Clinton Books

I have known Ralf now for many years. I've always been in awe not only of his level of fitness, but of his dedication to educating others about fitness. I have used the Performance Ball since he first introduced it and now follow his book and training video religiously. As a former gymnast I've had many injuries to my ankles and shoulders and if it wasn't for Ralf's instruction, I would have not been able to maintain the level of strength and flexibility I have today. I even use it on the road since I travel all the time and find it invaluable to be able to work out in a hotel room if I don't have access or time to go to a gym. My husband recently started using the Performance Ball and watching Ralf's video and is quickly feeling the improvements in his flexibility. Recently I met a physical therapist and we began talking about workouts and I told him that I use something called the Performance Ball and he said, "Oh yeah, I have those here! I know Ralf and it's a great workout." People ask me all the time how I stay "in shape" and I love telling them about the Performance Ball and Ralf's training materials; something everyone should have.

The main idea of this book is using a medicine ball as a tool for resistance training. The affordable cost of the ball and the great number of exercise variations executed, in the absence of any costly equipment, makes this book unique. It suits people who aim at burning fat and gaining flexibility. It could be useful for advanced athletes as an adjunct to the warm-up segment of training. Its limitation lies in the light weight of the ball that precludes muscles from developing fibers that resist intensive labor.

By virtue of the light resistance of the ball, the book premise of getting fit by three 20-minute weekly sessions is unrealistic. The least effective daily workout should last one hour with a 10-pound medicine ball, for a person with sedentary life. Heavier balls, with comfortable gripping surface, could add muscle mass yet at low peak muscle strength, compared to iron weights. The 20-minute sessions might suit people in occupations that involve heavy physical labor. In that latter case, the medicine ball exercises emphasize the muscles that were neglected in performing those occupations.

Glancing through the book for the first time gave me peculiar sense of boredom. The abundant and redundant black and white photos are made worse by the poor paper quality and by the same person performing closely similar movements. All movements appear to lack an objective ending other than enhancing flexibility. The tall male adult performer adds another dimension of vanity by his excessive preoccupation of seemingly similar and routine poses. Worse yet is his classification of exercisers into beginners, intermediate, and advanced, as if he really has a definitive criteria to draw the lines between those classes of performers.

My boredom and frustration in viewing most of the apparently redundant movements is minimized by my empathy with an author who has passion for something that sounds trivial to many yet efficient and affordable to most of us. I suppose that the author's own thinness and fit outlook is attributed to his indulgence in practical and affordable resistance training.


Mohamed F. El-Hewie
Author of
Essentials of Weightlifting and Strength Training

The most important concept in health and fitness that I've carried away from my studies in Scott Sonnon's "Circular Strength Training" and "Maximology" courses is that eventually, you have to sophisticate your approach to training if you want to truly reap the benefits of high performance and optimal health and vitality. Otherwise, if you just go harder and harder in the cardio sessions, pile on more and more weight in the resistance training and add endless reps in bodyweight calisthentics, etc, you will eventually either burn out or injure yourself.

With that principle in mind, I think that Henning's "Four Way Burn" is an excellent example of a way to implement this principle of sophistication. The movements, exercises and principles taught here lend are very nicely conceived and organized in a way that most fitness and health seekers will find useful, enjoyable and helpful in their quest for energy, fitness and vitality.

I've been having great fun and very pleasing results pressing, jerking, snatching, swinging and casting some very heavy kettlebells and clubbells for several few years now; this may have given me a better perceptual toolset than some people for recognizing the potential of Mr. Henning's system. Based on what I see here, and on my initial attempts at handling a 6 lb medicine ball in these elegant and sophisticated moves, I can promise the potential reader that this system is very challenging but also quite accessible to the average person, even one who is normally "all thumbs". The soft medicine ball is far more forgiving of mistakes and miscues than kettlebells, clubbells or even dumbbells - the worst that can happen if you mess up on these movements (and you will) is that you drop the ball and it will bounce away. That's not the case with an iron weight. believe me - as a person who often had to train with a small dog, a curious cat or preoccupied child wandering into the area, I've had to be careful about these things, and the ball as used here is an excellent compromise in terms of safety to the user and the furniture. The ball reaches some decent speeds, but nothing that imperils life, limb or happiness when things go wrong.

