Parties Books

I enjoyed reading this and passed it on to my kids who are visiting the Loire Valley this summer and living with a family there. Proper etiquette is always noticed, and a general knowledge of fine wines can only add to their experience.

Highly recommended! The audio format is a great idea! It makes learning very easy and the information is all relevant. This is one lesson that is interesting and easily finished.

This was my first wine book, and it is still the best beginner's reference. It covers everything you need to get started. The real benefit, however, is the audio format. You actually get to hear the narrator (who is fantastic!) pronounce the names of the various grape varieties, wines and terms. This is a huge benefit and something that cannot be replicated in the written word.

A good etiquette book should sit on every professional's bookshelf alongside "how to win friends" and "7 habits." I purchased this book along with Essential Etiquette Fundamentals, Vol. 1: Dining Etiquette and The Etiquette Edge: The Unspoken Rules for Business Success to cover all the bases. These books do an excellent job covering the important etiquette skills often overlooked in today's environment. Although often underappreciated, exhibiting proper etiquette signals to others (especially your boss and clients) that you are well educated, care about detail, and have respect for others. I highly recommend these books for anyone new to the business world or for those of us who may need to brush up on the basics.

Although drinking good wine isn't difficult, learning about wine can be. Once on a winery tour a vintner explained that there are 15,000 different choices that can be made from grape to bottle. Sometimes picking out a wine can seem daunting. Food Scholar's Wine Selection & Etiquette does a superior job of teaching those of us who would like to learn more without the information being overkill.

While there are more comprehensive books out there on Wine, I really like this book because it excels at being written for the average person. The book is divided into logical sections. I also like that the effect of climates in a region on the grape are covered. This is an easy way to tell what kind of wine you are getting just by looking at where the grape was grown.

This book will enhance your knowledge as well as your ability to pick out wines that you and your guests may enjoy. I would highly recommend this book to those who want to learn about wine, as this book does an excellent job of giving a basic education about many of the wines of the world.

My little 2 year old heard this story for the first time at school. She kept saying the words that she had memorized and we had to go buy it for home. Since we purchased it three months ago, we read it almost every night (sometimes several times a day). The kids go wild for this story and you will too!

This book came in excellent condition, as though I bought it right from the store. I am truly impressed.

This book is full of funny puns (great for explaining what it means to tell a joke or make a pun to a serious four-year-old), a cute story, and a nice rhyme scheme. We've probably read this book hundreds of times by now and we're not totally sick of it (unlike so many other books we loathe but have to keep reading over and over).
Now our 2 year old likes it too, so it's probably going to be a favorite in our house for years more! Terrific "illustrations" which are actually clay sculptures and very cute.

I agree with many of the other reviewers, this is a clever book! The author was very clever with the words used in the book especially relating it to foods (The garlic singing and another food yells, "You stink!"). I appreciate the drawings, colors and creative of the book. My daughter, who is four, wants me to check out at least once a month. I highly recommend this book as bedtime read.

This is a very low literacy book but my 4-year old son loves it. It is full of puns.

I suddenly found myself being the "room mother" two weeks before the Halloween Party. Desparately, I searched for a source to plan an excellent, low cost, fun party for 28 5th graders on short notice! This book was perfect. Although the crafts seemed a bit involved, the game ideas were perfect. The book was divided into themes such as witch, bat, pumpkin etc. and each theme had associated foods, games, crafts and decorations. The game ideas were easy to put together and I improvised a bit. The teacher said it was the most organized and fun party she had seen in 30 years of teaching!

I've used this book to help in the classroom and for a neighborhood party. It is practical and helpful. A good way to start the planning session.

I am a first year teacher and this book helped me by leaps and bounds. Almost all of the activities are listed to be for grades K-6, but I was able to modify (if at all) many of them for my pre-K classroom. Every section - games, crafts, food, etc - is broken up into subcategories such as cats, frankenstein, bats, etc so the Halloween Party can have its own theme as well, if you'd like. I can't even begin to explain how useful the entire book has been to me! It took all the stress out of putting on a huge party with students, siblings, and parents galore.

