Butler Books

This is a really good resource book to have. A friend gave it to me as a gift, and jsut as I thought I already knew everything about WWII, this book surprises me with new facts straight from Stalin and Roosevelt themselves! The book guides you through each president's thought process and how they dance through political fires with wit and strategy. Roosevelt is much more fascinating now that I see how he thinks. I wished this book has some pictures I can refer to. That will be even better. Highly recommended if you want to read about 2 impt leaders and WWII.

This review is in response to the other review here that suggests the Yalta myth. For background information, one misleading myth invented to smear FDR is that he sold-out Eastern Europe in the Yalta agreement, but that's simply not true. The Yalta agreement called for "free and unfettered elections" in Eastern Europe and "the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live - the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government" to the people of Eastern Europe. I urge everyone to simply read what the Yalta agreement actually says. You can read it on the Internet. The agreement, you will see, is very favorable to the West and the people of Eastern Europe.

What the letters in this book show is that FDR maneuvered to keep the Allies together long enough to destroy Adolf Hitler but that the tensions of the Cold War were forged in World War II. The Soviet Union lost 17 million people in World War II while America lost 400,000. FDR needed to keep the Soviets from quitting the war despite the horrors until America was ready to liberate Europe. FDR was a poker player in real life and was excellent at the game of diplomacy, including bluffing and shmoozing with meaningless shmooze. Then at the end, FDR shrewdly got Stalin to sign the Yalta agreement, which was very favorable to the West and the people of Eastern Europe.

In fact, Stalin's advisor urged him not to sign it. Yet people who have never read it are bamboozled into thinking it says something that it does not. Go read it. The truth is that, after FDR died, Stalin broke the promises agreed to in writing at Yalta, and FDR's successors - Truman and Eisenhower - did nothing about it. Truman gave Soviet foreign minister Molitov "a tongue lashing," demanding that they honor the promises, but they did not. With Soviet armies in Eastern Europe, there was probably little that Truman and Eisenhower could do short of another world war, which the American public did not support. Instead, Truman and Eisenhower used the policy of containment. FDR had nothing to do with the breaking of the Yalta promises. He was long dead.

It's amazing that this myth continues to bamboozle people who are too lazy to check the facts. This is what the Yalta agreement actually says about this subject:

II. DECLARATION OF LIBERATED EUROPE
The following declaration has been approved:
The Premier of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and the President of the United States of America have consulted with each other in the common interests of the people of their countries and those of liberated Europe. They jointly declare their mutual agreement to concert during the temporary period of instability in liberated Europe the policies of their three Governments in assisting the peoples liberated from the domination of Nazi Germany and the peoples of the former Axis satellite states of Europe to solve by democratic means their pressing political and economic problems.

The establishment of order in Europe and the rebuilding of national economic life must be achieved by processes which will enable the liberated peoples to destroy the last vestiges of nazism and fascism and to create democratic institutions of their own choice. This is a principle of the Atlantic Charter - the right of all people to choose the form of government under which they will live - the restoration of sovereign rights and self-government to those peoples who have been forcibly deprived to them by the aggressor nations.

To foster the conditions in which the liberated people may exercise these rights, the three governments will jointly assist the people in any European liberated state or former Axis state in Europe where, in their judgment conditions require,

(a) to establish conditions of internal peace;
(b) to carry out emergency relief measures for the relief of distressed peoples;
(c) to form interim governmental authorities broadly representative of all democratic elements in the population and pledged to the earliest possible establishment through free elections of Governments responsive to the will of the people; and
(d) to facilitate where necessary the holding of such elections.
The three Governments will consult the other United Nations and provisional authorities or other Governments in Europe when matters of direct interest to them are under consideration.
When, in the opinion of the three Governments, conditions in any European liberated state or former Axis satellite in Europe make such action necessary, they will immediately consult together on the measure necessary to discharge the joint responsibilities set forth in this declaration.

By this declaration we reaffirm our faith in the principles of the Atlantic Charter, our pledge in the Declaration by the United Nations and our determination to build in cooperation with other peace-loving nations world order, under law, dedicated to peace, security, freedom and general well-being of all mankind.

