Bernard Books

I homeschool my 8 yr old daughter, and we are working through this book week by week. There are 12 or 13 topics, each with a couple of pages of kid-friendly but informative writing, then a short experiment or activity. My daughter loves it! The book is not only fun, it is a great way for kids to learn.

If you love the Secretary of the Treasury (the position, not necessarily the man) then you'll love this book. This book is organized like a dictionary (duh) with alphabetical entries for each SoT. Everybody gets a 5-10 page bio written mostly by academic historians and economists (with a couple of banker types thrown in). There are around 25 different contributors, so the essays do vary a bit in emphasis and style, but overall the dictionary is a nice, cohesive piece of research. There's a chronological list of the SoT's up front so you can follow the office through time if you so desire.

I bought the book because I'm interested in the history of the Treasury Department. But the odd thing is -- the book is actually pretty interesting just as a history of the United States. Each short essay ends up focusing on a discrete time period and manages to capture many of the political and economic issues of the time. For example, good ol' Salmon P. Chase who was Lincoln's first SoT saw lots of interesting stuff during his career. Originally an officer of state bank, at Treasury he made recommendations for a national banking system (which was really more about establishing a stable currency and selling Treasury bonds than about regulating banks) that was the basis for the National Bank Act. Feeling rather cocky after that success, he ran against Lincoln for the Republican Presidential nomination, was quickly branded a traitor and lost out early. He came back to campaign for Lincoln, though, and as a reward he was made Chief Justice of the United States. In that capacity he oversaw the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson. That's the kind of stuff any history buff would enjoy.

The big weakness in the book is the lack of pictures or portraits. How do we know what these old codgers looked like? And the book only goes through Rubin. Come one guys, how about a pocket part update? Wouldn't the entry on O'Neill be worth it?

Bernard Lewis is one of the world's great scholars. He is the dean of all those who study the diverse worlds of the Middle East. His first work was done on Syrian society but because of problems entering the Arab world he later transferred the bulk of his research to work on the Ottoman Empire. His archival studies there pioneered in transforming scholarly understanding not only of the Ottoman world, but of the Arab world also.
Lewis has written a large number of books on many different aspects of Islamic civilization. Perhaps more than any other scholar he has helped in understanding why the Islamic world did not meet the challenge of Modernity, and how from being one of the leading Civilizations of Mankind it declined significantly. Lewis who coined the phrase 'Clash of Civilizations' has also written much about the Christian West's conflict with Islam historically. Lewis has been involved in controversies not only of scholarly but of political significance. In the major scholarly controversy in which the late Professor Edward Said labeled Lewis as one of those 'orientalists' who essentially supported the exploitation of the Arab world Lewis, whose expertise and knowledge of the whole area of study were far greater than Said's , responded with convincing arguments in defense of the whole line of study and scholarship to which he has given his life. In the political world he is considered one of the West's major thinkers in regard to the whole struggle against Islamic terrorism.
Lewis' books are written with a special elegance and grace. His view is often panoramic, and his scope trans- civilizational. His breadth and depth of learning combined with narrative sweep and power make reading his work most instructive and inspiring.

I am a science teacher of 25 years and even though biorhythms are not completely understood or explained, I know that I have many cycles. In tracking these human cycles, this is the first book that explained in a clear, interesting manner and that had simple, usuable charts to plot your own ups and downs. I use the charts, for example, to plot my intellectual peaks and valleys. If I am low intellectually, I "know" that I must study at least several hours longer for a test etc. It is amazing that I can even look back at arguments or confrontations and realize I "if" I had checked my biorhythms I could have at least understood my emotional ups and downs. I love this subject!

I first read this book seven years ago as part of an African Literature class in college. I came to Amazon today to order it for a business associate who expressed beautiful memories of hearing stories and legends as a child. Each story in this book represents a moral lesson, often about trust and the nature of people. Like the American Indian stories about the adventures of "Coyote" these stories feature a mischievous spider and all the trouble he gets into by being lazy and greedy .

