Browning Books

This book is very enlightening in lots of issues concerning Sociology. From the new theories to the criticism of the classical. From the classical problems in sociology to new ones, such as the Web, the body or the individualism in our society. It is also a good handbook. It can be used almost as a reference book. A very good book to everyone concerned with the new ways for sociology, whether they are teachers or students.

I loved the book from the g=beginning till the end. And I have read it more than 10 times!!

Exceptional documentary of historical racing and rally cars. Probably the definitive source for vintage racing. Photos and text accurately document this period of competition. This is one of the few sources for this type of info for the real vintage enthusiast.

This is a wonderful book. Although it is published directly by the author, the details and content of this book are priceless. I am finally living without pain.

Well, I didn't know what a "forensic anthropologist" did until I read this book--they become experts about skeletons, mostly so that they can go back and ascertain the cause of death or identify remains, an endeavor that has both current and historical applications. Maples published this book just three years before his untimely death at age 59 (of a brain tumor, diagnosed two years previously). I am so glad that he put his story in print before he passed; it is a narrative that begged to be told. His was a clear voice, educating others as to his little-understood and little-populated field. And he made me understand that a skeleton does, indeed, tell many more tales than what the average person would suppose. Who knew that King Robert the Bruce of Scotland died of leprosy? Maples also has other "celebrity" cases to discuss: Francisco Pizarro, Zachary Taylor, Tsar Nicholas II, and Joseph Merrick (the "Elephant Man"). He impresses with his personal commitment to bones, and laments at the end of the book that his lab (the C. A. Pound Human Identification Laboratory) might cease to exist once he was no longer around to advocate for it, but a quick internet check says that hasn't happened since his death in 1997. Ideally, one should read the companion volume of his friend, Dr. Michael Baden, in tandem with this one. He is a forensic pathologist (medical examiner) who does with "fresher" evidence what Maples does with the leftovers. Macabre though it might be, I liked this book.

In addition to becoming one of the world's authorities in the field of forensic anthropology, William Maples was a solid storyteller. It seems rare that a scientific mind can produce a thoughtful, sensory written work, but Maples, with his co-author, did just that. Readers are treated to the inner workings of his mind - his work was not for the sqeemish - and his mind is a fascinating one. Maples worked high profile cases in the field of forensic anthropology, and that surely was a thrill for him, but it was equally thrilling, if not more so, when he could discover a new detail on a little known forensic case and provide some closure for a family or a town or an investigation team.

The book was completed long before the CSI's and Bones television programs and one can be assured that Maples was not working with the latest and greatest laser or computer technology throughout the majority of his career. A panel of cow bones cut by every sharp tool imaginable hung in his lab for comparison purposes. No fancy computer overlays or National Databases - just a careful, trained eye.

The work contains no cliffhangers or mad dashes to the courthouse or red phone telephone calls from the Governor's office. Instead, the narrative tells a story of a fascinating career in the scientits on words, which are warm, feeling, and suprisinginly human. But perhaps that should not be so surprising at all.

I had the pleasure to work with Dr. Maples on several occasions and he was always the most pleasant and personable colleague imaginable - in stark contrast to many of the prancing prima donnas in the field. I think that the relative shallowness with which some of the topics are dealt is due mainly to the wide range of subjects with which he deals and the obvious desire to make it an 'approachable' book.

My oldest son is going into his senior year in college. He will be working on Forensic classes and I purchased a few fun reads for the summer. He loves the book.

I recieved this book as a gift when I was in high school. I loved it then. Since I've recently finished a Masters in forensic anthropology myself, I decided to pull it off my shelf and give it another run through.

This is hands down the most honest and truthful illustration of what it's like to work in this field in a market flooded with a glut of products dedicated to the likes of Patricia Cornwell and Kathy Reichs. Every Bones/CSI fan needs to read this book and learn about the un-glamorous parts of these careers. I went into my career as a forensic anthropologist with a realistic understanding of the job because of Dr. Maples' great prose. While the CSI wannabes whine about the maggots and the smell, I do my job.