In issuing this declaration, the three powers express the hope that the Provisional Government of the French Republic may be associated with them in the procedure suggested.

VII. POLAND
The following declaration on Poland was agreed by the conference:
"A new situation has been created in Poland as a result of her complete liberation by the Red Army. This calls for the establishment of a Polish Provisional Government which can be more broadly based than was possible before the recent liberation of the western part of Poland. The Provisional Government which is now functioning in Poland should therefore be reorganized on a broader democratic basis with the inclusion of democratic leaders from Poland itself and from Poles abroad. This new Government should then be called the Polish Provisional Government of National Unity.

"M. Molotov, Mr. Harriman and Sir A. Clark Kerr are authorized as a commission to consult in the first instance in Moscow with members of the present Provisional Government and with other Polish democratic leaders from within Poland and from abroad, with a view to the reorganization of the present Government along the above lines. This Polish Provisional Government of National Unity shall be pledged to the holding of free and unfettered elections as soon as possible on the basis of universal suffrage and secret ballot. In these elections all democratic and anti-N azi parties shall have the right to take part and to put forward candidates.

"When a Polish Provisional of Government National Unity has been properly formed in conformity with the above, the Government of the U.S.S.R., which now maintains diplomatic relations with the present Provisional Government of Poland, and the Government of the United Kingdom and the Government of the United States of America will establish diplomatic relations with the new Polish Provisional Government National Unity, and will exchange Ambassadors by whose reports the respective Governments will be kept informed about the situation in Poland.

"The three heads of Government consider that the eastern frontier of Poland should follow the Curzon Line with digressions from it in some regions of five to eight kilometers in favor of Poland. They recognize that Poland must receive substantial accessions in territory in the north and west. They feel that the opinion of the new Polish Provisional Government of National Unity should be sought in due course of the extent of these accessions and that the final delimitation of the western front."

Ronald Reagan wrote in his autobiography "An American Life" (page 305) that, as president, he sincerely wrote to the Soviet leadership and insisted that they honor their commitment to freedom in Eastern Europe as expressed in the Yalta agreement. He wrote that he "proposed that the Polish people only be given the right to self-determination that had been promised to them by Joseph Stalin himself at the Yalta Conference. At Yalta, I reminded them, Stalin had promised Poland and all the countries of Eastern Europe the right of self-determination, but the Soviets had never granted it to any of them."

According to "The Crusader: Ronald Reagan and the Fall of Communism" by Paul Kengor (pages 211-212), on the fortieth anniversary of the Warsaw Uprising, Reagan declared, "Let me state emphatically that we reject any interpretation of the Yalta agreement that suggests American consent for the division of Europe into Spheres of influence. On the contrary, we see that agreement as a pledge by the three great powers to restore full independence and to allow free and democratic elections in all countries liberated from the Nazis after World War II and there is no reason to absolve the Soviet Union or ourselves from this commitment." Yalta did not sell-out Eastern Europe. Indeed, Yalta required the opposite.

The review you posted by Publishers Weekly literally made me want to gag. This book is not a "history junkie's delight"; it is the essence of Poland's 50 year nightmare from 1939 to 1989.

As a retried U.S. military officer and Polish-American baby-boomer whose father fought at places like Iwo Jima during WWII, I have great interest in the betrayal of Poland during WWII. Anyone who knows about the Katyn Forest Massacre (done by Dear Mr. Stalin), the Warsaw Rising of 44 (when Dear Mr. Stalin refused to allow the Allies to come to the aid of the people of Warsaw) and the mass deportations and genocide against the Polish people, will be highly interested in this book.

A great percentage of the letters are about the "Polish Problem." And I am afraid the Polish Problem still exists today whereby people glorify the contributions of the Soviet Union led by a mass-murderer whilst at the same time being almost totally ignorant of the contributions of Poland to the defeat of Nazi Germany. The effectiveness and impact of Poles of the 1st Polish Armored Division, the two Polish Fighter Squadrons during the Battle of Britain, and the Poish heroics and sacrifices at places like Monte Cassino are either unknown or minimized. To this, add the contributions of hundreds of thousands of Polish Americans, sons and grandsons of Poland, like my father and more famous (maybe not so famous) Polish Americans like Col Gabreski and Lt Col Urban.