`The Golden Book of Indian Crafts and Lore' by W. Ben Hunt is a true `golden oldie', first published over 50 year ago, in 1954 and published for at least for the next 15 years, as I have a 19th printing, with new cover art, but identical content, dated 1968, as well as my original 1954 edition. Looking back at it and its `competitor', `The Book of Indian Crafts and Costumes' by Bernard S. Mason, I'm struck by how durable both books are, being as good a guide to their subjects as they were to me and all my fellow Boy Scouts in the late 1950's. And, it is such a great thing to have both volumes. While they cover the identical subject, and have a strong similarity in style, one really must have both to be fully informed about the subject.
Of course, if you really only have room or funds for one, Hunt's book is far more accessible, albeit just a bit less deep. Hunt's book is entirely in color, with drawn rather than photographed illustrations. And, when you are dealing with a handicraft, drawings are far more effective, since the artist can highlight the essentials of the pictured technique and avoid accidental distractions such as shadows and, with aging photography, grainy images. Mason's pics were grainy even when they were new, and they have not improved with age.
As a dedicated practitioner of Indian lore for over three years, in connection with an active Indian dancing performing troupe, connected with (catch the pun) a Boy Scout Troop 7 and then Explorer Post 7, I couldn't avoid Hunt's book, as it seemed to have an almost official status as a manual on the subject in the Boy Scout world. One only encountered Mason's book if, as I was, both an Indian lore enthusiast AND something of a bibliophile.
One fact which strikes me now, upon returning to Hunt's book after 50 years, is that the interest in American Indian costumes is probably not an automatic thing. The American Indian decorative traditions are probably, in fact, more elaborate, more colorful, and easier to reproduce than the ethnic costumes of practically any other primitive or folk culture. You don't need a sewing machine (although it helps) and you don't need the skills to work with metal (although store-bought ax heads purchased from the European settlers certainly helps too).
This is one area where the differences between Hunt and Mason are most pronounced. Hunt basically works with 20th century manufactured raw materials such as beads, thread, cloth, and needles. Mason does the same, but goes one step further in showing you how the original Indians actually did it themselves. As someone who wove more than my share of tens of thousands of Czechoslovakian manufactured seed beads on a modern metal replica of a beading loom, I have no interest in becoming even more `authentic' by making my own beads, tanning my own rawhide, or spinning my own thread, not to mention using bone needles. Stainless steel suits me just fine. But, I really appreciate Mason's taking the extra effort to show us how it was done.
A second difference between the two is that Hunt has sections on Indian dances and dance steps while Mason, true to his title, deals exclusively with handicrafts. And, Mason typically covers a broader range of styles and techniques than Hunt.
Neither book deals in depth with the differences in dress and decoration across the hundreds of American Indian tribes. The archetype, so familiar from so many western movies, is the decoration of the plains Indians, such as the Sioux and Cheyenne. Both books deal secondarily with styles of the eastern woodland tribes such as the Iroquois and Algonquin and the tribes of the southwest such as the Navajo and Pueblo. But, these are books of crafts and designs, not ethnography!
Neither book includes a bibliography, but both authors have done other works on the same subject, and I'm sure these volumes are as useful as these two works.

I have the 1946 hardcover printing of this book and how found it to be an immensely informative resource on the materials and construction of Native American crafts and ceremonial clothing. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone interesting in the fundamentals of Native American handcrafts. Don't be fooled by the small number of pages--this is a VERY comprehensive book. Well written and easy for anyone to understand. Lots of interesting and informative diagrams.

If you're looking for information about how to perform a coming-of-age ceremony, this is a great place to begin. The author performed such a ceremony, with other men of boys in the same class at school, and writes in great detail about how they prepared for the weekend, comments about how each part of it went and what they might change if they were to do it over, and includes scripts from the various rituals they performed. I ordered it for my husband, and he has found it very useful as he and other fathers create their own ceremony.

It is a slim volume, but it's packed with very good information. Highly recommended.

I am a Bernard Knight fan so I may be a bit prejudiced. However, the story scenario is a possible one and it is interesting to see how Knight treats various characters and their unique personalties. My one regret is that there is some degree of "God blaming" which places philosophy above theology and that those with any Christian faith are not treated all that well. It is the problem of "a good god wouldn't do that" faulty logic argument or an argument to emotion. Despite that, it is an interesting read.

This book could be considerably better. But it gives me a chance to show that I can be generous, and give five stars to any book that makes a serious effort to inform its readers. This book does that.

Sure, it made me gulp when it claimed that both the Jews and Arabs believed that they "had the right to the entire territory." Um, really? Anyone can see that the Jews saw it as their right to buy land and live on it, not to expel Arabs, while many Arabs appear to have fought for the right to ban, expel, rob, slander, oppress, and murder the Jews. There is a big asymmetry here! And that asymmetry is even greater when one considers the fact that Jews were indeed banned from Saudi Arabia and even Jordan (actually the bulk of the original Mandate!) but still did not consider returning the favor by banning Arabs from their fifth of the Mandate.

The book often misses a chance to show just how greedy many of the Arabs were being in demanding rights to all Jewish land. But it does report on the bulk of Israel's history in a reasonably accurate manner.

One problem one has in discussing the history of Israel is that there are a great many highly dubious Arab complaints about Israel. These complaints are manifested in absurd UN resolutions and in statements to the media. What does one do about it? If one dismisses the most ridiculous accusations, one appears to be taking sides. If one does not dismiss them, one is being misleading, and making it appear that the more outrageous UN resolutions against Israel reflect badly not on the UN but on Israel.

I think the book could have been much better in addressing all this, but it did report the reaction of both sides as soberly as it could, and it did let us readers draw our own conclusions.

One last comment. I know it is a tiny point, far less important than any other, but I simply have to make it. Israel is the only Jewish state. Were the Temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva still in Aelia Capitolina (Jerusalem), I would have been surprised to see it adorn the cover of this book. If there is a book about France, I expect to see something French on the cover. If it is about Hungary, I expect to see something Hungarian. This book is about Israel, and the Dome of the Rock is not really the most Israeli thing, and certainly not the most Jewish thing that I can think of. Quite the contrary.

I can imagine the reaction that I would have were a book about my country to show some edifice that was not merely of a different people but of a people that were at war with my nation and were bullying my nation. I'd feel provoked. I'd be asking myself if it might be a good idea to tear that edifice down, so I wouldn't be seeing my country pictured this way. And that's a really bad idea.

If I were an Arab, I would still feel provoked. But now, I'd be wondering why, instead of showing that Israel is sovereign over something Jewish, it implied that Israel was sovereign over an Arab edifice! And I'd be asking myself if it might be a good idea to get total sovereignty over the place, so nobody would show it as part of Israel any more. And that is a really bad idea too.

I think this book (and a few others) ought to be faulted not so much for showing this picture, but for showing only this picture on its cover.