A wonderful book and many ideas to use for Halloween Paries, not just at school. The craft ideas are so cute and adaptable for any age. We have used these ideas at church parties. The What, Why, and How of Room Parenting chapert is useful for any entertaining event. Suggestion: Purchase a complete set.

This Book it exactly what I have been looking for. A complete party how to book, from Bat Volleyball to Witch's Bubbling Brew.
I run a Day Care and to find activities for each age group is "pricless".

If you are as nuts about nuts as Sally Sampson is then you'll love this book. Then again, if you're not into making a LOT of different nut recipies you might want a general cookbook. Personally I found the recipies to be as good as one would hope and the presentation was solid (even if nobody would ever serve nuts in a martini glass).

Like the recipes and the ideas of how to roast nuts. This book started a great adventure for my family into the world of us roasting nuts for a great TV/movie night snack. You can get the whole family involved and the kids love to get involved with the flavors.

This has a lot of old and new nut recipes. Trying to duplicate a great nut snack you had somewhere? Sampson probably has it in this book, or you can take the techniques she sets out and experiment. A good little book that I'm glad to have in my collection.

This book has a recipe for every occasion. I do feel that several of the recipes are very similar in terms of the spice mixtures used, but the Balsamic Shellacked Pecan recipe alone is worth the price of the book. A great asset for hostesses or anyone that loves recipes.

This book is full of fabulous recipes. My son especially loves the "Holy Mole" nuts. But the book fell apart almost immediately - I would re-order it as I use it over and over, if it were spiral bound or soft-cover. As it is, I have to keep the pages now separately in a file folder!

I am new to network marketing and was looking to learn strategies from an experienced and successful direct seller. I found that and much more in this book. Like most network marketers I had the motivation and excitement but after enrolling began asking myself "ok, now what?" I found the answers in this book as Christensen takes the guesswork and mystery out of direct selling. It is easy to relate to Christensen as she tells her story of how she began in this industry. If the steps are followed, the reader will not have to reinvent the wheel but rather will have a clear set of principles to follow allowing them to stay on course to financial freedom.
Christensen's honesty is presented throughout the book as she explains that direct selling is not a "get rich quick" scheme and work and rejection go along with the territory. This can all be overcome by following the steps outlined in the book as well as the interactive activities to help you grow your business and think like a winner.
With Christensen's impressive experience in direct selling as well as her amazing success anyone interested in direct selling should own this book.

I got this book to help me with my business - direct sales or not this book will help anyone starting a business. It's organizational, life planing and very straight forward. It's a quick read which is GREAT
Go for it.

GREAT book and as a Founder and CEO of ChicBoutique At Home I include many of Mary's books with the Starter Kit. This is one of the best ones as it has detailed step by step for a Networker to work the business. It's great for novice and experienced Networkers. Highly recommended.

Mary Christensen is the best. I read Mary's first book "Make your First Million Network Marketing" and it was so inspiring that when I had the opportunity to see Mary speak I jumped at it. Be a Network Marketing Superstar really got me excited about getting my business moving. It has greatly improved since reading her books. Follow her guidance and you will make more out of your business. Remember what she says, "There is no "I" in team, but there is in win." Help yourself and your business by reading this book.

Este libro supera cualquier expectativa que su nombre pudiera implicar. De forma muy sencilla, practica y efectiva, la autora nos da lecciones basicas para truinfar en el mundo de la venta directa y multi nivel. Si estas involucrado en la venta directa, este libro es VITAL para ti y todo tu EQUIPO.

I would love this book even if I wasn't lucky enough to grace one of its pages (page 82 is myself and a co-worker at Yahoo! Inc. on that night). Alex, your work on this project was beyond imaginable, and the results are incredible!!

To see the world at large on this date, from every country, displayed on the pages of this book is really something wonderful. We are truly a global family, and this has never been more obvious.

I bought copies for everyone for Christmas!

This is a fabulous souvenir of the turning of the millennium. The project is fascinating and the content of the book is highly engaging.

I found myself flipping through the pages for hours.

It made me want to celebrate the millennium all over again.

Fantastic book. Really captured the spirit of entering the new century. Loved the variety of high quality pictures. Even more impressive when I learned that many of the photographers were amateurs.