At Amazon.com, you stock books like "A Question of Honor" which should be read by all those who want to truly know what wartime misery is all about. Shame on anyone who tries to varnish or glorify the abject misery that Stalin (not Hitler) brought to his own people but especially to the Polish nation.

I bought this and a few other books for my two year old twins to help them understand that we were having another baby. I think it was rated for older kids but I took a chance. Overall, it's a fantastic book with lots of wonderful illustrations and insightful information geared towards toddlers and up. The only reason I think it's for older kids (maybe 5 and up) is because it has a section on how the baby got in the mommy's tummy. It was completely factual and tastefully handled, but my kids weren't asking for that kind of detailed information. We just skipped those pages. The kids love this book and like to look at it on their own as well. I would definitely recommend it.

My Mom's Having A Baby! is a children's picturebook designed to answer basic childhood questions about where babies come from. Told from the point of view of a young girl, it describes how babies are made in plain terms. Anatomically correct illustrations by Carol Thompson and Dori Butler's straightforward narration offer simple descriptions of how reproductive organs work, what it is like for a woman to be pregnant, and the steps of childbirth, all culminating in the arrival of a new baby brother at home. A superb giftbook or introduction to the facts of life, especially for a child who may be anxiously awaiting the arrival of a new sibling.

My daughter is two, and we're expecting our second child. This book was a gift, and I have to say it is very well done. I've put it on the shelf for now, because it is too much detail for her. However, whenever it is that she wants to know how the sperm and the egg got together (even if baby number 2 is a toddler by that point!) this is the book I'll pull out. The sex details aren't the only ones that make this book over the head of most two year olds -- in general it just has a lot of information.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 1-When Little Hedgehog's nest blows away in a snowstorm, he retrieves his hat, scarf, and mittens and makes his way to his friend Badger's house. Along the way, he meets shivering field mice, an otter, and a doe and her fawn. He generously passes along his garments to these creatures and weathers the storm, safe and warm, with Badger. When the skies clear, the two of them make their way to the spot where Little Hedgehog's nest used to be and find a newly rebuilt, cozy house decorated with his winter accessories. The illustrations of the red and orange winter woolens have a feltlike fabric embedded in them to give readers a tactile experience. Macnaughton's soft and gentle full-page and inset pictures hold their own without this gimmick, complementing Butler's simple, sweet, and subtly didactic text.-Rachel G. Payne, Brooklyn Public Library, NY
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

There i was today, innocently walking past the picture book display when this adorable little hedgehog (an animal i have always wanted to adopt by the by, unfortunately the cats will not allow me to do so) unavoidably beckons to me from the cover of One Winter's Day (a touch and feel book) by M. Christina Butler and illustrated by Tina Macnaughton.
This is an incredibly cute book as the little hedgehog makes his way through the woods once the wind blows his nest away, playing good Samaritan to every poor little creature he meets. Of course their is a moral (well not really a moral~but it does show that being kind and sweet and selfless and all that will reward you with good karma~maybe saying that life is fair even when we all know that it really isn't) at the end and again i question the wisdom of over-adorableness of wild animals in tales for children but this one just wins over that "awe" factor in me (and tells that cynic to go sulk in the corner for a while).
What can i say?

It's a very sweet story of selflessness. My daughter loves the touch and feel of the hat, mittens and scarf. It's one of the ones I enjoy reading over and over.

It is impossible to say who of the tremendous artists on this recording does the greatest honor to Yeats' words and intentions. Let us merely say it is the sort of contest which only the listener wins, especially if he or she has even one Emerald Isle gene in his or her make-up.

This is a wonderful collection of poetry. The readers contribute so much emotion to their reading. The listener can hear the music of Ireland in each voice. Every time I listen to this, I hear something new. Some of the poems included are: Stolen Child; The Indian to his Love; The Cloak, the Boat and the Shoes and The Sad Shepherd. This has brought many hours of relaxation and beauty to my evenings. I highly recommend this tape.

