Adams Books

All in all, H. G. Wells' The War of the Worlds is indeed a masterpiece of scientific fiction. While the chances of intelligent creatures living on Mars "are a million to one", as the character Ogilvy puts it in the book, Wells gives a very realistic and detailed account of a Martian invasion, if one were to occur. He describes how the Martians have difficulty walking on Earth, because the gravity is much stronger. He also discusses the fact that the Martians have difficulty breathing in Earth's atmosphere, because the atmosphere on Earth contains far more oxygen and far less argon than the Martian atmosphere. Biology also plays an important role, as the Martians never need to rest. The explanation for this is that the Martians have no extensive muscle system that requires rest, and so the Martians are able to work sleeplessly. Of course, there is also the famous role of bacteria in defeating the Martians, because there are supposedly no bacteria on Mars, and so the Martians are not immune to bacteria.
Wells also provides a detailed look at the British military, and its brave but hopeless fight against the Martians. He accurately describes the pre-World War I British Army as being composed of hussars (cavalry), grenadiers, and artillerymen who operate cannons. The army is also mentioned as having the Maxim gun, an early machine gun. The Royal Navy is said to have ironclads, and the HMS Thunder Child, which battles the Martians at sea, is called a "torpedo ram". Wells describes how the British artillery batteries are positioned all over the countryside of southern England, and their firing madly at the Martian tripods. The Royal Navy's Channel Fleet is described as steaming all along the British coast, protecting ships full of refugees fleeing the Martian advance. It was nice of Wells to provide a sense of hope in the first half of the book by mentioning the destruction of some tripods by the British, unlike the recent movie, in which the tripods are equipped with energy shields and are therefore invincible.
The only negative aspects of the book were that it used some old-fashioned language, which was a little hard to understand. Also, the names of many small, unfamiliar British towns are used in the book, so it can be hard to keep track of the geography. However, the story was excellent for the most part.

We are in 1898 England. Yep we see something happening on the surface of Mars. Later what looks like a meteor comes to earth. Once we realize the significant of the situation (or think we do) Different people approach the situation in different ways. The true story is how the different people meet the situation.
Many people want to equate this story with real potential invasions others as the bad guys vs. the good guys. However from the very first we see that they are the greater (more evolved) intelligence and we are the equivalent of vermin or the ants that are being held under the magnifying glass. From our point of view they seem like cruel creatures, from theirs is indifference. Their way of consuming nourishment is appalling yet look at what and how we eat.
The writing its self is of the time in which Wells lived so the descriptions of our world may seem a little alien to today's younger readers. However the suspense is still there and the story will hold their attention.
Do not miss the 1953 movie. Even thought it adds more religious overtones it is still pretty much the same story with similar characters. Of course this one names the narrator and adds a love interest.

The War of the Worlds (Special Collector's Edition)

Unknown to the inhabitants of Earth, the planet Mars is aging and nearing its exhaustion. The Martians, not even perceiving humans to be anything other than animals, decide that it is time to seize this lush, young planet. Landing in several locations in southeastern England they begin their conquest of the planet. Can man, with his most advanced technology hope to stop the Martians with their much more advanced technology?

You've seen the 1953 movie, War of the Worlds, and want to read it in book form? Well, then don't look here. Herbert George Wells wrote this book in 1898, a mere one year after The Invisible Man, and two years after The Island of Doctor Moreau. The moviemakers of the 1950s made a wonderful movie, but one that, alas, bears very little resemblance to the original!

This book is one of the crowning examples of nineteenth century fantastic fiction. It is a gripping story that masterfully combines horror and suspense, keeping you at the edge of your seat until the final page.

What can you say about this? A total classic of sci-fi. It's a little difficult to read this these days, because everything in this book has inspired 100 cheap imitations. (See any movie used for MST, for example.)

But the footnotes help show how this book fit into the times, and the sociological points Wells was making. I especially enjoyed the bit where they explained how the aliens really represent Wells' view of what humans may evolve to in the far future.