Dawn of the 21st Century is a phenomenal photographic expression of the 24 hours surrounding the change of the millennium. A tremendous project undertaken by one man(Alx Klive) and his volunteers to collect and cull the best of over a quarter of a million pictures taken by thousands of photographers as the millennium dawned over a year ago. The pictures, however, remain timeless and serve to remind us what a wonderful art photography is for capturing an eternal moment. I'm proud to have been chosen as one of the Millennium Photo Project photographers and hope that you enjoy the book as much as we enjoyed producing it.

I first heard about this project through a colleague in the publishing industry. Apparently this renegade group of people (from Toronto I think) put together this whole thing completely on their own, after everyone in the publishing industry turned them down. They went ahead with it anyway and organized the whole thing on the Internet using amateur and enthusiast photographers from around the world. I was skeptical of what the final quality would be like but decided to order one to see for myself. I have to say I was blown away when the book arrived in the post. The pictures are astounding and very very different from any photography book I've ever seen before. They are incredibly 'real' - that's the best way I can think of describing it. Lots of ordinary people getting ready to go out, meeting up with old friends, celebrating at home, praying and so on. Basically the book is a visual feast that focuses heavily on the human experience. It is simply fascinating to see how different people from all different cultures and backgrounds celebrated the same event. My favourite photo is of a Masai tribesman standing on the plains of Kenya, where the human species is thought to have first evolved. It is a stunning and poignant image that should perhaps have been considered for the cover. But that is only a very minor criticism of what is overall an astounding achievement. The top art book publishers in the world (Phaidon? Taschen?) would have been immensely proud to have put a book like this together. The fact that a bunch of amateurs did it on their own makes it all the more remarkable. Whoever in the publishing industry turned this project done must have been out of their minds. Kudos to the sheer guts of the people who went ahead and did it anyway! Bravo!

What a fine performance from this hitherto unknown writer of nonfiction books. I cannot believe, having read this book, that I know--however thinly--what life must be like inside prison walls, and then outside in an altogether new kind of prison. Hopkins draws brilliant sketches of a life torn by inevitable forces of evil and goodness. Thankfully, goodness prevails. Even better, Evans Hopkins has lived to tell us about it. Kudos.

Evans Hopkins grew up in Danville, Virginia during a turbulent time in history when his town, like many, were resisting desegregation at every turn. As he entered into his teen years, Evans became more and more frustrated by what he felt was a black community that easily accepted the mistreatment they were forced to live with. This eventually led to his involvement with the Black Panther Party, an organization with ideals more in line with his hands on approach to obtaining civil rights. Eventually, his involvement with the organization increases to the point that he persuades his parents to allow him to move to North Carolina to live among the comrades at the nearest Panther chapter.

After working with the North Carolina chapter for a while, Evans had the opportunity to go to California and work at the headquarters of the organization. Deeply idealistic, he was quickly disheartened by the inconsistencies between what the party preached and what they practiced. Ultimately, he fled California, fearing for his life -- but this is just the beginning of a downward spiral. When he returns home, he must obtain employment not only to support himself, but also his newborn son and his then estranged girlfriend. He begins working for his father's landscaping business, but is frustrated by the meager wages and backbreaking work. Soon the lure of fast money wins over, and he finds himself facing a life sentence. The next phase of the book focuses on the difficulties of prison life and all of the life changes he encounters during his incarceration. Evans examines his choices and mistakes, and rediscovers his love for writing. Finally, he talks about his new beginning -- his life AFTER life. In this portion of the book, he shares about his period of readjustment to life outside of prison, changes among his family members, and his blossoming writing career.

LIFE AFTER LIFE is more than a memoir, it is a character study. What is more impressive is that Evans Hopkins is able to look back on his life and reflect with honesty and openess. He not only shares about his life, but he also puts the lives of many of the people he encountered in his journey into a meaningful social context. Written in an conversational style, LIFE AFTER LIFE is an easy read that touches on any number of important topics.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
of The RAWSISTAZ™ Reviewers

"Life After Life" is a true and enlightening description of a young man's rage and finally his redemption. Evans Hopkins' well-written autobiography vividly describes his good and bad personal experiences. Many of them stemmed from his personal attitudes towards people he was in contact with. Fortunately, with support from his family and other positive people, he was able to a new look on life. These changes encourage Evans to have and practice more positive thinking and actions. His writing is an inspiration for lost people. It should encourage those who are failing to strive, to seek life's positive path.