This is a great book for anyone who is interested in forensic science and should be a required read in introductory courses.

This book, which follows step by step the itinerary of a battalion of German security police in the East during WWII, is a scary confirmation of Hannah Arendt's theory on the "banality of evil" that emerged after Eichmann's trial in 1961. It shows how perfectly average people, representing a cross-section of a developped country's society, when placed in certain circumstances, are able to perform the most gruesome and crual acts of barbary in an efficient and non-committal way against innocent populations. It is a depressing book, all the more so as almost none of these perpetrators suffered any consequence after the war. They went on to live their banal and mediocre lives as ordinary people, until the 1960's when some of them were tried and suffered very light sentences.

Very well-done and insightful study on ordinary Germans in the Holocaust and Browning's overall thesis extends to "ordinary men" in many circumstances.

Christopher Browning is a distinguished historian of the horror of the Nazi holacaust against the Jews during World War II, His book on Reserve Police Battalion 101 is a microcosmic examination of how ordinary men responded to the Hitler's regime's insane plan to kill all of the Jews in
Europe.
The book focuses on the Reserve Police Battalion 101 made up of lower middle class men from Hamburg. These men were typical Germans in their views toward Jewry and the Nazi propaganda drummed into their heads. Most of the soldiers were long married, had some level of education and managed to avoid frontline service. These men were not in the military elite and most prefered civilian life back home in Hamburg.
These approximately 500 soldiers particpated in several shooting of Jews in Polish villages; transportation of the Jews to death camps and Jew hunts in which the hapless Semites would be captured. They are responsible for the shooting of 6,500 Jews at Jozefow and Lomazy; 35,000
at Majdanek and Poniatowa and placing Jews on trains to Treblinka. In all they participated in the deaths of 83,000 Jewish men, women and children.
The vast majority of the German soldiers took part in the murders. Some were reluctant to engage in this murderous enterprise by they were in the minority. Among reasons given for the odious and criminal behavior of the men in Reserve Police Batallion 101 are according to Browning:
1. Peer pressure of their comrades in arms. These were men in hostile territory who did not want to be accused of letting their buddies down.
2. Obedience to orders from higher authorities.
3. Fears of their or their family's punishment if orders were not obeyed.
4. A belief that the Jews were not Aryan human beings and were responsible for the killing of German women and children.
Browning claims each person's motivations are a mystery to the rest of us and we can never say beyond extrapolation what led these men to commit such abhorrent deads of cruelty and murder.
Browning has included a long appendix in which he responds to the criticisms on his work made by Dr. Daniel Goldhagen. Goldhagen believes that Germany was pervaded by antisemetic culture making the entire nation into Hitler's willing executioners. Browning contrarily argues that antisemitism was not limited to Germany. Browning states that German authoritarianism, conformity with the social group and Nazi propaganda all played a role in turning regular individuals into mass killers. He is cautionary on the power for harm which can be inflicted by authoritarian states on their citizens.
Browning's book is a classic of holocaust literature and is essential in any study of the gruesome and heartbreaking study.

Another brick from the the Professors' classroom. I got to page 148, which was quite a feat, believe you me. But important it is. I don't deny that, and true too.

Here's a token of the Professor's clear narrative style: "The portrayal of German-Polish and German-Jewish relations in these testimonies is extraordinarily exculpatory; in contrast, the portrayal of Polish-Jewish relations is extraordinarily damning. If we begin by examining the first two relationships as described by the former policemen, we can better see the asymmetry and distortion involved in their account of the third." Of the third! The third what? Do you know what he's taking about anymore?

Please, give me a break, mister. I believe the Lord gives gifts and talents to every one of His creatures. You can pick to be a bullfighter, a fireman, or a professor. But pick right.

