Caldwell Books

A collection of short stories, poems, songs, and other reflections from the people of Guatemala, some useful for (and designed for use in) worship settings. Many share the pain and the faith of this wonderful people.

I did not get to read it get but the recipient enjoyed the book
JL San Juan Capistrano, CA

Good basic one-handed reading. Clay does a very good job at sex scenes. If I have any complaint, it be that the stories are a bit longer and drawn out and don't finish' so soon....

~John C. Calhoun: Selected Writings and Speeches~ is an anthology of writings of the antebellum South Carolina statesmen. It's perhaps the definitive abridged compilation of Calhoun's writings. The alternative of course is the broad collection by historian Clyde Wilson, entitled The Papers of John C. Calhoun. However, as a practical matter, sorting through the cream of the crop is an exercise that takes a lot of work. Dr. Cheek, however, has sorted through Calhoun's writings, and put together a most remarkable collection of Calhoun's writings. Besides, the Disquisition and the Discourse, he features good pieces such as Calhoun's Exposition and Protest, his Speech on the Force Bill, and his letter to James Hamilton describing the nature of the Union, among several other selections.

Calhoun's Disquisition and Discourse are profoundly reflective political thought that typify what historians characterize as the South Atlantic Republicanism. Calhoun's concept of concurrent majorities and his understanding of the American federal system are deeply reflective. Undoubtedly, if we are to ever initiate a meaningful renaissance of federalism and implement needed constitutional reforms within the United States, such a move necessitates the revival of the statesmanship of John Calhoun. So, Dr. Cheek's books are a good place to start.

All things considered, if you're interested in antebellum politics, political science, or exploring the statesmanship of South Carolina statesmen John C. Cahoun, then Cheek's anthology is definitely worth your consideration. Please consider reading this book in tandem with his other book Calhoun and Popular Rule, which offers sound exegesis of the Disquisition and Discourse.

All of us are familiar with the hymn, "Take my life and let it be". But few of us know the story or author behind it. In this book, the hymn writer herself writes for us her thoughts on this hymn. She brings us through each phrase of the song, and reveals some personal God-fearing thoughts concerning them. Thus we are able to hear from the writer herself, with the thoughts that inspired each line of this traditional favorite.

This book is strongly recommended to all of you, as a short, sweet devotional; small and handy that can be carried around wherever you go! A highly encouraging read that is guaranteed to touch your hearts.

This book is an easy read, but very insightful for pastors, parents and youth leaders. All of us are encouraged as we read this account which offers helpful and thought provoking help for nurturing the spiritual life of our youth.

Taylor Caldwell has written a moving story of a quiet and wise woman who marries a man driven to power by his childhood agonies and poverty. Although the story takes place in 1879-1908, it is particularly poignant for parents today. He spoils his children by lavishing them with everything he has, and in so doing, as observed by his long suffering wife, he avenges his own childhood suffering at the hands of a world run by greed and the twisting of Christianity and capitalism into an unholy alliance. William Prescott never achieves the love of his children which he craves so intensely. Instead, his adopted and first son turns out to be the best of all. His wife constantly shields him from the slings and arrows of his children and herself leads a loveless life, because of his obsession with his children, and because he forgot that one should never put children before a loving spouse. This story is so relevant now where so many parents refuse to discipline their children in their own efforts to exorcise their own often overblown perceptions of an unhappy childhood. This book is really important for new parents to read. The profit they can realise from living with the Prescotts in this book is immense.This is one of Taylor Caldwell's most important books.