The other aspect I really like about Mr. Henning's system is that almost everything about it is geared towards the way the body's joints, tendons, and muscles actually want to work. The graceful, fluid arcs, ellipses and circles that you move in serve to pump new blood and lymph into areas that are normally starving for them, and the results can be energizing and exhilarating. One excellent example of this would be the exercise Henning calls the "Saturn"; this is a very close cousin of the shoulder girdle exercise called the "Halo" in RKC training and the "Mill" in Clubbell swingining, and there is nothing like it for warming up the neck, trap, and deltoids, leaving them loose, warm, and tingling with fresh blood. And it's just plain fun sometimes; passing the ball around puts you in mind of a Harlem Globetrotter's ball handling exhibition - in my mind, I'm Meadowlark Lemon dazzling the crowd as I carve air and space in ways that fire up your imagination and enthusiasm.

Is this a substitute for a serious yoga practice? No,nothing could make me stop practicing yoga. Is this enough to make you look like a bodybuilder? No...anyone who wants a huge chest and 19 inch guns is still going to need to hit the iron pile. But as a way to add some fun, fitness and functional vitality into your life, "Four Way Burn" is a great tool.

In summary, I really really like the book and the system, enough to over look a few of the design flaws and mediocre photography. You really need to see this stuff live in 3 dimensions to get the most out of the instructions. I'm hoping Henning comes up with a DVD for it soon - surely this excellent concept and product deserves a DVD when there are already about 3,000 Pilates, Cardio, Step and Yoga DVDs out there.

Bravo, Ralf Hennings.

Update: I may have found a DVD that supplements "Four Way Burn". Jeff Martone, a very dedicated, innovative and capable trainer and educator has a product entitled "S.H.O.T. Training", involving iron and "indoor" shotput balls ranging from 4-24 lbs. Martone has very impressive credentials - he's the fellow who reinvented kettlebell juggling in the US - and his stuff is bound to be interesting. More updates to follow. But I still want to see Henning do a DVD to supplement the book!

I read this book while reading Clinton on Clinton at the same time, and found this one to be much more negative. The pyschology of Clinton is interesting, but at time it get a little to in-depth for somebody wanting to know about politics and not childhood lessons that were learned. It talks about Clinton's mother, which is interesting to hear. If you want an overview of Clinton, don't read the book, if you feel like you need to know evrything, read it.

I bought this book because I heard a talk by the author on C-Span summarizing the book, and I had been puzzled by Bill Clinton's behavior. This book gets to the root of his behavior and why he does what he does, and why he does it the way he does. Part of the book is devoted to the real history of Clinton's young life, and part to the analysis of recorded behaviours in his political life. The combination truly clarifies what is going on. Stanley Renshon is Professor of Political Science at CUNY with a specialty in Psychology of Political Behavior, and does a fine job in this book.

I had never head of this book before I spotted it on the shelf of my local bookstore. But after reading it, I was surprised that it hadn't received more attention and praise. As far as the Clinton books go, this is the few non-partisan works you will find. Further, it is packed with information and original analysis. David Maraniss's biography is still the best on this subject but Mr. Renshon's book is close behind. He complements Maraniss by offering psychological insights and then applying these to Clinton's first term in office. The result is a clever book that will leave the reader more informed and enlightened about this enigmatic president.

It is a book I would recommend. I try to translate it into my language and write it to my firend who's in federal prison. His comment is:"Although some information is not updated, it really helps me to understand more about my situation, and the things mentioned in this book is very realistic. You'll understand my situation if you read it deeply." However, it's a little bit short, if it can have more content, it'll be much better. English in this book is simple and rather easy to read, which is suitable for Non-English native reader.

Maledicta has turned out a winner with this one, providing valuable inside information on exactly how to survive in prison, play the politics and even make money on the inside. Included in this publication of valuable inside information, how to deal with other cons, avoid some of the perils of prison life such as blanket parties, rape and the ultimate punishment: murder.

The book also explains how to curry favors from guards, inmates and others to make prison life more bearable. Additionally, this title includes an extensive slang dictionary, as well as a guide on how to gain respect, purchase protection and other necessities.