The story inspired a lot of debate within a book club I joined. A couple things I found odd were: 1) What happens with the super-advanced aliens in the end. (Not too much spoiler here!) 2) The man who had all the great ideas for forming a resistance turned out to be a lazy drunkard. I couldn't take much uplifting from that. :-)

I was disappointed with a couple of the footnotes. Specifically, 2 of the footnotes completely gave away the ending, halfway through the book. I felt that the reader could have been given some warning of this.

Overall though, a very enjoyable read, for the sci-fi and the social commentary, and (mostly) good footnotes.

This diary is a must read for those who would study the Holocaust. It is a study of a decent man under indecent circumstances. He does what he can to help but, in so doing, he necessarily is complicit with the Nazis. If he had been able to foretell the end result, he may have taken a different path. He couldn't. The Holocaust was a work in progress and didn't, even from the Nazi perspective, start as a plan for annihilation. It started as a plan to contain and control people, many of whom were non-Jews.

Czerniaikow did as much as he could to protect his increasingly confined and crowded people. His success made the end all the more terrible. His document is that of the complexities and irrationality of a system terrible beyond its own expectations. Yes, Czerniakow, as a leader, was complicit but he did as well as he could.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Adam Czerniakow's diary covers the period from the German attack on Poland (early September 1939) through late July 1942. At that time, faced with the prospect of turning over thousands of Jews for the first transports to the death camp at Treblinka, Czerniakow chose to commit suicide instead.

While, of course, focusing on the sufferings of the Jews, Czerniakow never loses sight of the sufferings of the Poles. For instance, he includes an entry on the partial destruction of the Royal Castle and the Church (actually, Cathedral) of St. John, by German artillery (p. 75). He also mentions the massacre of Poles (and some Jews) by the Germans at Wawer (late December, 1939; p. 103). Czerniakow first mentions Treblinka while it had only been used as a forced-labor camp for mostly Poles (p. 316).

The creation of the Warsaw Ghetto by the Germans uprooted a large number of Poles as well as Jews, as described in a report by Czerniakow: "The resettlement, encompassing 700 ethnic Germans, 113,000 Poles, and 138,000 Jews, was carried out at once; 11,567 non-Jewish apartments in the Jewish district and some 13,800 Jewish apartments in the rest of the city were surrendered." (p. 396). Clearly, at that stage of the German occupation, property acquisition was very much a two-way street.

The Germans enclosed the Jews in the ghetto in order to starve them, but both Poles and Jews cooperated to thwart this German intention. In the introduction, Josef Kermisz elaborates on this: "If Warsaw's Jews had had to live on the official bread ration, they would all have died of starvation in the first year. Czerniakow tells stories of smugglers and underground trade...The German plan, to starve the Jews to death quickly, was foiled...Thousands, Jews and non-Jews, were occupied with smuggling." (p. 13).

Czerniakow mentions some events whose potential significance was not realized until later. For example, in the July 1, 1940 entry in his diary, Czerniakow alludes to the German plan to resettle both German and Polish Jews in Madagascar (p. 169).

Ironically, in the first two years of the German occupation, Poles were more likely to be killed by the Germans than Jews. At times, Poles actually disguised themselves as Jews! Czerniakow describes this in two entries; that of February 20, 1940 (p. 119) and of May 8, 1940 (p. 147). In the latter, he writes: "Some Poles are beginning to wear Jewish armbands [to avoid being impressed for labor in Germany]." The brackets had been inserted by the editors of this volume.

Both Poles and Jews were corrupted by the brutalities of the German occupation. The Polish blackmailers (szmalcowniki) are well known, but it is seldom realized that they also had their Jewish counterparts. Josef Kermisz commented: "Czerniakow poured out his wrath on Jews who served the Germans, the informers, extortionists, and underworld figures who degraded and corrupted the ghetto." (p. 19). The looting of even the dead was not limited to Poles. In the entry for November 9, 1941, Czerniakow wrote: "A report of the Order Service about cases of graves being dug up by some gang to extract gold teeth from the dead." (p. 297).

Czerniakow sheds light on the Polish Blue Police (Policja Granatowa). Some of their worst members were actually Volksdeutche (prewar Polish citizens of German extraction). In the entry for June 10, 1942, Czerniakow commented: "Today, Junacy [an informal designation of uniformed youth groups, mainly ethnic German] searched the cellars of the house at 20 Chlodna Street, allegedly looking for hidden leather." (p. 365). Again, the content in the brackets had been supplied by the editors of this volume.