This book is essential for anyone who agrees with the idea that the leaders of the Civil Rights movement didn't do all the work. Evans Hopkins writes in gripping prose about his life story, and is among the first to shed light on the Panthers from a first hand comrade point of view. The book not only is insightful but inspiration. It brings back to light the struggles of a time all but forgotten and is the best book in the new canon of works written by activist of the movement.
Not only is it a piece about the movement, it shows how the movement affected his life and virtually everyone's life. And it is truly a story of rage and redemption that provokes the reader to find the redeeming qualities in him/herself.
Must read doesn't say enough!!!!!

Life After Life is an exalting and dynamically written memoir that is destined for great literary achievements. This polished and brilliant author, Evans Hopkins, has revealed and characterized the epitome of growing up as a young man embroiled between manhood, family, and acceptance in a society notorious for its unjust boundaries and inequalities. His fascinating story will surely ignite your soul.

Mr. Hopkins was profoundly inspired to prove that life changes begin with self-motivation,love, and the courage to reintegrate into the environment that was eager to cast him out. With heroic pride and a strong will to empower himself, he has endured the litmus test for human consciousness.

We can all derive encouragement and insight from this extraordinary book. At best, the perspective wisdom to bear witness to positive change and influence others to recognize their own obligations toward a more harmonious humankind.

This is an outstanding book for all the reasons mentioned below. The recipes are written clearly and easy to follow. I recieved this book as a gift a year ago, and have tried many of the recipes since then. Almost all have been excellent, and it's become the baking cookbbook I pick up first when I'm thinking about making dessert.

I have made about 10 of the recipes out of this book and we have loved all of them. I am looking forward to baking my way through it. The microwave brownies are so simple and our families quick chocolate fix.

As the mother of 2 little girls, I am finding a huge need for baked goods for all kinds of functions. So far everything I've made has been awesome - and simple. If you have children, this a great book to add to the collection!

for years! I always have the ingredients in the house, and the recipes taste wonderful. With Cheap Fast Good and Mom's Big Book of Baking, I can get rid of the rest of my cookbooks!

I checked out this book from the library and was inspired to buy it, I had to have my own copy! My favorite recipe is the blueberry muffins with the crumb topping, so easy to whip up. My 14 yr. old daughter loves to use the book often and surprises us with delicious treats. I highly recommend this book to anyone who loves to bake, specially with such easy, delicious recipes.

I worked for the Illinois primary committee through the full 1976 primary campaign and then attended the convention with the Illinois delegation.
I worked with Reagan's California people during the primary and Charlie Black and Roger Stone during the Illinois primary. Shirley has captured the essence of that campaign and written a book that should be a primer for any young gun that seeks to influence national politics. Well done Craig! A+.

Whether you agreed or disagreed with his policies, there's no denying that Ronald Reagan casts a long shadow over modern American politics. His landslide victory in the 1980 presidential election made conservatism the dominant theme of American politics - a theme which is running strong even today. When most people today think of Republicans, they automatically think "conservative". Yet, as Craig Shirley notes, until Reagan's victory that was not always the case. In "Reagan's Revolution", Shirley offers an engrossing account of a campaign that he (and many political historians) believe changed the face of the Republican Party, and ultimately, the nation. And it's not the 1980 campaign that Shirley is writing about. Instead, he describes Reagan's hard-fought, near-miss 1976 primary battle to unseat President Gerald Ford and capture the GOP presidential nomination. Without this losing effort, Shirley argues, Reagan would never have been nominated and elected President in 1980.

