Bernard Books

This is not a book for the philosopher timid of heart. Blessed John Duns Scotus is one of the greatest minds that the Franciscan school of thought has produced. He has inspired so much of the work of the Franciscan philosophers and theologians; although it must be said that the Franciscans are very free thinkers. The book contains both selections from the metaphysical texts of Scotus and a commentary by William Frank and Allan Wolter, who have brilliantly unwoven the tightly knit thought of this logical mastermind. Scotus can prove a great challenge for the sheer depth of his work and also because of the modern mind's distance from the time, place, and style within which Scotus wrote. These two commentators provide the avid philosopher ample tools for the successful comprehension of the Scotistic vision of metaphysics, including his highly contraversial theory of univocity (Thomists, please read this with an open mind).

I Loved it. A great deal of research went into this story. This book is very real and a must read by all. It is well written and thorough as if watching movie, hard to put down. The characters, places, events and overall story is so believable. A scary senario. This would make a great movie.

This relatively short, but meaty, academic work is an illuminating and invaluable study of Jewish power, as practiced in the context of the European Dark Ages. The author's purpose in writing this book was to demolish the official, politically-motivated interpretation of Jewish history which presents Jews as Europe's eternal, blameless victims (and thus deserving of present-day benefits and deference). Professor Bachrach succeeds in his intention and accomplishes something great: true history, unclouded by political correctness, ethnic revisionism and collective wisdom. This is a revolutionary work of scholarship, because the truths it reveals contradict everything that 20th century propaganda has made us think we know about Jewish history. The Dark Ages in Europe was almost a golden age for Jewry, and of the few attempts made to thwart Jewish interests, every last one was defeated.

Prof. Bachrach purposely set out to challenge what he called the "lachrymose conception" of Jewish historiography whose unvarying theme is two millenia of suffering and persecution. As Mr. Bachrach well knew, this traditional tale of woe was not the whole story, especially for his period of specialty in early medieval Europe. For the purposes of this book, Prof. Bachrach takes as his area of study the several Germanic kingdoms established in the ruins of the Roman Empire in Western Europe, from the late 400s to the fragmentation of the Carolingian Empire in the late 800s. His findings are shocking.

Like most people I think, my knowledge of the period in question was comprised only of the deeds of certain great monarchs and the various wars and Völkerwanderung of the barbarian peoples, with a touch of Hollywood history thrown in for good measure. In my misconception, the early medieval period was a time of chaos, degradation and endless warfare, when barbarians in chain mail drank mead from the skulls of their enemies and Jews were hunted down for sport. Prof. Bachrach paints an entirely different picture. The Europe we see in this book is one of sophisticated legal systems, advanced economies with international reach, urbane monarchs, intellectual prelates, and a multicultural tolerance that rivaled any modern day Western city. It is that advantaged position of the Jews that most shocks the uninformed reader.

Although this book deals with several kingdoms over the course of a few hundred years, one overwhelming theme emerges from this study: the Jewish community enjoyed a tolerated, protected, and even privileged position in early medieval western Europe. Across the centuries and nations in question we see Jews holding some of the highest offices in the state and in the army, where they exercised power over Christians. They had complete religious freedom as well as their own legal system where Jewish criminals would be judged by Jewish judges. They had enough confidence in their position to denounce Christianity in the streets and wage a very successful campaign of proselytization. They published and circulated the filthiest defamations of Jesus Christ, without any fear of retribution. They owned Christian slaves, converted them to Judaism, engaged in the slave trade, even going so far as to kidnap Christians, castrate them and sell them to the Moslems. The common market day in one place couldn't be held on Saturday, out of consideration for the Jews, but it was held on Sunday. They carried weapons, and didn't hesitate to use their armed might in pursuit of their aims and in support of their protectors. Jewish loyalty was never a reliable commodity though, as they surrendered several Spanish cities to the invading Moors and gave up Frankish cities to the Vikings, because those actions were beneficial to the Jewish community. One convert to Judaism who worked for the Moslems forced occupied Spanish Christians to convert to Judaism or Islam, or be killed. The Jewish community's wealth, industry and international relationships endeared them to the monarchs, who were as deferential and submissive to them as any American politician, and what their tax contributions couldn't accomplish, their bribery could. The Jewish community enjoyed a plethora of legal and tax exemptions that made them the legal equal, if not the superior, of any man in Europe. Although certain bishops tried to curb Jewish power over Christians, specifically in the matter of the slave trade, they were invariably defeated by the monarchs. That is the salient and startling point of this book: of the very few monarchs who tried to institute or enforce anti-Jewish laws or even minor prohibitions on Jewish behavior, not one of them succeeded.