John Stuart Mill, 1806-73, worked for the East India Co. helped run Colonial India from England. Minister of Parliament 1865-68 he served one term. Maiden speech was a disaster his second was great success. He was first MP to propose that women should be given the vote on equal footing with the men who could vote. He got 1/3 support, England gives franchise to women after U.S. He was a great Feminist, his essay "Subjection of Women" is written with great passion and prose. It was a brave position for him to take he was ridiculed for it. He favored democracy, and letting more men from lower classes the right to vote, but believed that people that are more educated should have more votes then less educated because they would make better decisions about what government should do. He would have wanted to extend education to the masses, so that all may have gotten 2-3 votes and so on. He didn't think it should be extended to where a small elite could carry the day on votes. The idea was that if the working class, and middle class, where divided on an issue, the people with more intelligence would have the power to tip the balance. Mill thought that people with more education would probably not only be better able to make political decisions, especially in terms of intellectually being able to see what would be best for the government to do, but that they would also be more concerned about the common good publicly then people in general. He was intensely educated by his father James. John could read Greek, and Latin at 6 yrs.; his Dad tutored him at home. Dad thought environment was everything. He was treated like an adult, never played games with kids; he had a very cerebral upbringing. He had a period of depression in his twenties, it changed his philosophy, and he recognized the importance of developing feelings along with the intellect, this is something that he stressed in his work. He read poetry to get out of depression; he became devoted to poetry and became a romantic. He fell in love with a married woman Harriet Taylor, was a platonic relationship, after her husband's death they married 3 years later and probably never consummated the marriage maybe due to his having syphilis. His dedication to "On Liberty" is to her, very devoted to each other. Both buried together in Avignon France where they used to vacation.

Mill as a moral theorist subscribed to a theory we call Utilitarianism. It means---In some way morality is about the maximization of happiness. Whether actions are right or wrong depends on how happiness can be most effectively maximized. I say in some way, because there are allot of different kinds of Utilitarians. Allot of different ways of saying exactly how it is the maximization of happiness comes into morality. Therefore, happiness is clearly an important idea for Utilitarians. Mill has a hedonistic view of happiness, he thinks that happiness can be defined in terms of "pleasure in the absence of pain." What is distinctive about Mill in this area is that he believes that some kinds of pleasure are better than others are, and add more to a person's happiness than other kinds of pleasures. He believes in what he calls, "higher quality pleasures." These are pleasures, he says, that we get from the exercise of faculties that only human beings happen to have. So the intellect, imagination, the moral feelings, these are the sources of higher quality pleasures people use. His view seems to be that a certain quantity of intellectual pleasure just adds more to your happiness, and a given quantity of some lower pleasure like a kind we would share with the animals such as sensation, taste, sexual pleasure, etc. His "higher quality pleasures" in a way echo Aristotle's ethics. The idea of those things that make us distinctly human that are the real key to our happiness, that is in Mill also. It is not as limited to reason and intellect as Aristotle thinks. Mill recognizes the importance of the appreciation of beauty, aesthetic pleasure, and moral pleasure. He frankly owes a debt to Aristotle that he never properly acknowledges, never gives him proper credit.

"On Liberty" is Mill's is his most widely read and enduring work. It is an indispensable essay on political thought, which strenuously argues for individual liberty. He is defending what he calls the "liberty principle." It is a principle that guarantees individuals quite a bit of personal freedom. "That the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any member of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others. His own good, either physical or moral, is not a sufficient warrant." These quoted sentences in John Stuart Mill's book, "On Liberty," embody the crux of his argument; that the power of the state must intrude as little as possible on the liberty of its citizenry. In essence, Mill was against using the power of the state through its lawmaking apparatus to compel citizens to conduct themselves in ways that society deems moral or appropriate. Mill thought that people had not only a right, but also a duty to develop their intellectual faculties, which is indispensable to maximize their happiness. He believed that society improved for all its citizens when they where left unfettered to the maximum extent possible, allowing them to use their imagination and intellect to improve themselves. Mill postulates a theory that societies usually institute laws based primarily on "personal preference" of its citizenry instead of established principles. This lack of clarity of opinion often leads to the government frequently interfering in the lives of its citizens unnecessarily. For Mill, there are very few times when the state can infringe on the personal liberty of others. Firstly, the state has the right to promulgate laws that prevent a person's actions from harming others. Secondly, the state must protect those citizens who are not mature enough to protect themselves, such as children. Thirdly, he exempts, "... backward states of society in which the race itself may be considered as in its nonage." In Mill's view, immature societies need a benevolent leader to rule them until they have developed to a point where they, "... have attained the capacity of being guided to their own improvement by conviction or persuasion ..." Mill said this third exemption did not apply to any of the countries in Europe. Mill believed that forced morality by the state on its citizen's liberties was destructive to their inward development, and could even lead to a violent reaction by them against the government.