The variety of readers makes Yeats poetry come to life. If you like to chill in the car, this one is for you.

I worked at Gore Place as an intern in college, where Robert Roberts worked. Many don't realize that this is often credited as the first book published in the US by an African-American. Insight into the labors of a butler in the early republic, of interest to those who are curious about lives of Af-Ams of the era, even though his race is never mentioned in the book.

Do you know how to clean plate and silver wear? How to set up the dining room table? Make sure the tea set is ready for the mistress of the house? Which hard coal is the best one to use? How to prepare fish, fowl or mammals to be carved? How to make the best beer, lemonade and cooling cinnamon water?
Well, this book is the answer to your dreams.
Just don't use quick silver.

I bought this book both as a training guide for my own servants and as a bit of historical research into butlers. Published in 1827 originally this book is a look into the lives of an upper class American family through the eyes of their butler. He covers everything you can image from claening to serving meals to appropriate dress to a philosophical discussion of the roles of servant and employers.

Written by economics professor Henry N. Butler and law professor Larry E. Ribstein, The Sarbanes-Oxley Debacle: What We've Learned, How to Fix It is a sharp-tongued denouncing of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or SOX. SOX was a legal measure created in response to the misconduct of the Enron Corporation, with the intent of protecting investors by improving the accuracy and reliability of corporate disclosures. Yet the strict new rules affecting financial practices and corporate governance regulation that comprise SOX cause a heavy direct and indirect cost - one so great, according to The Sarbanes-Oxley Debacle, that it harms the very investors it was supposed to protect as surely as the companies themselves. By creating opportunities for excessive litigation, increasing risk aversion by managers, and distracting executives' attention from maximizing shareholder value, among other flaws, SOX's disadvantages far outweigh its advantages according to the authors - who have come up with a far more viable plan to repeal or legally challenge SOX and address the issues SOX was meant to handle in a more effective manner. Especially recommended reading for policymakers and professionals in the field of corporate business law.

If your against Sarbanes-Oxley, or trying to learn more why people don't like it as I was, this will be a useful text. The authors find very little to like about the law and much to criticize. I personally think the authors are a little too critical of the law and tend to blow things out of porportion, but that's their viewpoint.

You can tell from the use of the debacle in the title that the authors evaluate the business effects of the Sarbanes-Oxley (SOX) regulations negatively. Their arguments are interesting and convincing. One of the great things about our system of government is that we can revisit excesses of the past and fix them over time. Butler and Ribstein take us through the climate that led to the enactment of this set of regulation and that was an over reaction to some large business failures.

The collapse of the Internet Bubble led many to believe that the failures by fraud of Enron, WorldCom, Tyco, Adelphia and others were examples of the entire business community. We now know, as many knew then, that these were indeed exceptions. Criminal and causing injury to many, yes, but exceptions nonetheless.

The authors make an argument that businesses and the investment community would have corrected the problems that led to the fraud on their own. Maybe. I think it likely that investors would have demanded that the things the fraudsters used to hide their bad deeds be done away with or without this regulation.

I think the authors are quite compelling in demonstrating the excessive cost of SOX, especially for small businesses. This has distorting effects for the market because it prevents some companies from going public in order to avoid these costs. While the costs of these regulations to large companies may only be cents per $1,000 in sales (not insignificant, by the way), the costs for small companies can be several dollars per $1,000 in sales. Such costs can be crippling to the growth of a small firm. The issues surrounding SOX and foreign companies deciding to list in our markets or not because of these costs is also significant.

The issues around outside directors and the legal liability put on CEOs are also quite significant. It sure sounds good to the public, but it can lead to a too conservative approach to business. Why take risk when it can lead to personal ruin? Yet, businesses exist to take risk. Establishing boards and hiring executives that are reticent to act can be costly for us all. Remember, it was fraud that caused the high profile failures, not risk taking in legitimate business ventures.