Written by a role-playing author who takes the mindset of writing a prison handbook for First Lady Hillary Rodham Clinton, there are many humorous references to the first lady. Think you can't be raped? Guess again. Prison rape never is a nice, clean subject... but you can avoid becoming another victim if you know how to protect yourself.

Not only is this book an informative guide for the new inmate, but it is also yet another critically-acclaimed look at how the BOP (Bureau of Prisons) has failed to make prisons safe places where rehabilitation is carried out, but it is also an entertaining book as well.

Written by Ex-Federal Prisoner Reinhold Aman, this book should be high on the list of those who want to be in the know about the inner workings of the US Prison System and it's many atrocities. While The U.S. Government claims that prisons are improving, the very fact that someone would need a book like this to increase his or her odds of survival from "slim to none" to "above average" demonstrates the degree of failure to which the system has failed to police itself and reform from within.

Costing billions of taxpayer dollars every year, prisons and their conditions are not just the problem of the inmates, it's everyone's problem. Prisons appear to have a habit of attracting long-time residents instead of short-term guests, rehabilitation is obviously a fantasy of The BOP, as opposed to a reality, and what's more, the inmates seem to like it that way.

If you want to see where your hard-earned dollars are going, or you are going to prison, don't miss this book.

I do not know what happened to cause Dr. Aman's imprisonment, but if one-half of his own story on the subject is true, his bitterness and anger at the system is more than justified. However, you can take the scholar out of the cloisters, but never the scholar's instincts out of the scholar. While incarcerated, Dr. Aman put his time to use observing his fellow convicts' mores, folkways, and slang, and he now shares the fruits of his researches with us. Dr. Aman is, to say the least, extremely unhappy about his imprisonment, which he sees as totally unjustified and excessive, and caused by malice directed toward him by a Wisconsin judge. As I've said, I do not know what the real story is, or what the other side would have to say for themselves...but, reading this, I pray that his anger is never turned toward me, for he is probably _the_ ranking expert on "Maledicta," or swearing and bad language, and could crisp me to a crackly crunch. Much of the book is in the form of a gossipy letter to Hillary Clinton, First Co-Conspirator, since Aman apparently believes that she'll soon be experiencing more-or-less what he went through. Speed the day!

Rebeccasreads highly recommends IN HIS OWN WORDS for those who have ever wondered how this man moved generations of people to agitate for civil rights. Settle down with this big, big book & relive the ideas that inspired us, & get a rare glimpse of the heroes from another time & another place.

Because these are public speeches, there will be repetition - relax & let the words flow over you. & while most of us won't notice it, what we read from the book in no way indicates the timbre, cadence & nuances of the spoken word, so it would have been a wonderful completion had a DVD sound recording of one or two of Nelson Mandela's speeches been included.

The extraordinary power of IN HIS OWN WORDS is in, once again, hearing legend's way of expressing himself, who, along with Mahatma Gandhi & Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., is one of the most articulate, courageous, & respected men of our time. The list of people who contributed their impressions is extraordinary, & illustrates how deeply Nelson Mandela changed our lives & our world.

This is a compilation of Nelson Mandela's speeches divided into twelve categories that run a diverse classification. The topics run the gamut of historical: "Struggle" "Freedom", "Reconciliation", "Nation Building" and "Development"; social: "Education", "Culture", "Religion", "Health" and "Children"; Cross sectional: "Heroes" and "Peace". The collection provides a one source to obtain the works of a key twentieth century person, but like any of these IN HIS OWN WORDS is repetitive and at times boring. Unless needed for a school assignment, this biographical oratory is best savored over several weeks as Mr. Mandela through his words show why he remains an inspirational influential individual whose speeches provide a deep insight into the man, the legend, and an era of transition.

Harriet Klausner

IN HIS OWN WORDS is perfect reading for history buffs. There are 545 pages of speeches, addresses and statements of Nelson Mandela. When you read this collection of words by Mr. Mandela, you come away with a better understanding of this man who has dedicated his life to his belief of freedom and equality.