Finally, there is a place for humor in Czerniakow's diary. He speaks of "horizontal Aryans" and "vertical Aryans." (p. 192). The former refers to infant Jews who had been baptized, while the latter refers to Jews who had converted to Christianity as adults. (Of course, under Nazi racial laws, Jews who had converted to Christianity were not recognized as Aryans. They were still considered to be Jews, and treated accordingly).

This is the daily diary of the man who was the head of the Judenrat (Jewish Council) in Warsaw during the Nazi occupation and most of the ghetto period. Czerniakow was misunderstood by a lot of people, and to avoid this I suggest some background reading about the ghetto first (Emanuel Ringelblum's Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto, Bogdan Wojdowski's Bread for the Departed, John Hersey's The Wall (fiction)). This is because Czerniakow does not give a lot of detail about life in the ghetto (and occupied Warsaw before the ghetto) for the ordinary person. It does not at all mean he was unaware of conditions; he was trying to do an impossible job and please everyone at the same time: the ghetto residents, the other council members, the profiteers, the Polish city administration, the German army, and the SS. That he accomplished any positive goals at all is remarkable and his story must be looked at from that perspective. It comes across clearly that he acted according to his conscience and put his personal concerns last. Without the introductions and the supplementary notes the diary might be difficult to understand, as Czerniakow did not always put down full names or explanations and kept entries brief. It was suggested he may have been afraid of it falling into the wrong hands with good reason. Therefore, I would say it takes a reader with some knowledge of the ghetto period and the Nazi occupation of Poland to get the fullest understanding from this book. I do on that basis give it the highest recommendation.

With great interest I have red the "The Warsaw Diary of Adam Czerniakow". It is very moving and an example of outmost dignity in such catastrophical situations.I was touched by the serenity of Professor Raul Hilberg explaining the personality of Adam Zcerniakow in the film "SHOA".He has not deceived me...! By the way, now that
the Israelis are building Walls... should they not read this terrible Testimony? I recommend then to do

My daughter, 18 months, really likes this book. She called it the "Kissing Book" for the first month we had it because of the page that says, "Is it about the mistletoe where Mom and Daddy kiss?" Great book for remembering that while Christmas trees, Santa, and presents are okay, Jesus is the real reason we have a Christmas Day. We also like the Easter book, which has a similar cadence, and "I Love You", both by Candy Cane Press.

I just received this book and was so impressed with the message to help remind us all (big or small) the reason for celebrating Christmas while still acknowledging other activities of the season many enjoy. This book really provides a good balance while still stressing that the reason for season is the birth of Jesus. I will be recomending this book on my site www.christmasorganizing.com as a top pick for children's Christmas books.

It is nice to see a book written about why we celebrate Christmas. So much has been lost over the years with all the comercialization of Christmas. I enjoyed the flow of the book and the poetry.

This book is a great way to explain to our children that Christmas is not just for gifts and all the other great things that go with celebrating Christmas. It shows that Jesus is the real reason we celebrate Christmas.
Great Christmas book

I first read this masterpiece by Paula Giddings in my second year of undergraduate studies at SUNY Stony Brook, and thus began my scholastic love affair with Ms. Giddings. The book is as educationally informative as it is necessary for the mental liberation of Black people, in particular Black women. The book essentially encapsulates the untold history of not only Black women's' history, but more importantly how their history profoundly shaped, influenced, and effected American history, culture, and politics for Black people as a whole and women in general. Indeed this is a treasure of a volume; unquestioningly required reading for anyone who thinks they're knowledgeable about Black women's' history, has an interest in general history, and wants to expand their academic knowledge of the subject matter.

This is a wonderful book about the impact of segment of our population that has been perceived as powerless. The novel-type reading of historical, sociological and societal events is truly a gift of this author. She portrays women of conviction, strenght and strong values in a moving, engaging manner.

