serious criticism I have heard about these botched operations. His skewering of Generals Colin Powell and Norman Schwarzkopf is pretty frightening. In Hackworth's telling, it's a good thing that Saddam Hussein was such a horrible tactician; the US might have taken some serious casualties otherwise. By letting Iraq's Republican Guard escape, he empowered Saddam Hussein, and ensured that we would have to fight him again.

Hackworth sees the military as a bloated giant, drunk on appropriations and its own sense of importance. Its leaders are dizzy with bringing home the bacon and fighting the other services, leaving America poorer and less prepared to fight the next war. Hackworth's pre-9/11 perspective is fascinating, if not always on target. He criticizes Reagan and Bush I for blindly throwing money at the military and Clinton for trying to integrate gays at a time of severe cutbacks and low morale. Writing at the time the US was involved in stopping Bosnia's self-destruction, he criticizes that effort as well as our interventions in Somalia and Haiti. The measured success in Bosnia and Haiti were still in the future, and somewhat diminishes Hackworth's omniscience.

Whatever his excesses, Hackworth is passionate about his country and the ordinary soldiers and sailors who defend it. His prescriptions (reducing the armed services from 4 to 1, stopping the revolving door from Congress to arms manufacturers) may be either visionary or unrealistic. But it's clear from his experiences and perspective that a military that persecutes and marginalizes "war fighters," which continually prepares to fight the last war, and is hypnotized by fancy gadgetry is no asset to our country.

Great read, unique and interesting perspective about the US military from a qualified expert.

There are two types of soldier, peacetime and wartime. Hackworth is from that wartime brand. A pain in the ass in peace but vital in conflict. He clearly identifies the issues and yet is lambasted as a poor staff leader, funnily enough so was Patton, and what a fighting general he was! No one believed him about the Russians at the end of WW2. As an ex-soldier from a recon background i'd really have liked to have met and even served under Col. Hackworth. At least he wouldn't have thrown my life away like modern leadership. The quickest way to resolve an issue is to accept that it exists. The US Military should listen to these views and act on them, otherwise when the big day comes and they are up against an effective force they will be sorely embarrased. Look how badly they are currently handling the insurgency in Iraq.

Very interesting book. I couldn't put it down after the first page or two. I've been inspired to read his other books -- esp. About Face, and support his organization Soldiers for the Truth.

I found this book to be very informative. Although aimed at grades 6-10, it would be a great read for any age. There is much about epidemics and medical practices that is not included in the typical history of our country, but they are important to the complete historical picture. Mr. Murphy has done a great job in relating a story in such a compact way. The only fault I find is that he did not include who history gives the most credit to in eradicating yellow fever and malaria - William Crawford Gorgas. Overall, this book would be a great addition to a classroom.

I loved this book. It is very descriptive and made me feel as though I was there. I don't think that four year olds can understand it though.

This is the story of the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1793 that decimated Philadelphia. Most folks don't know much about this plague; I didn't til I had to research it for a class I'm taking (for a class I would teach).

This book, written for young adults, is captivating. The illustrations are relevant and extremely interesting; the text flows and is full of foreshadowing and detail that are the hallmarks of good writing. It's short enough to finish in a timely manner, and has all sorts of "excerpt" quality passages that one could read to students.

Although it would be best placed as a resource book in a classroom, I found it entirely readable as a book on its own. Though I got it for a class, it will stay on my shelf as a favorite. That's a rare accomplishment for non-fiction, in my world!

(*)>

From what I've read of the book, An American Plague by Jim Murphy I think this book is okay. I thought that all the pictures in the story were unnecessary. But I liked the information it gave, in most stories the author won't show every theory from scientists. If you are really interested in the yellow fever it is recommended that you buy this book.

This dramatic account of the Yellow Fever Epidemic of 1793 is riveting. It is packed with historical facts and presents the horror of the disease, the implications for the city of Philadelphia and neighboring areas, and the reaction of both the townspeople as well as those in power with vivid detail.
Politicians, the medical community, common people, orphans, the poor are all brought to life before our eyes and we feel their pain, we share their misery, and we gain insight into what life was like for them during this terrifying time.
Author Jim Murphy chronologically follows the beginning of this epidemic, making us feel as if we were actual witnesses to this American Plague, using quotes from those who were there, newspaper clippings, period engravings and portraits.
Additionally, we are shown true acts of courage and selfless behavior as Mr. Murphy tells us of great men and woman who risked their lives to help their fellow people, and some who ultimately sacrificed their lives. He also unravels the controversies, particularly among the medical community in regards to the reaction to the disease and discusses bloodletting, ingesting poisons, bathing in vinegar, purging air with gunpowder, inhaling black pepper as well as other practiced modes of treatment.
Some people may find the descriptions of the disease and the progression of the illness horrifying, but it is truth nonetheless, Yellow fever is nothing short of horrific. I believe this fascinating book is truly deserving of the many awards it has earned. This very visual and brilliantly written book is a great tool for you to use in teaching this part of our nation's history to your children.