This book (as described by previous reviewers and the product description) details what the men in the Nazi Reserve Police Battalion 101 went through, specifically during the SS Invasion of Poland.

Browning describes in detail the process of dehumanizing the Jews, and writes at length on the style of execution that the Germans refined and perfected in Poland, prior to the widespread use of gas chambers: the person to be killed forced to lie down flat on their face, and then shot at a particular spot in their neck. The accounts of these executions is not just gratuitous violence -- graphic gore for the sake of shock or horror -- but rather, demonstrates that over time, the police officers involved in the executions worked to make the process of mass killing more humane (an idea that was at the root of the gas chambers, as ironic as that seems). It also serves to drive home the point that after so many hundreds of people were shot, the officers were able to completely dehumanize the people they were killing.

What is unique about this book is that it is not just another historical account; the author takes into consideration what the Nazis themselves had to go through, psychologically and emotionally, in order to carry out their orders. Many other historians have analyzed historical events during WWII while still demonizing the Nazi forces ~ but Browning shows us that the troops really were Ordinary Men, and these men suffered tremendous emotional tolls as a result.

And herein lies the Truth that makes this book so chilling: any one of us could have found ourselves in the very same position, carrying out the very same orders, as the German troops in WWII.

Browning describes the various social conditions and governmental policies that effected how the Nazis were able to so completely dehumanize their enemy and rationalize their own involvement -- in part, because the men were assuaged of their sense of responsibility for their actions, and also in part due to the tremendous number of times that the actions had to be carried out. Repetition bred a sense of normalcy.

In the Afterword, Browning addresses another author who has critiqued Browning's work -- Daniel Jonah Goldhagen -- whose work I feel compelled to mention since it directly relates to this book.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who is studying modern history, sociology / psychology, or WWII, but keep in mind that it is extremely graphic and very, very hard to read -- not because of the language used, but because of the events that Browning so meticulously describes.

Growing up, I often read fiction about the Holocaust and wondered, "What if I was alive then? What if I was in Poland or Russia or Germany? What would I do? How would I react? Would I be a survivor or a victim?"

The books I read were all fiction. Or, they were accounts after the fact with the exception of "The Diary of Anne Frank". They weren't primary historical sources such as the letters in Richard Hollander's book.

Hollander's book answered my questions in many ways. His relatives who wrote the letters that make up his book all just lived their everyday lives as I live mine. You adapt to whatever surrounds you and most people are not prescient enough and willing enough to embrace change to ultimately survive unless they are incredibly lucky. To be a survivor means one has to be the recipient of a lot of luck in your favor.

Unfortunately, Hollander's relatives didn't survive. Neither did the rest of the approximately 6 million Jews who died in the Holocaust. For their sakes, we must all remain vigiliant against evil, Facism, totalitarianism and cults of personality.

"Every Day Lasts a Year" is an interesting look at the correspondence of the Hollander family from Poland during the Holocaust. It's a valuable resource because there isn't very much correspondence remaining from typical Jews from WW II. Most of their letters simply did not survive, just as they themselves probably did not survive the Nazi onslaught against the Jews.

The letters are put in context by three valuable essays. One, written by a relative of Joseph Hollander, isn't very well written but does provide some context to what Hollander tried to do to get himself and his family into the United States and what he tried to do to find them when he returned to Europe with the U.S. Army. The essay by historian Christopher Browning is particularly valuable because it details the conditions Jews lived under in the Jewish ghetto of Cracow, Poland where Hollander's family resided. The essay paints a picture of strict Nazi oversight of the Jews, which accounts for why many of the letters do not detail much detail concerning deportations and other horrible things the Nazis were doing in the Jewish ghetto.

The letters themselves are fairly unremarkable, but that's also what makes them special. They show what a normal Jewish family was concerned with during such trying times and how hard they tried to get out of their circumstances, even pushing Joseph Hollander for Nicaraguan citizenship long past the time when it would have done any good.