Nelson Mandela is a prolific writer as well as a gifted speaker. There are twelve chapters in IN HIS OWN WORDS. Because of its length, I suggest that you read this book by first reading the topics that most interest you. I started with Education, Health and Culture and was moved by Nelson Mandela's compassion and his tenacity to remain focused in his one man crusade for democracy for all people. As someone who enjoys reading about history, I read the remaining chapters over several weeks and found them to be fascinating. Very much worth reading.

Vannie(~.~)
Work & Family @ BellaOnline.com
http://www.bellaonline.com/Site/workandfamily

I just finished this book and enjoyed it immensely. Drew provides a fly-on-the-wall account of the early Clinton years with breathtaking depth. With the benefit of a few years' hindsight, her analysis and perceptions at the time were spot-on. Highly recommended for political junkies and people interested in the inner workings of the White House.

Each time I read a book by this author I am reminded why she is considered such a good journalist and excellent author. If ever a political book could be considered in the "could not put down" category, this book could. The author gives the reader a detailed description of the first year and a half of the Clinton presidency with an unbiased look at both the good and the bad. I tend to fall on the side of a Clinton supporter so I agreed with all the positives and cringed at the negatives she brought up, but could not find fault with her reporting. The problems and reasons why were well thought out, accurate and unbiased.

So much of what takes place in Washington covers up the real story and the actual work that does or should get done. This author does a good job a stripping away the noise and getting to what the real problems were of the first year of the Clinton administration. She detailed the lack of organization, the agenda that was too large and the effect of too many staff with lacking experience to play that this level. Overall the book was very interesting and well written. If you are looking for details on how the Clinton White House worked at the first then this should be your first stop.

I consulted this book for background on how the administration handled the Bosnian war and got swept into it. Drew is an outstanding writer, and her style is reminiscent of Bob Woodward's.

This presents a full account of Clinton and his aides, their battles, their personalities, etc. Clinton definitely had a rough going early on...it's hard to believe he stayed so popular all along.

Anyway, if you like Woodward's stuff (All the President's Men, Commanders, the Brethren, etc.), you'll find this very interesting. I am sure we will see more good things from Drew again.

Great Bio. Here's an excerpt from page 68. Taken from a statement made by Clinton's friend, Clifford Jackson during their student days at Oxford. " One incident stands out very clearly in my mind," Jackson said. "We were talking about politics. Bill recounted a story he told to be true. He had heard a ... staff member telling about a White House secretary walking into the Oval Office...to find Lyndon Johnson and a certain attractive young woman...engaged in sex on the Oval office floor. She was on top of the president ,and she had a peace symbol on a chain dangling between her breasts." Jackson recalled the look of amusement on Clinton's face as the anecdote unfolded." Sure..it was a funny story...but the impression I got was that Bill thought it was so neat that Johnson could get away with something like that."

So, as I said, great book!

This is, next to David Maraniss' bio, the best one available. Although Oakley spends too much time glorifying Arkansas Democrat Editor John Starr, she does present a look at Clinton from his home crowd, the people who have known him longer than anyone else. At times she seems almost jealous of Clinton's success. This remains, however, a definite book to read if you want to get inside Bill Clinton's head and stroll around for a while.

This bio of Clinton is not as easy to read as the Maraniss book; however, the effort to plough through it is well worth it. Because Oakley had covered Clinton for so many years, she offers far greater detail and insight into the inner workings of his years as governor. Sometimes she provides too much detail which, unless you are a true policy wonk, you may find tedious.

The result is an insightful and generally balanced view of our most gifted politician who is also a complicated and enigmatic man.

Tipper Gore provides a very unique perspective on life in the public eye through this pictorial. Her simple comments and striking pictures tell a story about the Gore family, public affairs in the U.S., and people in general. There is an innocence of the pictures, they present themselves at face value and are very real. Perhaps having someone like Mrs. Gore nonchalantly taking pictures of some of the most powerful and important people from around the world when they least expect it would solicit such simplicity. The photographs are very professional as well. A good gift book for anyone interested in politics or anyone looking for a unique book about family life in the public limelight with a clever twist.

What a wonderful book Tipper wrote. I love the photos she took. She is a very professional photographer. She and Al Gore are my biggest admirers in Washington. Though, it was sad to see them leave the White House. But guys, keep democracy alive! Good book, Tipper! And Al, I'm voting for you for president in 2004! See you then!