This is the book for you if you are interested in history and especially the history of Black Women in America. The author factually grabs hold of you and guides you through the lifes of black women in this country. Their beliefs, struggles and the way they have affected everything from end of slavery to women's and civil rights movements, and from family and society dynamics to everyday racism. You will read about the more widely known Fannie Lou Hamer's persistent work during the 60's civil rights movement to the relatively unknown Ida Wells and her fight to stop lynchings around the country a century ago. This is a book that will touch you as a woman and as a human being.

WHEN AND WHERE I ENTER by Paula Giddings is one of those wonderful books that tells the real history. WHEN AND WHERE I ENTER tells the how and the why of past events and how black women's contributions to America have made this country what it is today. This is not just black women's history, this is American history. A must read for everyone.

This book speaks to all single women. It is true to life and whether you are dating, just got out of a relationship, or thinking about getting into one it tells you who comes before Adam. It explains the do's and don'ts in trying to find an Adam, then the book sends us to the real Adam. The first, the beginning and the end. It is a quick read with a powerful message that can change your walk with God and a man.

This book made me look at myself as a man and how I interact in relationships. The focus on all relationships is and should be God and He will provide direction. Ms. Hatfield shows in this narration that it is never too late to give God control and He will provide. Every man should read this book before he gets in a relationship and he will better understand how a true man of God treats a princess. This book lifts women up and lets them know they are not alone, God's hand is apon them and He will provide their Adam when they become the Eve He desires them to be
Thank you Tanya

This is a awesome book !! I could relate to everything that was said in the book and it will help me make improvements in my life. If you have God in your life and follow the principles that are outlined you will only make yourself the Mighty Woman of God that your are destined to be. This book is for anyone single or married. I liked the way things were explained and nothing was held back. If something "hit home" I said "Ouch" and just kept reading. It held my interest all the way through and I am going to read it again and again!!

Where's Your Adam? is an awesome book! As I read this book, I was compelled to thank God for the relationship He had delivered me from as well as for the Adam He delivered me to. This book will open your eyes to the thornbushes that may be blocking your path. It is highly recommended for both single and married individuals.

I read this book straight through in one sitting. It's a wonderful, uplifting book of horse tales but more than that, it's the story of two very inspirational people. And yes - I both laughed out loud and cried more than once!

This book is one of those you cant put down. Set in England, it tells a moving, yet superbly uplifting story of two people who become "Horse Whisperers" proving that it is a skill that can be learned! It also tells the fabulous tales of the equines they met and helped and their journey with their own horses. I cannot recommend this book enough.....quite simply a life changer for me. Great reading for anyone, not just the horse fan.

Whispering Back is a must-have book, not just for horse lovers but for everyone. It is a moving, inspiring story that can change the way you think about horses - and life! It made me laugh, cry and smile. A compelling tale full of heros and heroines. Hurry and buy it! Hurry and write another, Nicole and Adam!

a truly inspirational story of two people who believed they could make a difference for the better, and went out and did it - forgoing conventional careers, and driven by a humane concern for horses' welfare.
Monty Roberts says there's no such thing as problem horses, only horses that have problems with humans - the two authors of Whispering Back have devoted their lives to fixing both the problem humans, and their effects on the horses. This is the story of how they came to be doing that, and some of their mistakes and experiences - both good and bad - along the way. A superb read, accessible yet informative.
TFD

The U.S. intelligence system is driven as much by personality as by so called `requirements' as this book so well demonstrates. Sam Adams was a self taught order of battle specialist with the CIA who became involved in a major confrontation with the Military Advisory Command of Vietnam (MACV) over the number and organization of the South Vietnamese Communist (Viet Cong) combat forces. Adams believed, and marshaled the evidence to prove it, that the Viet Cong number of combatants were over 400,000, twice the number that MACV had estimated. The MACV estimate was politically driven rather than being based on objective evidence, but in the end prevailed. Adams throughout the confrontation and afterward was a strong and effective voice for maintaining the integrity of the intelligence process and providing the most accurate intelligence possible. For his efforts he was widely ignored by both his superiors at the CIA and especially by the military. In the end he was forced to resign from the CIA.