Shirley offers an excellent account of the sad state of the Republican Party in the mid-1970's. TIME magazine did a cover story in 1976 on "The Plight Of The GOP", and even hinted that the Republicans were on their way to extinction, like the Whig Party of the mid-1800's. At the grassroots level the "Grand" Old Party was outnumbered two-to-one or more by the Democrats in many parts of the country, and at the congressional level many Republicans seemed resigned to a permanent minority status. Shirley argues that the GOP's plight was mainly a result of the fact that the party had no clear agenda or direction. What passed for the GOP Establishment consisted mainly of moderate-to-slightly liberal Republicans from the Northeast, such as Nelson Rockefeller of New York, Ford's Vice-President, and Pennsylvania Senator Richard Schweiker. Reagan, the leader of the GOP's conservative wing, became increasingly disgusted with what he believed was President Ford's complacent "me too" attitude towards the Democrats.

When Reagan announced his challenge to Ford in late 1975, he was promptly opposed by most of the "Rockefeller" Republicans who still controlled the party's finances and organization. Running with only his own resources and fellow conservative insurgents, he mounted one of the strongest challenges to an incumbent President in American history. Shirley, who interviewed plenty of former aides and campaign associates for both Reagan and Ford, gives a breathless account of the fierce primary battles throughout the spring and summer of 1976. Early on it looked as if Ford would win easily, as he defeated Reagan in New Hampshire, Florida, and Illinois. After each defeat the pressure mounted on Reagan to quit the race and "join the team" for Ford. Yet Reagan refused to quit, and his persistence paid off with a stunning upset of Ford in the North Carolina primary (with some help from then-Senator Jesse Helms). After that the two men engaged in an increasingly bitter nip-and-tuck battle for delegates that lasted until August 1976, when the Republican Convention opened in Kansas City. Only then did Ford finally manage to nail down enough delegates to narrowly win the nomination, thus making 1976 the last time that a presidential nomination would still be undecided before a political convention started. Yet even in defeat, Shirley notes, Reagan "stole" the moment from Ford with a stirring and eloquent concession speech that left even many pro-Ford delegates in tears. It was at that moment, Shirley believes, that the modern "Conservative Revolution" in American politics began.

I do have one problem with the book, and that is Shirley's obvious bias towards Reagan. Shirley is a conservative activist who supported Reagan in 1976 and 1980, and while he does try to be fair to Ford and his team, it's pretty clear which side Shirley supported. Even so, the bias is not so blatant that it seriously affects the pace or flow of the story. Interestingly, neither Dick Cheney nor (especially) Donald Rumsfeld come off looking very good in Shirley's account (perhaps surprisingly, they both supported Ford instead of Reagan). Shirley describes the 1976 campaign as a good sportswriter might describe a classic World Series or Super Bowl. If you're a political junkie and have read such classics as Theodore White's "Making of the President 1960", then you should definitely enjoy this book. Recommended!

Craig Shirley has written a first class narrative of recent history in Reagan's Revolution.

It covers the 1976 Republican primary campaign, in which former California Governor Reagan challenged Republican incumbent Gerald R. Ford-- the only man to serve as American President who was never elected President or Vice-President.

Shirley does a good job of telling the story from each side of the the face-off, including the presence of current Bush administration members Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, who were members of the Ford administration.

A great work that provides insight into an important event in American history that is not often covered in such depth.

Shirley's work is also easily readable, often reading like a good novel.

Let's face it, history is effervescent with little, silent victories. The biggest victories (Waterloo, Gen. Washington, Robert Evans) always receive the press, the notoriety, and the Mucollough books (or novels, in her Lady Partisan's eyes). Now look at those little victories that receive so sparse a note. This is one of them. Now I am not a Reagan fan, I am not a conservative (I am not a Shirley of the same blood, for that matter, interestingly, I share my first name with one of whom the book is dedicated. Don't worry, I beith no rock a'tall).


Mister Shirley frankly just does a delightful job of allowing this little victory to finally breathe the air, the life it deserves. I was moved by the passages. The premise of this entire book has served as a footnote struck down by editors galore, which really allows Shirley to stretch out his pen and write as if this was a synopsis for a film based off of "Trivial Persuit." I'll explain: because this entire premise begins with so...trivial...a piece of tedium, that he has to work, to actually researce and write. His laurels lie within Washington, but in the Historical Nonfiction realm of popularity or even making a return on the original investment, Mr. Shirley is the one who must make the Book-Reader relationship work. In fact, Mr. Shirley has an even farther way to go than any other author and his or her piece, for while '76 is not chronicled (much), Reagan most certainly is, probably moreso than any other President of the 20th century. And handily, he places his name right in the top ranks of authors of these types of works. He does a fine job. He...persues...this silent victory right to its very last interesting note, and keeps the reader along the whole time. A worthy read, and a point made (double entendre if anyone's keeping score).