My very few questions and quibbles are so minor as not to deserve mention here. This is a must-have work of history and a true classic that finally provides some context to the story of anti-Semitism and shows us that anti-Jewish feelings do not arise unprovoked out of thin air, jealousy or racism. It finally takes Jews down from the idolatrous pedestal and brings them down to earth with the rest of us.

I can't say enough about this book. It's fantastic! Very well written and enjoyable reading as well! The chapter on statistics is one of the best introductions to the topic I've ever read. As a school psychologist with 25+ years of experience, I was thrilled to find this book that puts it all in one place. It's the kind of book that after you read it, you go around telling everyone, "You've got to read this book!" If you really want to understand the process of how children learn to read, this is the book to read.

The main argument of this book is that economics is NOT value free and indeed classic economic theory reflects a complex value structure and economists select data to fit their value preconceptions.

Not an easy read but a valuable one. Recommended to anyone interested in the philosophy of economics or anyone who needs ammunition to counter various economic views.

As Continental forces and Virginia militia units were engaged in winning independence, American quartermasters and provisioners struggled to provide these units with all the necessities of life, from meals and guns to meat, fodder for horses, the horses themselves, firewood, and every other type of material. Much of this was requisitioned from the civilian population and certificates were issued payable in either continental or state funds, depending on the units supplied, upon presentation to court authorities. Thousands of these certificates issued to Virginians were duly entered by the courts, and they provide a fascinating insight into the period of the Revolution. These "Publick" Claims booklets contain interesting and useful information about the contributions of ordinary people to the Revolutionary War. They provide some details of people's service in the militia or as guards for prisoners of war; they indicate where some bodies of troops were at particular times; and they identify providers of horses, wagons, cattle, grain, or other supplies. Much of the information in these booklets cannot be found anywhere else, which makes the surviving records particularly valuable. Also remarkable is the fact that records survived from virtually every county in the state at that time with the exception of the newly formed Kentucky counties. This makes the collection even more valuable in covering areas which heretofore in this time period have suffered from a lack of personal data. The "Virginia Publick Claims" are published by counties. In addition to a faithful transcription by Janice Luck Abercrombie and the late Richard Slatten, a complete index is provided for each county booklet. This series is an extremely important genealogical tool for searchers in Revolutionary-era materials.

Although this work is basically a broad survey of the sources on early American education, Bailyn makes some important suggestions that ache to be brought full circle. He demonstrates how scholarship on this subject have been marred by a tendency to view everything in the light of a gradual progression to compulsory public education. He also notes how this has caused a large amount of distortions and myths to be created, with the result of quite near everyone making absurd and innance assumptions about the past. Moreover, the true nature of education in early education has been largely lost to the world, despite the fact that there are ample sources waiting to be exploited. This book should be especially fascinating to anti-public education libertarians, who, of course, view the growth of public education of the modern form as a serious regression in society. This work could serve as a starting point for a history taking up the libertarian point of view; an invaluable undertaking no doubt.

This is one of two books I believe are the best negotiating books--the other is Getting to Yes. Ramundo's book does not particularly focus on a world in terms of win-win, since such an outcome is not always possible. Win-win is nice if it can be worked out, but to believe that it is possible to effect a win-win solution is often naive, and assumes motivations in others that may not be present. This book gives a sophisticated understanding negotiation, including when those you are negotiating with are more powerful than you, as well as other difficult scenarios. This is a top-level work, and if you want world-class negotiating insights, this is the book. Between Getting to Yes and this book, I would recommend this book, but both are excellent. Additional related books I would recommend include Winning Through Intimidation, Wharton on Dynamic Competitive Strategy, and also some of Donald Trump's books.

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd is simply Agatha Christie's materpiece, to many critics, most of them contemporaneous with the publishing of the book, this is the best "guest who kills" ever written.Strongly recommended to those who want to get caught in the spell of the british author. At the end, you will be unavoidably forced to recognize that you could not come up with the correct answer.But don't worry. Neither could I.

This book is one of a kind! I consider it the most complete guide to everyone that performs Elbow Surgery. I really recommend it.