I wasn't expecting much from this book. I assumed it was the vanity project of a second lady with time on her hands. What I found, instead, was an incredible collection of excellent photographs from a talented and experienced photojournalist. Skim past the family pictures (except for the one of Al as Frankenstein!) and concentrate on the pictures that document some of the most important people and places of our day. I'd recommend this book to any photographer who wants to be inspired by fine work.

Golly gosh, this was the best book on animals I ever read. I immediately went out and bought a little parrot after reading it, who only says one thing: "I love jesus, I love jesus."

An excellent book covering many aspects of our interaction with non-human animals. Packed with information, interesting examples and a wonderfully useful bibliography, I couldn't put it down. A real shame there's not more books like this, as a student of human-animal interaction I could have done with reading something as comprehensive as this years ago. I particularly liked the application of symbolic interactionist theory to this area of study.

REGARDING ANIMALS, Arnold Arluke and Clinton Sanders, Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996, 218pp.

Regarding Animals, by Arnold Arluke and Clinton Sanders, explores the special symbiosis that exists between human animals and non-human animals. Theirs is a sociological exploration navigated by their skills in ethnography that ventures them into cultural frontiers seldom seen and therefore left uncharted by sociological experts. For Arluke and Sanders, fieldwork took place wherever human-animal interaction was likely to occur, "the pet store, circus, riding stables, and countless other settings where animals play a part" (p. 19). This interaction united them with "exotic tribes" they identified as "pet owners, veterinarians, animal trainers, slaughterhouse workers, mounted policemen, and any other group that works with or cares for animals..." (p. 19). Arluke and Sanders attempt to record what was happening in these places and to articulate the meanings that animals have for people. Traditional sociological ethnography was the framework utilized for the authors' research. Their job as sociologists was to identify some of the social forces that are behind the inconsistent treatment of animals and to show how they work. Their ultimate goal was to convincingly argue the merits of sociological analysis in popular and scholarly discussions about animals in Western cultures. The purpose of Regarding Animals is to dissect how humans regard animals in modern Western societies.

The book's format divides its discourse into two sections. Part one, "The Human-Animal Tribe," discusses a myriad of issues ranging from studying the social construction of animals to understanding ethnography to recognizing the existence of the non-human animal "mind." Particularly striking was Arluke and Sanders' rhetoric on social constructs. They regard the social construction of animals to be the meanings that animals have for cultures, and, consequently, determine them to be dependent upon the variables of place and time. Then, after a discussion of the criticisms of ethnography, the authors move on to the animal "mind," which can only be described as a modern paradigm drama. Arluke and Sanders testify to the "mind's" existence, and consequently refute conventional positivistic assumptions by reasoning that the animal "mind" is capable of more than just capricious, instinctual thought response.

In the next section, Living with Contradiction, ethnography plays a key role. The authors infiltrate the world of animal shelter workers, animal trainers, primate labs, and the history of Nazi Germany. The chapter entitled The Sociozoologic Scale was particularly compelling. The scale ranks animals "according to how well they seem to `fit in' and play the roles they are expected to play in society" (p. 169). Arluke and Sanders deduce that society constructs good animals and bad animals. They discuss the latter as being characterized as freaks, vermin, and demons. Good animals, characterized as pets and tools, included minority groups that, according to the majority's perspective, seem to accept their subordinate role in society and are patronizingly treated like children. This same society has a tendency to treat pets and children very similarly. Therein, the authors infer that this is the reason why society finds it easy to dehumanize minorities like women, blacks, children, the elderly, and the mentally challenged to the status of animal when using descriptive language about them. The discussion on animals as valued tools was also very compelling. Here they recalled the infamous Tuskegee experiment where more than four hundred blacks were unknowingly infected with syphilis and subjected to forty years of suffering with no treatment. These people were dehumanized to the subhuman level of a tool or guinea pig.

The only fault of Regarding Animals lies in some of the excerpts used from interviews. The responses appear staged. And, although I am convinced that people would feel these things, I only question the lack of vernacular used by those respondents who talk about their pet.

