Blake Books

Set in NYC and Cape May Courthouse, NJ, this is a terrific novel revolving around an intriguing story involving a secret that causes Olivia Wynne and her mother to become virtual captives to the whims of the monstrous Octopia Darnell. Perhaps the secret is not so awful (a father's bankruptcy and suicide), especially to modern sensibilities, to cause such power over another and such misery, but it does. Octopia, as Mitchell develops her, is one of the most beastly characters in American literature, especially the way she uses her semi-invaldism as a weapon to gain sympathy. I found this novel so captivating it was hard to put down. The action is crisp, as is the dialogue. An excellent book in every way.

This brilliant book was written with scholars and practitioners in mind. It provides much insight on the elusive topics of role transitions and identity within organizational settings.

Moreover, the book answers many conceptual and theoretical questions of import while providing much insight as to how all this may serve to ameliorate organizational performance and employee well-being. Finally, the book is superbly put together and extremely well written! It's well worth a read by any manager or employee!

Now about the author: Few scholars in the area of management have proven themselves to be as creative, insightful, and prolific as Professor Ashforth. His brilliant career has led to numerous publications in a variety of highly prestigious journals such as Administrative Science Quarterly, the Journal of Applied Psychology, and the Journal of the Academy of Management.

Ashforth is commonly referred to as "an exception in the area" and the "Da Vinci of Management".

For anyone interested in the Romantic movement, or in any of the poets/writers of the day, this book is an absolute necessity.

Whether you are taking a course on the subject, teaching the subject, or a fan of the poets involved, you will find this book immensely helpful and fun to read.

I loved it. Get this book.

This is one of the best books I have ever read!! Rolfe is a ruthless prince, sent to New Orleans on a mission to find his brothers killer. Instead, he finds a woman with a mistaken identity. This book is a great read over and over!!

I think that Diana Palmer did a great job on the book. She is really great writter. I wish that I could see more into the stories.

What an excellent Memoir. This book made me cry from the start, but by the end I almost felt as though I was there with her cheering her on as she put her life back together. How can a man be so evil to a little girl? Sara Davies was subjected to years of abuse at the hands of her father. From the age of five she was subjected to violence and molestation at his hands and others who he sold her to.

Yet with no support from her family, she has somehow survived.

Most books that I've read on this subject have been ghost-written, although they have still touched my soul, this book seemed more real as she did an excellent job of writing it herself. What determination from a single mother of 6 -with little education.

This book has proved that no matter what these sick individuals try to do to these children, they can never take away the stong-willed human spirit of a survivor!

I found this book just as amazing as 'The lost girl' and 'The little prisoner'
Well done Sara!

To please his parents, Julian pretends to believe in Santa Claus for just one more year. So, he sends a letter to the North Pole requesting what his heart desires, a video game system. And, on Christmas morning, Julian awakes to find the video game system tucked snuggly under the tree. However, there is also another present accompanying it. A simple toy train. Julian's parents know nothing about the train, for they haven't bought it, the way they bought him the video game system. Julian's Father explains that it must have fallen out of Santa's sack, and that if no one claims the toy train within a year and a day, it is rightfully his. Throughout the entire year Julian spends every waking moment with the toy train. He even brings it on vacation with him. But as Christmas draws nearer, Julian begins to worry about the possibility of Santa Claus reclaiming the toy, and giving it to someone else.

In this wonderful new children's book by Marie-Aude Murail and Elvire Murail, we are exposed to an unconventional holiday book, that poses a unique question, "Can Santa Claus really take back toys if they aren't intended for us?" Children will find the prose engaging, and the illustrations by Quentin Blake (best known for his illustrations of Roald Dahl children's books) enchanting. This is a wonderful new holiday book that is sure to please all this Christmas season.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

The subtitle of Arthur Blake's look at the Scopes Trial sets up a specific perspective for this volume in the Spotlight on American History series. The 1925 trial of The State of Tennessee vs. John Thomas Scopes, on which I did my dissertation, is remembered for pitting Darwin's theory of evolution against the Bible's story of divine creation, but the book's subtitle focuses on the key issue as being "Defending the Right to Teach." Of course, since these books are going to end up in school and public libraries around the country, focusing on the general idea of academic freedom versus getting caught up in the continuing conflict between science and religion that is now manifesting itself in school board debates over the teaching of scientific creationism makes a lot of sense.