Note: For one of the reviews above, as far as factual errors, this book contains them only if the 150+ sources researched contain them. It seems based upon the 51 pages of bibliography that Mr. Shirley did not want to be wrong (and Rocky was simply a reference of the times, of the atmosphere, not a direct reference to any single item occuring on the stump in '76.

Craig Shirley's publication "Reagan Revolution" is a wealth for those who are seeking even even more information on Ronald Wilson Reagan. I remember thinking there needed to be a definitive account of the 1976 Republican primaries, and was glad to run across this account.

I enjoyed this book because there is so much new information about the 76 campaign and the inner workings of the Ford and Reagan teams. I felt like I learned much more about the Reagan team in 76 and really the great odds he faced in trying to unseat an incumbent president. It was especially neat to see how amazing Reagan was even without hardly any of the Republican Party establishment behind him. I think Reagan receives so much credit for his political skill, discipline, charisma, and intelligence just from this campaign.

Shirley is absolutely right in that he displays and unwraps the transformation of the GOP within this race. He understands the depth of the conservative moment, it helped since the author was a part of that movement. He also explains just how 76 was the launching ground for 1980. He understands that Ronald Reagan's political career was in many ways providential and revolutionary. Shirley's account is an exciting read and a descriptive and triumphant look at the greatest leader of the 20th Century.

America was founded on principles then considered liberal/revolutionary--governments bound by duty to the people, not the other way around, limited by the phrase "Congress shall make no law..," a system of checks and balances to ensure that no one branch of government shall gain too much power over the others, strict separation of church and state, no interference in our private lives, the over-riding obligation of Due Process in all criminal proceedings. The Conservative movement of the 1960s was meant to "conserve" these Constitutional principles. I am a proud "liberal," a member of the "loyal opposition" from the perspective of Conservatives like Mickey Edwards. RECLAIMING CONSERVATISM helped me to understand the true meaning and value of pre-Gingrich Conservatism. We stand for many of the same principles. This is not a book about governmental programs, what the government ought or ought not to do for its citizens. It is about protecting and returning to those principles on which our government was founded. Bravo!

Former congressman Edwards clearly and passionaltely articulates how the Conservative movement has changed, especially since the presidency of Ronald Reagan. Fascinating reading for liberals to understand the original conservative movement, and for conservatives to see how they have abdicated their constitutional responsibility.

I totally agree and cannot add more to the reviews already here. The Republican Party up until about 1990 was a party of optimism ("It's Morning in America"), belief in individual freedom, anti-communism, and belief in a strong national defense, and "getting government off our backs".

Today: a party fixated on tradition and "traditional family values", moralizing, forcing one's personal morality on others, being against science and evolution (!!), and being against abortion choice, and homosexuals. In short, a primitive party that is no longer looking forward, but looking back into the past.

The only thing I can do here is directly site the most recent Texas Republican Party platform. The GOP here in Texas has been taken over by fundamentalist Christians, as the author states. Here are some quotes from their platform (I think that this speaks for itself. This is also a reason that I, a lifelong Republican and huge fan of Ronald Reagan, no longer vote Republican in Texas [my comments in brackets]):

"We believe that human life is sacred, created in the image of God [this is a theological belief, not a political statement]. Life begins at the moment of fertilization and ends at the point of natural death. All innocent human life must be protected. [whereas, it is o.k., in Texas, to kill people on death row, even if you are not 100% sure they really did the crime !, and then call this law and order].

We understand that the Ten Commandments are the basis of our basic freedoms and the cornerstone of our Western legal tradition [no, the 10 Commandments were rules for the ancient Jews, not a basis of freedoms]. We therefore oppose any governmental action to restrict, prohibit, or remove public display of the Decalogue or other religious symbols. [thus, completely removing the wall between church and state].