Yet this book is considerably more than the account of one man's struggle to provide the best truth possible. It is a fascinating look at some specific aspects of the intelligence process and how that process can be subverted for political ends. This reviewer suspects that the current Iraqi WMD uproar if looked at in detail would be found to be analogous to the need by MACV to demonstrate military success in Vietnam by fabricating artificially low numbers of Viet Cong fighters and ignoring evidence to the contrary.

Sam Adams worked as an analyst in the CIA, Directorate of Intelligence and from the time he begin work in 1963 (on the former Belgian Congo) he was clearly an engaged and hard working analyst. As it turned out he also had a passion for accuracy which in the end ill-served him in his career. This reviewer was a contemporary of Adams, but at time was serving in Military Intelligence. Among those of us who were fairly far down the intelligence food chain, when Sam Adams engaged in his fight for accuracy with MACV, we all considered him a real hero.

This is the first book by C. Michael Hiam and it is a brilliant debut. He is an excellent researcher and a good writer. In this book he presents a fair and accurate picture of what is now a mostly forgotten controversy that is both relevant and vitally important to any discussion of reforming the U.S. intelligence system.

There are other books on this issue of "cooking the books" and the strategic consequences of falsifying or prostituting intelligence, but this book by a first-time author, C. Michael Hiam, jumps to the head of the line. This is one of the most exciting and absorbing books on intelligence it has ever been my privilege to read. It is not a substitute for Sam Adams' own book, War of Numbers: An Intelligence Memoir nor for George Allen's None So Blind: A Personal Account of the Intelligence Failure in Vietnam or Bruce Jones' War Without Windows or Jim Wirtz The Tet Offensive: Intelligence Failure in War (Stemme) or even Orin de Forest's book Slow Burn: The Rise and Bitter Fall of American Intelligence in Vietnam.

I am especially moved by this book because it treats Sam Adams, who was reviled as often as he was a hero, in a gentle fashion, and makes it clear that the bottom line was that Adams was right and Adams had integrity. The book is superb at explaining why General Westmoreland had to back down when he threatened CBS with libel because too many witnesses were prepared to say that it was Westmoreland who ordered that the number of "enemy combatants" never go above 300,000. The military officers who loyally but stupidly followed that order, and the CIA bureaucrats who unethically "folded" on this important issue of "who are we fighting and how many" are tarred and feathered by this book, and right so, as it applies to the run up to war in Iraq and the planned bombing of Iran.

There are other CIA heroes in this book, notably Ed Hauch who got it right on the first day--he and others who actually knew Ho Chi Minh knew him to be a nationalist and knew we could not win, but it would take us 10 years to figure that out. Same same Iraq only we did not have any CIA people with both the knowledge and the integrity to speak out, just George "slam dunk" Tenet, the world's greatest intelligence prostitute.

As we consider tactical nuclear weapons for Iran, it is instructive to read in this book that the military planned for nuclear missile batteries to be inserted into Da Nang and Nha Trang.

As we reflect on how the Army Chief of Staff was ignored when he spoke of the need for major land forces to stabilize Iraq, only to be ignored, it is instructive to read in this book that Walt Rostow and others knew full well the standard rule of thumb for insurgencies, the need for a 27:1 ratio.

McNamara was deceived by Westmoreland--fast forward to Iraq and we have on the one hand a prostitution of intelligence, and on the other a series of truthful wise Army generals whose advice was ignored by civilians.

The author has done a really first rate job of capturing the nuances of the CIA and the military. His discussion of the hours spent on chit-chat unrelated to work reminds me of the AIM system today, where CIA has discussion groups on everything from teen-age drivers to menopause--in my experience, most CIA headquarters people are actually working only half the time.

The author will be long admired for this book, and on page 122 he delivers the coup de grace in citing Sherman Kent, speaking to Sam Adams, and asking "Have we gone beyond the bounds of reasonable dishonesty?" What an incredibly good job the author has done with this book.

I have been energized by this book, which validates my long-standing fight to induce intelligence reform. I was called a lunatic in 1992 when General Al Gray and I gave up on four years of internal appeals and publicly brought up the need for emphasis on open source intelligence. 18 years later we finally have a few well-meaning but impotent individuals without a program, without money, without staff, and without a clue. We will march on, and the intelligence reform will be imposed now rather than induced. I anticipate legislation on an independent Open Source Agency soon--unlike secret intelligence, public intelligence cannot be manipulated nor ignored.