Regarding Animals takes an informative yet critical look at society's relationship with animals. They expose the "constant paradox" (p. 4) defined as the consistent inconsistency of human's emotions toward animals, like advocating the vivisection of a dog as long as it was not their pet. Arluke and Sanders' fieldwork gives the reader access to places, like research laboratories and veterinary hospitals, that permit a broader understanding of our four legged friends that we worship and who sometimes worship us.

Subcultures like pet owners, veterinary personnel, and breeders have always had a greater perspective of the dynamics of human-animal symbiosis. It is only within the crucible of academe that the "mind," social influence, and the pragmatics of animals have been omitted from discussions. Arnold Arluke and Clinton Sanders are determined to increase our knowledge and question our values regarding animals. This book is an asset to anyone interested in deconstructing myths we have made that separate us from the wet nosed companion nestled by our feet.

When I first heard about this book, I had nothing to compare it with-other than my personal observations of Bill Clinton as he campaigned for president, his tenure in office, and his post- presidency life.

While others have now published their insights, and now Clinton's autobiography is on the shelves, I still believe this work to be definitive regarding the Clinton years, and all that formed his personality, quest for power, and need to remain strutting upon the political stage. In fact I constantly refer to this book for source material, as well as to better understand how Clinton continues to influence and redirect his political party.

Thanks for writing "Too Much Power-The Clinton Years" as well as the new book "God Goes Public-The Kennedy Connection".

Bret Meanor, a new author, yet straight to the point with strong words and clear visuals, describes the 43 president as a man who was unable to lead. His character and personality flaws led his agenda down the wrong path for America. Fortunately for us, crises did not ruin America. Clinton's leadership could not have withstood the potential problems we might have had while he was in term. His own personal agenda was more important than the country's needs. That made his rise to power awkward at best and downright tragic at its worst. Bret describes poignantly the character of Hillary Clinton in chapter 6 titled, "Hillary's Photo Album". Here she is seen as one who just wants to have power, unwilling to sacrifice and really fight for the cause she believed in. Bret writes, "It is very possible that she really wanted to have the personal authority to dictate health care policy in the United States for the next 30 years...She too loved the power of the office, but like her husband, never understood the boundaries." Bret writes with a personal style that makes you feel like you are having a fireside chat with the author, speaking clearly and with some strong words, but deals fairly with the president's two terms. Bret is not afraid to speak the thoughts many of us have been afraid to share openly, yet he does it without timidity. Bret's work is a strong effort and a good read, even if the subject matter is a painful walk down memory lane.

There's fun stuff in this book written by a young writer about the Clinton Years.

Bret Meanor is self-revelatory as he records his reactions to the Reagan years and thereafter, writing in a personal prose that clips along and keeps you reading.

Who wouldn't want chapter after chapter of oftimes squirming-in-the-seat Republican responses to Clinton's bravura and awfulness?

Meanor's disappointment with Clinton is much more sincere than Kenneth Starr's, whose reaction to Clinton seemed closer to inverted lust.

But Starr - and George Bush and Robert Dole - are handled with loving kindness here, which that gives Clinton's flagrancy an especially mad edge as he and Hillary fly in the face of the decency and common sense of the author's expectations.

I came away refreshed by Meanor's full head of steam, building through the book as surely as Clinton's own apparent race to the bottom.

This peppy work proves we'll never have enough to read about the former President. Start with this one and you'll be well ahead of the pack.

Dr. Robert Hanna Phd, Professor Hillsdale College, February 23, 2006,
What a great book! It is so realistic - the plot starts with what I already knew about Presidential Elections (procedures and past events) and then builds into a very real 'what if?' I also enjoyed that I could not figure out how the flashback was going to arrive at the first pages of the book, and as I got closer to the end, I couldn't put the book down. I've read only one other book remotely similar ever - Sinclair Lewis' It Can't Happen Here. You have written a marvelous book - I could see it being made into a just as exciting movie. It may be a novel, however there is a great deal of education given on the election process and the Constitution.
Also recommended: Sinclair Lewis' 'It Can't Happen Here'

Suspenseful from start to finish, Mr. Drexler snatches the reader's attention with his new release, "Casualty of Duty". In the middle of a Presidential election, corruption, greed, and murder become household names. If you are a lover of politics and history, this is a must read.