For all that we may learn about the holocaust, it is quite rare that we get to hear the actual voices of those who lived under its spectre in a personal tone. What we have here is a unique, nearly complete set of correspondence from a man's family, who remained in Poland after he moved to the U.S.

The letters in themselves portray some sense of everyday life at the time, while the carefully unobtrusive contextualization from the editors provide good insight and context.

It's touching and informative and an interestingly touching book for it gives a sense of what life was like for Jews living at that time and in that place, something which may be all but unimaginable for us.

Richard S. Hollander was cleaning his parents attic after their sudden tragic deaths in 1986 - what he found was life changing as he came across letters from a family he never knew he had, written over forty years earlier. "Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family's Correspondence from Poland" shares with the world Hollander's depressing discoveries, of his family trapped in Cracow, Poland, from November 1939 to December 1941. Each day was under the most extraordinary pain and stress, as Hollander's father fought hard to try to save his family stateside. Edited by a team of Richard S. Hollander (President of Milbrook Communications in Baltimore), Christopher R. Browning (Professor of History at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill), and Nechama Tec (Professor Emerita of Sociology at the University of Connecticut at Stamford), "Every Day Lasts a Year: A Jewish Family's Correspondence from Poland" will prove to be a vital pick for many Holocaust Studies libraries and for anyone who wants a great set of primary sources for the atrocity.

The correspondence from Polish Jews living during the early phases of the German occupation of Poland has been well covered by other reviewers, and, instead of repeating them, I focus on the commentaries.

Christopher Browning gives the reader a good overview of the early years of the Krakow (Cracow) Ghetto. Nechama Tec does also, while also reaching back to prewar Poland and to the Germans' extermination of the Jews in later years. However, her analysis has a number of omissions and biases. To begin with, Tec mentions the prewar Przytyk pogrom (p. 63, 74) in a rather superficial manner. For a full description of this event, see the detailed English-language Peczkis review of Pogrom? Zajscia polsko-zydowskie w Przytyku 9 marca 1936 r. : Mity, Fakty, Dokumenty.

Tec repeats the familiar one-sided portrayal of pre-WWII Polish Jews and discrimination. Let's instead provide the context and perspective. Poles from peasant backgrounds were at a decisive disadvantage when competing with Jews for entry into universities, establishing of small businesses, etc. Jews, in contrast, had been well established in these endeavors for many generations. Using modern parlance, the formal and informal discriminatory practices enacted by Poles against Jews were forms of affirmative action designed to level the playing field. With these in action, the average Jew still remained wealthier than the average Pole. The Jewish share of university student populations, starting at 21.5% and eventually bottoming out at 8.2% (p. 64), was even then only slightly less than the Jewish share of Poland's population (10%).

According to Tec, Jewish investigator Szymon Datner estimated that about 100,000 Jews fled the ghettos to try to live among the Poles during the Holocaust, and, of these, 80,000 survived the war. (p. 76). Another cited Jewish author, Weinryb, suggested a figure of 40,000--60,000 Jewish survivors. Unfortunately, the significance of these figures is not explained. Many Holocaust materials cite a figure of 5% overall survival rate of Polish Jews, and claim this as proof of Polish indifference or hostility to the survival of Jews. The 5% figure is correct, but is used disingenuously. The 100,000 Jews were the only ones in a position to receive substantial Polish help, and they sharply contrast with the remaining 3,300,000 Polish Jews who stayed in the ghettos and perished almost to a person at the hands of the Germans and their Ukrainian and Baltic collaborators.

The 40%--80% survival rate of the 100,000 Jewish fugitives compares well with the Jewish survival rates in western European countries, where there were no ghettos, where the Jews were assimilated and relatively easy to disguise or hide, and where the German occupation was much milder. It also follows that Polish benefactors of Jews had to be relatively common and Polish denouncers or killers of Jews very rare--bearing in mind that the average fugitive Jew had to "run the gauntlet" of many Poles that he/she encountered, the fact that any eventual Jewish survivor benefited from a succession of Poles, and a single Polish denouncer or killer of Jews could eliminate many potential survivors.