The book gave me new insights on Sam Adams and on the entire order of battle methodology. Those trying to understand the Global War on Terror and the issues of foreign fighters versus home guard insurgents would do well to read this superb volume.

The author points out that Tet was a huge military failure, one that could have been exploited by the US military had they not been so deficient in intelligence about small units and the guerrillas (immortal paraphrase: "here we are in a guerrilla war and no one is counting the guerrillas"). The author educated me on the work that Sam Adams did on the Khemer Rouge in Cambodia, and saddened me when he discussed how Sam Adams' next project was going to be Chinese strategy--now wouldn't that have been something?

For the Information Operations folks, the book briefly but ably covers the Viet Cong "Military Prothlesizing" corps that was responsible for POW conversions into agents, for running psychological operations against the Saigon regime, and for penetrating the South Vietnamese Army and government, with a success rate of 30,000 or 5%. When combined with what Jim Bamford tells us on Body of Secrets: Anatomy of the Ultra-Secret National Security Agency about North Vietnamese Signals Intelligence, we can only marvel as the manner in which they beat our ass in the intelligence war, in part because of our lack of ethics in both the military and at the highest levels of the CIA.

Viet-Nam unraveled the Johnson presidency; I fully expect Iraq and Iran to unravel the Bush presidency. This book could not have emerged at a better time, and I recommend it very strongly to all intelligence, military, and policy professionals.

This wonderfully written book is a must-read for anyone wishing to learn about the Vietnam War and how it was mishandled, but is also must reading for those seeking to understand what is now happening to us in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sam was a one-of-a-kind analyst -- exacting, dedicated (almost obsessive), talented, and most of all, RIGHT -- and he was ignored and pushed aside. Michael Hiam's book deserves much wider media coverage, and I hope it will eventually receive it. Although this book shows Sam, warts and all, it is still a marvelous tribute to Sam and his work. (I should add that my husband Dana and I knew Sam well)

I read Sam Adams first book War of Numbers and this is a great follow up too bad this great American has passed on. The author has taken a work started by Adams before his death and finished it superbly. In this work you get a glimpse of Adams and his blind commitment to truth. Who among us would spend our whole lives trying to get the American people to see the truth of what went on behind the scenes in Vietnam. As a former Marine with two consecutive tours in Nam I always knew Westmoreland was a loser and the one who officially brought politics into the Joint Chiefs but Sam Adams makes it official. And McNamara, he is as arrogant in this book as he was in real life. This book takes you through the treachery that is at the high levels of the government and military during times of war - think today! I wish every American would read this and vote accordingly and get America the leadership it deserves. Read it and tell others.

the best book I have ever read on the subject of why so many men abuse women in so many different ways. The other reviewer who talks about laughing when he read it is obviously a man who abuses women and he just couldn't stand the truth.

the best book I have ever read on the subject of why so many men abuse women in so many different ways. The other reviewer who talks about laughing when he read it is obviously a man who abuses women and he just couldn't stand the truth.

This book is unintentionally hilarious. It is also really badly written and quite embarrassing on the whole. It should have been called "Why people of both sexes hate this author". Anyone who subscribes to this stupid confused theory is either living in an alternate reality or just stupid. But really I'm not bagging this book out, it's great and should be filed with "The Rules" as one of the most idiotic books ever written. I'm in hysterics laughing now just remembering it.

this book changed my life. Ihad read lots of books about abusive men and never really understood why I had been treated the way I had been. This book finally cleared the fog. it lifted years of guilt and shame. I knew befor I had finished it that I was not responsible and that he would have hit me even if I had met his demands to be the perfect wife. I will always be grateful I found this book

Shapiro's spiritual experience resulted in her production of a journal transcribing the thoughts that were reaching her from beyond. Wisdom's Choice contains the messages which she received in a 40 day period, providing a series of spiritual messages average readers will easily absorb.

I was sent this book by a friend. I had some time so I opened it up and started reading. I read one page and starting crying. It was so powerful, so perfect, so much where I was at the time. I couldn't put it down, yet I wanted to savor it and not finish. I know now I will go back to it many times. It is one of the simplest yet most profound books I've ever read. Before I finished it I could think of 20 people I wanted to buy it for and send it to.
This book will change lives, buy it and have it change yours.