There are different parts of his defense of this, different arguments that he gives. He has a long chapter on freedom of speech and press. He has some very specific reasons why he thinks those freedoms are important. Always in the background for Mill is the idea of development, and making it possible for more people to enjoy these higher quality pleasures. How do we help people develop their distinctly human faculties, in ways that will help them enjoy their higher quality pleasures? Because for him that is the way, we maximize the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed in the world, and that is the object of morality as far as he is concerned. Utilitarianists believe that maximizing happiness is ultimately, what morality is all about. That does not mean maximizing your own happiness that means maximizing the total amount of happiness that is enjoyed, not only by yourself but also by everybody else as well.

Roger Kimball, in his book "Experiments Against Reality" wrote, "On Liberty" was published in 1859, coincidentally the same year as "On the Origin of Species." Darwin's book has been credited--and blamed--for all manner of moral and religious mischief. But in the long run "On Liberty" may have effected an even greater revolution in sentiment.

I read this book for a graduate class in Philosophy. Recommended reading for anyone interested in philosophy, political science, and history.

John Holt is probably best known for his early books, "How Children Fail" & "How Children Learn," and his advocacy of homeschooling -- although his concept was nothing like the rigid indoctrination of the fundamentalist mindset. From his decades of working with children, from accepting them as whole, autonomous human beings, he fully believed in the capability of the individual to learn. He had less & less faith in the official school system, which he saw as simply one more tool & reflection of a culture more interested in turning out interchangeable, obedient widgets for the machine, rather than freely thinking individuals.

In this superb, insightful selection of his letters, from his days as a young man, to his tragically early death from cancer, we follow the development of his thought. He wrestles with ideas, always born of personal experience, which he trusted far more than abstract theory. His empathy, his compassion, his heartbreak all shine through from every page -- he CARED with all he had to give, and he gave all that he had, that much is clear.

It's difficult to sum up an entire life of thought in just a few words, but I'll try: Holt believed that human beings are born with an innate desire & need to learn, and that they'll exert all their effort for something that truly matters to them. He also believed that schools did far more harm than good, by being glorified certification factories ('You've got to have X degrees to get a good job!"); training grounds for obedience to bullying authorities who were unworthy of respect ("You'll find out what the real world is like soon enough!"); and places of needless humiliation & emotional damage for children ("What are you, stupid? You'll never amount to anything! Loser!").

In short, that schools are essentially boot camps for modern American society, breaking people down & rebuilding them for use as consumers & cogs.

Holt believed that (to use his phrase), education is something a person gets for him/herself, rather than something that's force-fed to a person. At least, that's what it should be. And of course his worldview went beyond just the school system, or the idea of learning -- his was a humanistic critique of our materialistic, power-hungry, status-oriented culture as a whole.

All of Holt's books are worth reading, especially the later ones, which found less of an audience than his first, most successful volumes. But even if you haven't read anything else by the man, you'll benefit from this selection of letters. Both his ideas & his personality come through clearly ... and he'll leave you with much food for thought.

Most highly recommended!

Caldwell travelled widely in the USA and Europe visiting and studying results in the practices or clinics of psychiatrists using LSD as a psychotherapeutic tool. In the book he gives an excellent synthesis of the mass of information and experience gathered.

I come back to this book again and again because Caldwell has given such a wide map of the worlds of experience one meets during any prolonged inward exploration or therpay. What he says does not simply apply to LSD, but to any real personal growth. However, this is the real stuff, not just the fantasy hopes of achievement. Therefore it includes not only the experience of samahdi/enlightenment or oneness, but also the inner traumatised child, the meeting with the betrayal we may have felt as an infant, and the murder we would like to commit on those who hurt us.