I found the book to be sloppily argued. Some chapters are nothing more than a hodgepodge of different sources strung together to fit Podles' thesis, while others rely much too heavily on his own unexamined assumptions about both Christianity and masculinity. I wanted to learn more about the subject of the feminization of Christianity, but ended up only learning more about Podles.

I read this book several years ago, and am still digesting some of the author's ideas. There is much to ponder here, and a careful reading of it will throw much light on the ways in which the modern Church has been yanked off-balance by overemphasis on a feminine or bridal Christian mysticism. This bridal mysticism, which began to grow after the thirteenth century, focuses on Christ as Lover and tends to disregard the many images of Christ as Warrior, Priest and King. The author contends that to dwell excessively on Christ as Lover is to repel healthy men, and it is a reasonable conclusion.
The author also shows how men nurture, and how Christ, in His divine masculinity, nurtured and still does nurture, His Church. This nurturing is accomplished with the shedding of men's blood, as Christ shed His, and it stands in contrast with feminine nurturing, in which women feed others with our bodies and hands. I found this a very profound idea, and it made me view the relationship between Christ and His Church, as well as between men and women, in a different light. It gave me much more respect for men and their sacrifices than I had before.
I am not sure if his thesis can explain the absence of men from church life, but it seems reasonable that it must in part explain it. This book is worth reading for the detailed view it gives of the bridal mysticism in the Church, and for the other possible spiritualities available to men it suggests.

This book is invaluable in pointing out the ways the Christian churches, at least in the West, have, over the centuries, become feminized to the point that attendance is shockingly inbalanced in terms of gender. It is no secret that men are not nearly so attracted to a church as women, and this for a church whose head is male and whose early members were mostly male. It presuposes that there is an important difference between the male and the female. I only wish more space had been given over to what can be done about all this.

Instead of laying a Biblical grid down on the purported problem real men have with Christianity, Podles lays a socio-cultural masculinity grid on Scripture. He finds, therefore, the biblical bridal paradigm to be wanting, rather than pervasive and compelling. In Podles view it's certainly not the real men who have it wrong.

(...)

I found this book shortly after completing my MA in Biblical Studies. I was impressed by Leon Podles accademic competence, his brilliant insight, and logical train of thought. This book is a must read for all men in the Christian faith. Not only does it deal with a long running issue dating back to the Middle Ages, it also offers some brilliant insights into the male and female mind; a factor that proves critical in our method of approach to the Christian faith.

Leon Podles writes in a long over due attempt to re-balance the masculine side of Christianity, long since missing, but entirely present in the New Testament era. This book is a blessing to Christian men, I thoroughly recommend it.

An amazing little book that reveals much of Lee's oriental and occidental philosophical roots as well as his own original thinking on a wide range of topics. To me, the book seemed to represent Lee writing for his children's benefit, in that it has the flavor of a book a father might want to leave behind for his son. That style proves an excellent vehicle for Lee's consistently thought-provoking maxims and tightly written guidance for self-improvement. This isn't about martial arts, but about the art of life. I truly think this book was worth the money and that I'll find myself returning to it, especially since Lee efficiently organized his "Thoughts" into useful groupings, such as Adversity, Adaptability, Motivation, Goals, Faith, Love, Freedom, Marriage, and so on. A great book to spur some serious reflection, but also a tool for discovering your individual path to superior living. So good, I purchased a second copy for my daughter.

I bought this book because I respect Bruce Lee as a person and was interested in his thoughts on life. What I got was page after page of cluttered philosophical quotes. And that was it. I expected some stories of Bruce Lee's past that taught him important lessons but after reading page after page of no-stop small snippets, I could not remember a thing after a few pages. You read 1 page then get to the next page and forget the previous page. I can only recommend this book for someone who is simply looking for a philosophical quote for a piece of work or project.

Firstly keep in mind this book has practically NOTHING TO DO WITH FIGHTING WHATSOEVER. It is more a mixture of anchient chinese wisdom mixed with Bruce Lee's personal insight. It is very insightful at that and it sure does get you pondering.

From what i hear alot of Bruce Lee fans barely know or even care about his fighting expertise, they are more into the intellectual and wise side of him. If you are one of those people or if your into chinese wisdom then you will love this.