As a skeptic, I was hesitant to open Shapiro's book. But the words spoke to me and touched my heart in a way that I cannot express. Simple, elegent encouragement for this journey we call life! It's totally practical advice, too. Nothing out of the ordinary from this 'spiritual healer'. Thank you!

Since purchasing WISDOM'S CHOICE, I have had the opportunity to read it and read it again. Each time I was challenged to stop and think not only about Kathryn's words but how they might apply to my own life and spiritual world view. Since I am someone who is quite spiritual I did not have much trouble accepting her thoughts or even the fact that she believes they came to her from a higher power. What I enjoyed most was the breaking down of simple words such as disease (dis ease) and nothing (no thing)and the pages that are filled with food for thought. The book does not preach but rather suggests that you take your own interpretation on what you read. Gently written yet seems to pack a soulful spiritual punch. Size and style make for a nice gift book. If you enjoy thinking about what you have read then this is a must have book. Go a little deeper with WISDOM'S CHOICE!

Metzger writes for the academy in this study of Karl Barth's thought on the relation of the sacred and the secular. But an unintended audience for his work are those outside academia who seek to enter the most current theological conversation regarding culture. A must for pastors and teachers who want to prepare with "one finger in the Bible and the other in the newspaper."

The World Of Christ And the World Of Culture: Sacred And Secular Through The Theology Of Karl Barth by Paul Louis Metzger (Assistant Professor of Christian Theology and Theology of Culture, Multnomah Biblical Seminary, Portland, Oregon) is a close and illuminating study of Karl Barth's revolutionary theological ideals. From exploring the sacred in the creative word to "theological politics" to the demise of corpus christianum, The World of Christ and the World of Culture balances centuries of tradition and faith with modern changes in human way of life looking for a road that unifies faith in God with adaptations to the onward march of Time. The World Of Christ And The World Of Culture is a most welcome addition to Christian Theological Studies reading lists and library collections.

Paul Louis Metzger is Associate Professor of Christian Theology and the Theology of Culture at Multnomah Biblical Seminary in Portland, Oregon. He is also the Director of the Institute for the Theology of Culture, "New Wine, New Wineskins," at Multnomah and editor of the new journal, Cultural Encounters. In his recent publication, The Word of Christ and the World of Culture: Sacred and Secular through the Theology of Karl Barth (2003), Metzger seeks to overcome the common perception that Karl Barth was theologically disinterested in culture. By mustering together his many theological writings about culture and the details of his practical engagement with cultural questions, Metzger demonstrates that Barth's theology-both in theory and in practice-was always culturally-engaged.

Metzger contends that Karl Barth's mature theology of culture emerged in the Goettingen Dogmatics, where Barth drew upon the christological categories of anhypostatsis and enhypostasis to produce a more adequate conception of the relation between the sacred and the secular than the dialectic of time and eternity of Romans II had permitted. According to Metzger, Barth sought a middle way between the fusion of the sacred and the secular and the separation of the sacred and the secular. "The problem with the medieval synthesis was that it did not make space for the radical difference between the sacred and the secular spheres. The problem with the Enlightenment project, on the other hand, was that by dismissing or at least privatizing the institution of religion, the secular created a vacuum it was unable to fill" (120). Metzger agrees with George Hunsinger's interpretive use of the `Chalcedonian pattern,' which he thinks also provides a key to understanding how Barth conceived of the relation between the secular and the sacred (cf. 189; 194; 233).

Metzger argues that Barth's search for a middle way likewise characterized his politics, which rejected both theocratic and secularized models. He contends that whereas Barth correctly identified the theocratic tendencies of the National Socialist state, he failed to recognize that a perverse theology also undergirded the apparently `secular' communist states. "Whatever the atheistic state is," writes Metzger, "it is not godless. It may not be pseudo-Christian, but it is not secular either" (193).