Yet, the legal liability is a time bomb waiting to happen. All businesses face times when things don't work out as hoped. Under SOX firms face an increased likelihood of being sued by shareholders who are unhappy with the performance of their investment. The authors also show us the difference in tort suits today against a century ago. Before it was neighbors suing each other being evaluated by a local jury. Today, it is too often a local complainant with a local jury feeling entitled to tap the supposed deep pockets of the out of state corporation. Hence, another reason for reform of not only SOX, but of tort law.

This is not a long book, but it is certainly informative. I recommend it for all business students who need to get up to date on their financial accounting, all business people for whom this is even remotely relevant, and any interested investor.

In Tulsa, devoted lovers, police officer Tony Ceola and artist Selena McCaffrey, return to their small cul de sac street after spending time with his extended family. They stop by her house, one of four on the block, because a package is outside her door. The package is put inside when "kitty' arrived at her place. A moment later an explosion occurs; kitty saved their lives. Inside his home is assassin Charlize Pawley, who though a respectable Savannah restaurateur, warns Selena that psychopath Damon Long has put a $500,000 hit on her; two pros have accepted the job. Tony believes Charlize is one of them.

They flee to Atlanta where they learn one of the killers is dangerous Luke Morgan. Damon becomes impatient so through Charlize informs Selena that he is visiting Greenhill, Alabama, home of her biological father Grant Hamilton. He knows she will come to protect her dad, who had thought her dead when her mom vanished just under three decades ago.

Selena and series fans learn what happened to her mother Amelia as Selena, Tony, and Charlize head to Alabama for a High Noon showdown; unaware of Damon's local ally. The story line is fast-paced with Tony worried that Charlize will double cross them as her motive to keep Selena safe is unclear and that his beloved will get hurt though he willingly will risk his life to insure she does not. Although Damon's obsessive need for vengeance seems out of character for this cold blooded yet logical in a macabre insane way killer, readers will enjoy being SCORCHED as Rachel Butler provides many of the answers to THE ASSASSIN and DEEP COVER.

Harriet Klausner

SCORCHED was a terrific read. I like stories that make me privy to the inner emotions and thoughts of the characters. I also like for the author to share information with the reader before the characters know it. In SCORCHED, Rachel Butler does both. Also, I like the way this plot develops, steadily with no glitches. This time, I agree with Harriet Klausner but not with another reviewer who speculates this is the end of the Selena McCaffrey series. Luke Morgan may have been left a loose end for a reason.

Looks like this is the end of the Selina McCaffrey's story. I'm really sorry to see it end because it's been a real blast. Rachel Butler definitely knows how to tell a story and keep it going through three books. I was hoping this one would be a setup for book number four, but after getting to the end, realized it wasn't.

In Scorched, the author delved more into the psyche of the characters involved, especially that of Tony and Selena. This is something I truly appreciated since I wasn't really sure how each truly felt about the other. There were more than a few tender moments between our two lovers, and what they felt for one another was made clear.

In this book, Selena and Tony are on the run from people who want to see Selena dead. This time around, however, she receives help from an unexpected source. I'm still not sure why this person would risk life and limb to protect her though, and wish the author would have elaborated a little more on the reason. While fleeing for their lives, Selena becomes acquainted with the family members, many of whom she never knew existed. What she learns somewhat proves to be detrimental to her own safety. Eventually, Selena ends up trusting some people she should and should not have.

There wasn't quite as much action as there has been in the two previous books; however, this reader felt it was just right. As always, Butler kept me on the edge of my seat, and I will miss this continuing saga.

I read this when I was in 7th or 8th grade. It was the most romantic book, I could imagine and inspired in me a desire to learn French so I could read the few phrases in the book in that language.
It's a story of growing up in the northern wilderness and falling in love with a voyageur who was away traveling the rivers.

This tale of frontier life, in what is now Wisconsin, was one of my favorite historical novels for young people when I was growing up in the northern midwest in the 50's & 60's. The book portrays its characters and the times sympathetically yet realistically. The main theme tells of the maturing love between a young man who is ready to establish a trading post even farther west and a lovely ward of his French frontier family who was raised in the East and can choose to return.