Were benefactors rare and denouncers common, the 100,000 figure would've translated to a near-0% survival rate, not 40-80%. Finally, an unknown fraction of the 20%-60% of fugitive Jews who perished did so from Poles who were simply afraid of the draconian German reprisals, and from non-Polish causes entirely (suicide, wartime misadventures, belatedly caught directly by Germans, denounced by Polish-speaking German (Volksdeutsche), Ukrainian, or Jewish informers, etc.).

I loved this book, I bought 2 of them in fact (one for a friend) because I was so impressed with it. John Lyons's teaching is based on the fact that the horse is a condition response animal and that you set up the condition to get the response you want out of your horse. He also likes to think of it as "playing games" with the horse and not just "training" it must be fun for you and the horse and if its not, YOU are doing something wrong-not the horse. I highly reccomend this book!

Everything happened as promised: A very nice (appearing unused) book arrived within a few days of ordering. Perfect!

You wouldn't want this book if you need visuals. There are very few pictures to help in understanding how to go about a lesson. I think John Lyons would rather you buy his videos. This book doesn't help unless you have the videos. Only buy this book if you have a round pen and you don't need visual help in getting the idea. I felt it was a waste of money.

This book is very informative. Easy to read and very easy to understand. The author does a good job of explaining training techniques.

Informative step-by-step instructions for everyone, from a novice working with their first horse, to the experienced horseman. Makes problem solving easy in a sensible manner.

I really enjoyed this book. It's great for a beginner and is not overwhelming. There are instructional pictures in the front of the book and lovely pictures of finished products throughout. The back of the book also has a nice section on complimentary fragrances and groups the various recipes into families, which makes it easy to see which soap compliments which bath bomb, etc. There are also some nice ideas on packaging. I would definitely recommend this to someone just starting out.

This is a great book with easy instructions for all ages. I purchased this for my grandaughter but would use it myself.

This is a good intro & overview book with the basics on M&P technology and some recipies inside. Illustrations on the glossy paper are fine.

What it lacks is the details about raw materials to be and not to be used, it absolutely misses even the briefest chemistry info.

I would recommend it to soapmaking enthusiasts for home experiments, but not even for the small business. What is really strange as the writer runs exactly that kind of business which needs her expertise...

So I give 4 stars out of 5.

I found this book very helpful for basic techniques. One complaint, however: a list of resources would have been great. There are so many suppliers of melt and pour soap base that it's hard to figure out which soap base to buy. Recommendations would be a real boon. Some other resources for fragrances, essential oils and especially colorants would also be a desirable addition.

Having never made soap before, and even though I would like to try it from scratch (with lye) someday, reading up and experimenting on melt and pour was a helpful experience that helped me understand enough to read about using lye without being overwhelmed with too much information at once. Plus, I live in an apartment and sometimes melt and pour is simply more practical.

One of the best qualities of this book is the beautiful pictures, not only for the finished product, but pictures of the different processes as well. The package ideas are also beautiful and well presented. As a visual learner, I found that invaluable. For that, and the bath salt/bath bomb recipes, I would buy this book in a heartbeat should i need to replace it. The recipes are also pretty easy to follow.

My biggest complaint with the book is not the lack of a resource list (that can be overcome with a search engine, and maybe list specific books), but the persistent prevalent use of fragrance oils vs. essential oils in every recipe.

There are good explanations (with pictures), explaining the history and characteristics of soap ingredients. She even explains that the cost of some essential oils (due to protected plants, or simply the huge amount of plant material needed to make them) has made their use prohibitive, and so fragrance oil is often now used instead. However, the author then never bothers to explain that while fragrance oils have the same smell, they do not have the same herbal or therapeutic properties as an essential oil. This seems funny when there is a paragraph touting the benefits of making your own soap because of all the artificial ingredients in purchased soap. Even if you now have petroleum free soap, aren't fragrance oils synthetic?