I love Bruce Lee, but I couldnt get into this book! I cant honestly tell you to read it or not, because I havent! I bought it here at Amazon and gave it away a month later! Watch "Dragon: The Bruce Lee Story", thats a classic!

ANYthing about Bruce Lee is something I'm interested in. The title is superb and right on target. Master Lee's wisdom is truly "striking" in this compilation of work. He was a philosophy major at the University of Washington. His personal insights must have impressed his teachers there! I know they have always impressed me. His zeal for life and enthusiasm at living it are characteristics to be admired and sought by anyone in any situation. This book demonstrates Bruce as more than a fitness expert, more than a physical perfectionist, more than an incredible martial artist, more than an actor. Bruce as a deep thinker, an emotional man, a caring and loving person... these are things NOT to be overlooked in the true Master of the Modern Age... Bruce Lee... a Master of Life.

Because I had enjoyed "No Excuses: Closing the Racial Gap in Learning" I read the Thernstrom's previous book. "America in Black and White" provides a well-researched historical, contemporary, albeit conservative perspective on black-white race relations in America. In "No Excuses" they held back their strong opinions at least while presenting the information. However, in this one I thought that the Thernstroms allowed their opinions to interfere with the presentation of the prodigious factual information at their disposal. However, I still recommend the book because the data presented is worth having.

This book renders a thoughtful and persuasive treatment of the facts of racial divisions in the United States. The problems encountered by the Thernstroms in propounding on this subject can be summed up in what one anti-reveiwer on this page has written in order to smear another reveiwer with whose opinion he apparently disagrees. To wit, the anti-reveiwer does nothing more than cite a case brought by the CFTC against the son of the targeted reveiwer whom he's attempting to marginalize, much as those who don't agree with the Thernstroms' attempt to marginalize them; and with the same type of faulty facts and sloppy research, just as in the instant case I cite.

It's unfortunate that the debate of such momentous and substantive issues, such as the racial problems addressed by the Thernstroms, cannot take place in more temperate tones. It would also be more helpful if reveiwers would focus on and respond to the facts presented in this book, on the merits, rather than opposing them because they affront the complainants belief system.

This book reflects some sobering and instructive work. Let's hope the more emotionally balanced among us can use it to further the goal of racial harmony rather than to continue being divisive.

Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom's "America in Black and White: One Nation, Indivisible" charts a different course from many of the scholarly books written about racial relations in the United States today. The authors agree that the civil rights movements of the 1950s and 1960s was a resounding success, opening many doors to African-Americans as a result of the systematic dismantling of Jim Crow laws in the South. This book is necessary, claim the authors, because the ideas that originally drove the civil rights movement have since drifted into dangerous terrain. According to this book, Martin Luther King's message of one nation where all people will be judged by their individual merits and not skin color has become a land where blacks and whites are once again moving into separate camps based on race. The introduction of affirmative action programs and other racial social policies does not solve divisive problems but instead creates new racial barriers. Moreover, media and civil rights proponents today discuss black problems as though that segment of the population has made little progress. The authors insist that there are still nagging difficulties to overcome, but that a "lack of analytic rigor" leads to false perceptions about how far blacks have actually risen in society. Therefore, the authors rely heavily on statistical tables, charts, and polls to prove their arguments.

The first section of "America in Black and White" outlines the history of the odious conditions blacks faced in the American South and the resulting rise of the civil rights movement. The Thernstroms describe southern society in all of its squalor: the crushing poverty faced by both whites and blacks, the lackluster drive towards industrialization that kept many members of the population toiling in fields and small towns, pathetic levels of state spending on education for blacks, and the biases of the criminal justice system. Relying heavily on Gunnar Myrdal's groundbreaking study of race in America, the authors correctly detail the host of social structures aligned against the African-American population. For example, blacks rarely received decent treatment in the legal system because police departments run by whites often failed to protect the black citizenry from criminals. Moreover, the legal system in the South considered crimes committed against blacks secondary to outrages perpetrated against white members of society. Subsequent sections of the book take an in depth look at black progress in various social arenas from the 1970s onward, arenas such as education, politics, law, crime, and many others.

The absence of job opportunities, poor education, lack of protections in the courts, and segregation policies in the South led African-Americans to increasingly move north. The first migration came during World War I. A second, even larger migration occurred in the 1940s and 1950s. Blacks in the North did not have to deal with segregation, but did experience racism in housing and certain sectors of the job market. Better conditions in the northern states led to an increasing drive for an end to Jim Crow in the South. The authors argue that federal legislation destroying segregation in the 1960s also contained the seeds of future divisions. The Thernstroms see a sinister change of direction with the release of Daniel Patrick Moynihan's report on the black family in 1965. Moynihan's remedy for the problems faced by black citizens, echoed by Lyndon Johnson in a speech at Howard University the same year, moved beyond providing for equal opportunity to call for "equal results" as well. This argument indirectly endorsed the idea of affirmative action and social entitlement programs based specifically on race. For the authors, the problems inherent in this approach are clear: to formulate policy giving special treatment to one race is just as racist as passing laws subjugating specific races.