I read this when I was in 7th or 8th grade. It was the most romantic book, I could imagine and inspired in me a desire to learn French so I could read the few phrases in the book in that language. It's a story of growing up in the northern wilderness and falling in love with a voyageur who was away traveling the rivers.

This book starts off with action as Doctor Octopus is freed from prison. Then it declines and picks up with an exciting finish. Spider-Man Readers will love this book for its fast-paced action.

I have read this book and I think it's great. Although I think there is a hole in the plot because Dr. Doom is the kind of guy who would not ask for anyone's help regardless of their expertise, he probably would have known the stuff himself

Of all the Marvel trilogies (Mutant Empire, Time's Arrow, Diane Duane's books) this is the weakest, but it's still pretty good. I like the villain team-up of Doom and Octopus, and I'd bet real money that Askegren wrote all the Fantastic Four parts, 'cause they're as right on here as they are in _Countdown to Chaos_. The climax was kinda weak, but I loved the epilogue.

Elsie Saunders is a woman who has experienced much evil in the world. Her family doctor molested her, her priest was having an affair with her mother, and her father killed her mother and then himself. It's a violent world and she wants to take care of the evildoers who are let out early or are untouchable under the law in an inept system. So far Elsie has taken care of the man who killed her best friend and the pediophile who raped and abused another bud. After killing three more men for similar heinous acts, Elsie goes into hiding for five years.

Her vacation is about to end when somebody using her real name calls her to inform her that young teens are being raped and beaten. Elise reconnects with her friend who is working at a car dealership run by his lover. Two women who worked there are killed, their bodies mutilated in ways too ugly to describe. It is Elise who connects the rapes with the killing and she is determined to stop the people responsible for those acts using her own brand of justice.

SPIRIT OF THE SILENT BUTLER is a very raunchy, gory and graphic in terms of violence, language and sex but they fit seamlessly into the dark theme of the story line. Elsie doesn't act like a killer but she has a strong sense of justice and is determined that any predators that come into her orbit will be eliminated using methods that are not exactly legal. Babs Lakey is a cutting edge storyteller who tells it like it is.

Harriet Klausner

Lakey's _Spirit_ is a _Clockwork Orange_ for the new millenium. This is confident, ground-breaking fiction about Elsie, a heroine who takes on the controversial view that in a violent society, violence is sometimes the answer. Anyone interested in thrillers or social theory should sit down with these books.

Spirit of the Silent Butler by Babs Lakey, ISBN 1-928857-04-3

Well-known in the crime fiction field for her publication, Futures Mysterious Anthology Magazine, Babs Lakey is also the capable author of the Elsie Sanders' books--Spirit of the Silent Butler being number two of the three in print.

Lakey writes extremely well and does what every real author is born to do, she integrates insights about genuine human functioning into her work. She achieves authenticity and goes one step further: She has guts. Lakey isn't guided by the market--what's hot and what's verboten--but writes according to her own vision of the subject matter.

Thus though she's quite a good author, she hasn't been able to place her fingers around commercial success. Her books feature the oddballs of society, the ones we don't want to acknowledge in our mainstream art. As I said, she reflects reality.

If you want to read something different than the (also skilled, but sometimes predictable) forms being pumped out by the New York houses, then you have to order this one at Amazon.

A murdering psycho is on the loose and Detective Lawrence (Law) gets out of bed where he was enjoying his Native American honey, Gee, to do his other duty. In the meantime, car dealer Darwin Silano has decided to step out of the closet and announce his love for boyfriend Tony--only to be met by a cascade of bigotry. Thank goodness, Elsie Sanders is coming to Minneapolis to settle things in the way only Elsie is capable of.

Violent, sexual, rambling and hard-bitten, Spirit of the Silent Butler, is the work of a talented wordsmith who shows the sensibility of someone writing for an audience that isn't generally acknowledged--but that does exist. If you're one of those readers who doesn't much go for today's overly tame mystery writing, try Babs Lakey.

G. Miki Hayden, author of Writing the Mystery, a how-to for both novice and professional, nominated for Agatha and Macavity awards.