Metzger makes a crucial distinction between "secularity" and "secularism." Barth endorsed the concept of secularity, which he identified with the humanization of culture. However, he rejected secularization, which Metzger defines as "the alienation of humanity and human culture from God" (70). Barth was thus opposed both to the divinization and to the secularization of culture. "Barth's doctrine of the Word enables him to give a critical yet constructive response to culture whereby space is also made for the secular other in relation to the sacred. That is to say, the dedivinization and desecularization of culture leads to its humanization, that is, the affirmation of the secular" (230). Barth's emphasis was primarily on the synthesis between the secular and sacred according to Metzger, not the diastasis between them. "...The point of diastasis is to break up faulty syntheses so that a more wholesome synthesis may be established, one that has in fact already been established with the world through the Word of Christ" (87). Such synthesis is based on the unity of the divine and human in Jesus Christ. For Barth, he writes, "that diastasis is only truly divine diastasis when viewed from the standpoint of the synthesis God provides for mediating the world to God in the incarnation of Jesus Christ" (225).

Metzger puts forward interesting parallels between Barth's theological appreciation of the secularity of culture and his appreciation for the secularity of science. "Barth's doctrine of creation gives room to science to engage in scientific enquiry apart from theological constraints" (212f.). He is also among the few (along with Colin Gunton) who do not fault Barth for failing to carry out an extensive engagement with questions of natural science in Church Dogmatics III (119).

There is a certain tension between creation and reconciliation in Barth's theology according to Metzger (107f.). "The tension in Barth's thought is due to the absence of consideration being given to the Word's ministry in creation in distinction from reconciliation and redemption" (109f.). He discovers an analogous tension in Barth's doctrine of revelation, where the 'divine content' tends to `overshadow'-though not `overwhelm'-its 'secular form' (cf. 151f.). Metzger seeks tentatively at points to correct that imbalance, by contrasting Barth with Irenaeus, for example (110ff). But can this tendency be corrected without the secular `overshadowing' the `sacred' in turn? In other words, can a level balance be struck between 'secular form' and 'divine content' in our fallen world? If the cultural were to rid itself of misguided theological pretensions, would it thereby become truly secular and, as such, a fitting counterpart to the `sacred'? But is not the goal of culture-redemption-always hidden to culture? A secularity that resists `secularism' cannot suffice if the goal of the secular remains hidden in God. A degree of instability will thus always characterize the concepts of secularity and secular culture-a point which Metzger also acknowledges toward the conclusion of his work. "...There is a sense in which there must always exist a point of tension between creation and redemption, between what is and what will someday be, given the presence of evil in the creation" (219).

Such critical questions to Metzger should not obscure his achievement. Metzger's study of Karl Barth's theology of culture takes its rightful place at the forefront of a growing body of literature that challenges and overturns common North American prejudices about the theology of Karl Barth. In the light of Paul Louis Metzger's study, North American theologians may come retrospectively to regard Karl Barth-and not Paul Tillich-as the preeminent theologian of culture in the twentieth century.

Amazing! This book shows how Orthodox Christology can provide a framework for engagement of the sacred and secular spheres which is both constructive and critical. Metzger shows how Barth's understanding of the relation of Christ's divine and human natures establishes the basis for a theology of culture.

Barth's paradigm, it is argued, provides a framework in which culture is allowed to truly be itself as secular, in distinct though inseparable relation to Christ. In Barth's day, his paradigm spoke against both the divinization of culture witnessed in Nazi Germany, and the secularization of culture in Soviet socialism, yet remained constructive calling for the humanization of culture to be truly secular in its proper sphere. Barth's appreciation of Mozart is shown not to be an anomaly in his theology as a whole, but rather the product of his Christological paradigm.

Today, the implications of this paradigm loom large for what Gunton refers to in the foreword as the often "distorted religious culture" of America and the West attempting to come to terms with Islam and the global world. I myself have often wrestled with the schizophrenic waffling between divinization and secularization of culture so evident here in America. This book has helped me set a framework in which Christology speaks both critically and constructively to both church and culture.

Metzger shows how Barth's paradigm establishes the framework for a theology of culture crucially relevant to our modern day, in which Christology calls culture to truly be itself. I highly recommend this book to anyone wishing to see Christology taken 'off the shelf' and into the world-at-large.