Perhaps the most interesting section of "America in Black and White," and probably the most controversial, concerns the authors' claims that African-American social advancement was greatest immediately before the rise of the civil rights movement. During the 1940s and 1950s, the authors write, blacks surged forward in nearly all areas of American society. This growth was far from perfect, but in the arenas of education, economics, politics, and sports blacks saw remarkable gains. Almost half of the African-Americans who lived in poverty moved out of that classification during this period. Education levels for blacks, while lagging behind whites, still grew significantly compared to earlier eras in American history. This period also saw the integration of professional baseball and basketball, opening up an entirely new aspect of society to black advancement. African-Americans showed signs of vigor at the polls, as a court case outlawing white southern primaries and greater movement to the North allowed more blacks to vote than ever before. Obviously, there were still many problems to overcome: black wages still lagged behind white levels, education was still a problem, and the South still practiced vigorous discrimination against its black population. But African-Americans did make progress, and this chapter effectively illustrates that modern day claims about the complete lack of black improvement before the civil rights movements of the 1960s are patently false.

The greatest problem with this analysis of black gains during the 1940s and 1950s is that it undercuts the need and influence of activism as a force for change. If African-Americans were achieving so much, why did the civil rights movement appear on the scene? It may well be a case of a segment of the population finding some success and quickly wanting more, thereby accelerating the growth and scope of that change. But the Thernstroms spend more time discussing the overarching factors-political, economic, and social-that contributed to two decades of growth instead of focusing on what everyday people were doing on a local level to bring about advancement. Following this argument to its logical conclusion makes a reader suspect that twenty years of gradual progress would have toppled Jim Crow laws without the assistance of any sort of social activism.

Stephan and Abigail Thernstrom's book is the most comprehensive survey of American race relations that I have ever read. The authors present important new information about the positive changes and improvements in the lives of African-Americans as a whole. They go on to argue, with tons of statistics to back them up, that the perception of serious racial divisions in our country are outdated, exaggerated, and dangerous. The reason for this, they show, is political: "it nurtures the mix of black anger and white shame and guilt that sustains the race-based social policies implemented since the late 1960s." Proponents of this status quo are afraid that calling attention, for example, to the rapidly-growing black middle class, "... would invite public complacency and undercut support for the affirmative action regime."

I was especially enthralled by the authors' analysis of the "War on Poverty" programs of the 1960's, particularly the expansion of welfare, and their horrifically negative effects on generations of black families since. Not only did the "War on Poverty" make things worse for the poor, but the expansion of welfare to include unwed women and children fostered a lifestyle of dependency and irresponsible behavior, and precipitated the downward trend in two-parent black families, that has left three generations of black Americans in dire straits ever since.

Liberals, especially black liberals, are terrified of books like this, and rightfully so. This book undercuts the blacks-as-perennial-victims/American-society-as-forever-racist rhetoric that keeps the Jesse Jacksons and Al Sharptons, with support from the liberal media, in business. Along with the works of John McWhorter, Shelby Steele and Thomas Sowell, this books serves as a much-needed wake-up call on the issue of race; a cold dose of reality that no doubt makes most liberals cringe.

It's clear the Thernstroms set out to create a definitive work. Despite the claim that Americans struggle with discussions about race, they argue that race is the focus of our media, entertainment, political discussions, economic policy, education policy, etc. What they believe is missing is the `lack of analytical rigor' applied towards these issues. They believe the discussion has gotten muddled with dogma, clever rhetoric, and unproven assumptions, which has led to tremendous confusion and frustration. Exceptionally well researched and plenty of `analytical rigor', passion and sensitivity, the Thernstroms have produced a work that has cleared the fog on a wide-range of issues including housing, civil rights legislation, education, job discrimination, voting, crime, the black middle class, etc. This work is also highly qualified to stand the test of time.

Some may be put off by the authors right of center analysis. They question the merits of affirmative action, proportional representation, and the degree to which racism continues to hinder blacks. This work is less incendiary than Dinesh D'Souza's `The End of Racism' (which is still very good), however, this work is replete with statistics and hard data that are difficult to dismiss.

America has gone through extraordinary steps to move beyond the sins of its past. There is little doubt that through this work the Thernstroms have a sincere interest in helping America move towards becoming a genuinely color-blind nation.