The idea of these books is to highlight a vital moment in U.S. history, placing events against a backdrop of the people, places, and times that made them possible. Blake begins with the verdict in the Scopes trial, makes it clear that everybody knew Scopes was going to be convicted, and then goes back to how the ACLU wanted to test the constitutionality of the Butler Act in court. Blake ends the first chapter with Scopes agreeing to stand trial, pointing out that while the young teacher agreed that you could not teach biology without teaching evolution, he was not certain that he had actually taught evolution when he was substituting for the Dayton High School biology teacher. The fact Scopes never committed the crime for which he was convicted is only one of the attendant ironies of the Scopes "Monkey" Trial.

Blake makes a point of balancing the two sides throughout this book. The background of Scopes is followed by the history of the Butler Act. The next chapter introduces both defense attorney Clarence Darrow and William Jennings Bryan joining the prosecution in Dayton. In relating the events of the trial Blake accurately covers its three stages in separate chapters: the first dealt with the motion to quash the indictment and the second with the admission of expert witnesses, both of which the prosecution won. This sets up the final stage, where Darrow put Bryan on the witness stand and cross-examined him on evolution and the Bible in one of the most famous scenes in trial history. Although Blake does not set up the trial stages explicitly, he does present the way it was structured, and hopefully young students and their teachers will pick up that the trial evolved from legal issues to the public ridicule of Bryan.

The final two chapters look at both the aftermath of the trial, both in terms of what happened to the participants and the case, and the question of "Who Was Right?" Blake only touches on "Inherit the Wind," the fictionalized story of the trial that has served as the source for what most Americans know about the trial today, and in the final chapter provides a sidebar on the debate between those who believe in divine creation and those who accept the theory of evolution as "An Ongoing Argument." Consequently this look at the Scopes Trial does gravitate towards that clash and away from the question of the freedom to teach. For a juvenile history of the trial Blake provides a concise but comprehensive look at the Scopes Trial, and I appreciate that he gives Dudley Field Malone his due (Malone's speech on the admission of the defense team's experts is one of my all-time favorite speeches, and he is usually ignored in these books).

Accompanying this excellent introduction to the Scopes Trial are almost two dozen sepia tinted photographs, most of which are from the the trial, including one of Darrow going after Bryan on the platform on the lawn of the Rhea County Courthouse. The back of the book includes a brief Chronology of events from 1859 when Charles Darwin's "The Origin of Species" was published and the death of Scopes in 1970. The Bibliography specifically highlights three books that are for children, as well as listing the main works available on the trial and Clarence Darrow. Other books in this series look at the events from "The Devil in Salem Village" and "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" to "The Pullman Strike of 1894" and "The Dust Bowl."

As a person fortunate enough to have met Michael McClure, it seems only natural that I would appreciate this book. However, I read this book a few years before I was actually privileged with Mr. McClure's presence. What I found so refreshing about this book is that not only are we, as readers, exposed to new insight into the Beat phenomenom but we are graced with the knowledge of someone who was there and lived it. McClure allows us into his mind and gives us a private tour of what many literary individuals have meant to him. While there are many wonderful and deserving books out there on the topic, one can't help but feel blessed upon discovering this beauty. I found that it not only allowed me to experience literature in a whole new element but it also allowed me to experience it through the eyes of a quiet master of the art. This is definitely a read that I highly recommend.

Apart from having the wrong accreditation for the author - it is not by Ellen McArthur. The book was very well written, perhaps as it should be. The author being being the great grandson of the famous Charles Dickens. A very realistic and gripping description of a Round The World race participant, factual, emotional and a very, very good read. Difficult to put down. Brilliant reading.