We support the adoption of the Pledge Protection Act. We decry any unconstitutional act of judicial tyranny that would demand removal of the words "One Nation under God" from the Pledge of Allegiance [those words: "One Nation Under God" were put into the pledge in 1954, and were not in it before then]. We also demand that the National Motto "In God We Trust" and National Anthem be protected from legislative and judicial attack.

We support the traditional definition of marriage as a God-ordained, legal and moral commitment only between a natural man and a natural woman [sorry, transvestites !], which is the foundational unit of a healthy society, and we oppose the assault on marriage by judicial activists.

We call upon the Texas Legislature to rescind no- fault divorce laws [i.e. taking away another personal choice from the people, and mandating a narrow personal belief system]. For these reasons we support Covenant Marriage [another narrow convention, forced on others], which has proven effective in stemming the tide of divorce [at what cost in personal liberaty ? Where is the evidence ? Effective in what sense ? Keeping people who dislike each other in a loveless marriage ?]. We recommend the following provisions in line with this concept: 1) pre-marital counseling [is that part of "traditional" marriage ? Who is "assaulting marriage" now ?] and, 2) a pre-nuptial agreement that when problems arise within the marriage, both parties will agree to marriage counseling [read: be forced to] with the intent of restoring the marriage to its proper balance and harmony [read: forcing people to stay together, against their wishes].

We believe that the practice of sodomy [defined as ...?] tears at the fabric of society [proof ?], contributes to the breakdown of the family unit, and leads to the spread of dangerous, communicable diseases. Homosexual behavior is contrary to the fundamental, unchanging truths [which ones ?] that have been ordained by God [Judeo-Christian morality is thus to rule over people who are not even religious], recognized by our country's founders [no, Benjamin Franklin was actually kind of a randy devil, and George Washington didn't go to church, and Jefferson called the Bible non-sensical], and shared by the majority of Texans [so, the majority is to dictate to the minority].

We believe, as do the vast majority of Texans, that pornography is repulsive [defined as ?], addictive [evidence, please] and contributes to deviant criminal behavior [again, evidence is lacking here].

We support the objective teaching and equal treatment of scientific strengths and weaknesses of scientific theories [i.e. we want to throw science out the window whenever it conflicts with our primitive religious views], including Intelligent Design. We believe theories of life origins and environmental theories should be taught as scientific theory not scientific law ["we", being non-scientists]; that social studies and other curriculum should not be based on any one theory [unless of course that "one theory" is ours].

We believe that properly applied capital punishment is legitimate, is an effective deterrent, and should be swift and unencumbered. When applied to the crime of murder, it raises the value of human life. [idiotic statement. Killing people raises the value of life. Plus, everyone knows that Texas's application of the death penalty is anything but "properly applied".

I never ever thought I would agree with a conservative republican, but after reading this book, I am in full agreement with Mickey Edwards. Sean Hannity and the other trash on talk radio have perverted the word 'patriot' but Edwards has brought its true meaning back to us. I see little chance in the near future of correcting the damage wrought on this USA by the W administration, Newt Gingrich, and the neocons; but, if we follow Mickey's advice, we will eventually get the country we and the world needs.

This book is terrific and rare, offering accessible insight into the reasons why what passes for conservative politics and policies today is bad for the country, let alone conservatives. Reclaiming Conservatism is not merely a primer for conservatives to remember their principles and their roots, although Edwards would no doubt welcome such an outcome. It sheds light on how far off the ranch Newt Gingrich and Bush II have taken the conservative movement - you have to read what Edwards has to say about them! - but it also shows liberals the kind of conservative opponents they should welcome battling and, most importantly, getting down to work with again and ironing out compromises.

But Edwards's points go deeper. He draws meaning and relevance from the Constitution and demonstrates how Congress as an institution needs to reassert itself and stop doing the Executive's bidding. His illustrations of how the president may be the head of state but not the head of government are refreshingly clear, and he reminds us again of the beauty of the constitutional system of checks and balances that has been sullied by leading Republicans in this administration and recent Congresses. Even political veterans will be sure to learn something, but you don't need to be an insider to benefit from Edwards's insights. Now we have to find someone to so well write "Reclaiming Liberalism" and urge politicians and citizens alike to read them both!