Yes, some essential oils are simply too expensive in terms of cost, but there are some that are still quite affordable, and if the author is just thinking in terms of cost, it seems odd that there isn't some effort made to use a low cost combination of fragrance and oil. (e.g. a rose fragrance oil and lavender essential oil.) At least mentions of possible substitutions in the recipes would be nice.

The section on bath salts and bath bombs is excellent. The bath bombs do require citric acid, but everything else most people will already have in their kitchen.

I've always been interested in herbs and got more interested in essential oils in the home (and soap) after reading A Well-Kept Home : Household Traditions and Simple Secrets from a French Grandmother and The Scented Home by Laura Fronty and Yves Duronsoy, and The Herb Bible (though more for cooking) by Jenny Harding. With the information from those books, i think it might be easy to modify some of the recipes in melt and pour to be more natural.

Only other complaint is the sentence something like, "Do NOT EVER use flavored extracts in your soap," because. . . nope, there's no because, no explanation. . . does she mean because of the alcohol content? Is it because flavored extracts are different than distilled extracts? Does she mean because they're artificial flavors? (what if they're natural?) Is it because they're not oil based? Then what about water based toiletries? That sentence was not very helpful with no "why" explanation.

Those are my only complaints. Otherwise, i still enjoy reading this book (it's one you can flip through over and over for ideas) and would highly recommend it for learning melt and pour soap making techniques.

Oh my God...I did not know all this could happen to one woman and she still remains "sane"...but with God in your life we can do all things...I felt what Rhonda went through, and wanted to cry, laugh, shout, and all the emotions that came with her. Knowing the author, I never knew things could happen like that. I am so proud of you Teresa!!! I love you and keep up the good work. ...

Great first book for Ms Browning.
Her characters really come alive.
I think, I may have grown up with a few of them.
I highly recommend this book.

I read this book in a day and a half, once I started I could not put it down. This book is a true example of the old saying, "you never miss what you have until it's gone." Ryan thought that he could speak to Ronda in a negative manner and she would accept it, I am glad Ronda realized she deserved better. The author did an excellent job of explaining why Ronda did the things she did as a mother first and a woman second. A lot of women would say I wouldn't take that off of him but you can never say what you would or wouldn't do, until you are in the situation. I was glad that Ronda was strong enough to leave Ryan and not go back. I am looking forward to a sequel. Ronda was indeed a srong woman.

This book is very enlightening. Why? Well, A lot of men really don't have a clue to some of the things that there women have been through, which cause them not to be able to understand them at times. Women seem to hide those deep secrets which causes an major impact on their individual character. Why I Kept My Past a Secret helps you not to competely understand a woman, but it helps you to understand some of the everyday struggles that accure in the lives of not only black women, but all women. Which makes this book enlightening to men, because the more men can learn about the emotions of women, the more we can be better Kings to our QUEENS!!! I suggest all men to read this book, and for those women that have men that are not into reading, read it to them!
Thank You!!

Ronda is a young woman with a lot of secrets, who is trying to get beyond her past and develop a closer relationship with God. However, her relationship with God seems to get repeatedly put on hold because of her need to have a relationship with a man at whatever cost. As a result, she has had several unhealthy relationships that add additional weight to the trunk of secrets she carries around with her. But most of us know that all secrets eventually become exposed and so as you read Why I Kept My Past a Secret you may find yourself wondering if Ronda and her fragile relationships can handle such exposure.

This book was an interesting read that shows how you may be haunted later, when you try to bury the past without dealing with it. I felt at times the story could have been sequenced better and there were certain aspects of the story that could have been explored in greater detail. Still, the author did a good job at helping you understand the turmoil that Ronda experienced, and the overall concept of the book was good. While this book may leave you wanting more, it is still a quick and compelling read.

Reviewed by Stacey Seay
The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers