Coleman Books

If you are a Civil War buff from the Hoosier State, as am I, or if you are fascinated by the prisoner of war camps in the Civil War, this book will be of great interest to you. To the casual student of the Civil War, this book will be too detailed and have to narrow of a focus to be of much interest.

Camp Morton was one of the more commonly used prisoner of war camps utilized by the Union government in the Western Theater. Its first commandant, a man by the name of Richard Owen, was recognized for the fair way that he treated him by his prisoners after the War - they created a bust of him to be displayed in the Indiana State House. It is still on display.

Unfortunately, the federal government took over managing the camps and the quality dropped for guards and prisoners alike. The only bright spots occur when General Benjamin Butler gets involved. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Butler, he is generally considered to be a hack general that was only promoted to general due to his political connections in Massachussetts. Nornally, Butler's inability to effectively lead military operations overshadowed the political weight he brought to the table. In this case though, Butler's shrewd political sense led him to negotiate several key provisions that temporarily improved conditions at Camp Morton and POW camps on both sides.

The quality of the research is first rate. The quality of the writing will drive away all but the most-determined of readers. I give this one a grade of C+.

I was very pleased with this book. I think the authors did a great job with the overall history of the camp. More importantly, I think I was able to get a good idea of what life was like for the prisoners held there. There are many good footnotes that will allow me further research into documents and holdings I didn't know about. There are only a few photos (all period), but very nice. It is well indexed (very few personal names mentioned..if any), but I was dismayed that there was no bibliography. A good value.

I picked up this book for its information on creating an ancestral altar and drawing one's ancestors to the altar and for this information I found the book invaluable and worth the price.
That said, the book is written to be accumulative in that each chapter builds on the one previous and the author stresses that the would-be practitioner complete each step before moving onto the next chapter. These steps, if followed exactly, means that it will take the would-be necromancer somewhere between 2-3+ years of hard work to develop relationships with the ancestral, divinatory, and operative spirits.
In the beginning chapter the author discusses what necromancy is and what traits and abilitities a would-be practitioner should possess. Following this information, the reader is guided in how to create an ancestral altar, and how to draw the spirits of one's ancestors and feed them. This is important because it will be the would-be necromancer's ancestral spirits that will draw the divinatory spirit, which will, in turn be worked with to draw an operative spirit.
Several chapters focus on how to develop a relationship, train, test, and feed both the divinatory spirit and the operative spirit as well as precautions to take against the detrimental aspects of having these spirits within one's home. He also gives instruction on dealing with trickster spirits and negative spirits that may be drawn to the necromancer and how to keep all spirits out of certain rooms.
One of the things Coleman makes very clear in this book is that Necromancy is a very long-term, intensive practice which demands a great deal of time, effort, persistance, and practice to master. The Necromancer is, literally, going into business and developing relationships with the spirits that become their divinatory spirit and operative spirit. Once this relationship is developed it must be attended to every single day...the necromancer doesn't get days off. This means, talking with the spirits everyday, keeping them working constantly on various projects, and rewarding them for tasks that are well done. If you can't dedicate yourself to this practice and a long-term, on-going relationship with these spirits it is better to not get involved in necromancy.

For a second print, this book has a lot of typo's. I counted over thirty but that isn't a real negative aspect, just surprising.
Some parts of this book seem to contradict itself. I find it strange how Mr. Coleman mentions that spirits are dissapointed when they reach the astral realm because they may have had other religious beliefs and expected a different after life while it makes reference to Christian text and gives examples of prayers to either "Almighty God" or the Archangel Raphael. Another example is that he mentions how you "should" offer hard alcohol in a shot glass while on the next page, he says it's better to serve it in a bowl. Not a huge contradiction but the point is still there which is a bit perplexing.
Other ideas are hard to believe. Such as "Astral Police", not actually police but spirtual authority figures that seem to wield some power over spirits. There is also mention of Guardian spirts patrolling the Astral Realm which again is hard to believe. I'd doubt that a spiritual realm would have relfections of a living society, IE: Authoritive figures to keep order. It also seems unlikely that spirits would eat. For the energy in food can only be extracted by a chemical process. The same goes for giving spirits beverages.
With my "beef" aside, I'd say that this book is a comprehensive guide to the modern/christian approach of Necromancy and if someone is interested in this type of practice and has a magical or spiritual back ground, than this would be a great book for such a person. Although I'm skeptical, I'm still very glad I purchased this book and I enjoyed reading it.

I'd also reccommend this print over the first one as there are certain changes and additions that have been made.

FIRST OF ALL Dr. Coleman is not a psychologist, mental health provider, or mental health scholar.

This book seems to be Dr. Coleman writing her way to healing. Though the religious service is a nice gesture most victims will not attend due to the stigma that sexual violation carries.

i have worked with victims of intimate violence for almost 10 years (in private practice and within religious settings) and this book seems to provide a very simplistic understanding of the trauma that many of these people suffer. The language of this book suggest that all people are affected in the same way and that all people will display the same symptoms. Don't be mislead this is inaccurate. Dr. Coleman's statistics are misleading because she fails to state that less than 30% of victims report the abuse.

This book also suggests that only the church can be the voice of God in the lives of these victims...I sure hope that God has not been limited to the church. The church does need to do more, but it also needs to consult with mental professionals.

Dr. Coleman seems to suggests that all victims of rape are "overpowered" this not so...and dress has nothing to do with rape. As for her comments on PTSD and rape victims and Vietnam veterans, many psychiatrists will tell you that that trauma is worse in victims of sexual violence.

Although I applaud Dr. Coleman's effort, I must advise that this book is poorly written, it generalizes the issue of violence, and at times her comments actually perpetuate myths about rape. This book needed to be reviewed by a mental health professional prior to being released because it could have been a decent manual.

In a comprehensive, instructional, direct yet compassionate manner, this book gives voice to a form of violence which is hidden, silent, and ignored, threatening the integrity of the Church and our communities. Dr. Coleman speaks about sexual violence. The author defines the problem as a failure of the Church to fulfill its purpose. The author defines the solution as the fulfillment of the Church's purpose. She clearly explains how sexual violence is a spiritual issue to which the Church must respond.

To me, this book is a news story,reporting, or should I say revealing, the stories of two women of God who were victims of rape by "men of the cloth". To me, this book is a program manual: it outlines steps and provides tools for a structured, compassionate, truly healing response by the Church to sexual violence. To me, reading this book was a worship experience: the tone was prayerful, the approach was instructional; the text was God's Word; the conclusion was a praise party - celebrating God's grace. To me, this book was empowering: The book helped me to: tell the truth to myself; to understand the pain/mine and that of other victims who I dearly love; and, even in the face of unanswered questions, to find peace.

Because the moron who wrote it gave away the key plot twist and, thus, the conclusion.
I have yet to read this book, but a teacher highly recommended it to me.

A strange, amusing, and perplexing little book, told mostly through dialogue, about a weirdly cheerful menage a quatre between a handsome middle-aged couple, their dashing widower friend, and a beautiful 18 year old girl, with only the husband and wife ever winding up in bed with one another.

Mr. Middleton dotes on Ann. Mrs. Middleton dotes on Charles. Charles dotes on Ann and Mrs. Middleton. And Ann dotes on being doted on. Author Henry Green presents these people as a gang of befuddled masochists, unwittingly causing themselves great anguish and just as unconsciously enjoying it. The "doting" that they mistake for love is a form of self-torture. Green doesn't treat this doting as perverse. He portrays it as very human and therefore lovable mistake. Needing to feel loved, to feel young and desirable, the Middletons and their friends/would-be lovers try to force love out of others by showering love (or at least professions of it along with clumsy physical demonstrations) on them. None of the characters behaves very well. The best of them, Mrs. Middleton, the good wife and mother, is actually the most adulterously minded, but neither of the men or Ann act with much virtue or good will. And yet Green makes them all likable and all forgivable. He doesn't make us laugh at the characters' foibles but at their predicament. Green isn't as mean as Evelyn Waugh or as angry as Kingsley Amis, fellow Brits who also specialized in comedies of manners. He's not as funny as they are either, but he is a whole lot more humane and more forgiving of his characters' weaknesses.

It would be a mistake to think of this book as a primer to a sort of generic "environmentalism". Coleman's book does have a strong ecological focus, but it's really an introduction to the ideas of the global Green movement, with a particular emphasis on how the Greens' radical democracy has strong roots in the American revolutionary tradition. I strongly reccommend this book for anyone, but it will be of particular interest to those interested in the aspects of the Green movement other than environmentalism, people with a strong interest in confederalism or other populist democracy, and even ideological conservatives who are curious about the Greens.

as an environmentalist (read: life-long tree hugger), i picked up this book with the hopes of finding some new information. this book served more as an overview of past environmentalist writings than a display of original thought. i'd recommend it as a starting point for environmental research, but if you're already knowledgable in the field, this probaby isn't the book for you.

Since this was supposed to be the background for the FASA board game, I expected that when the Earth gets drawn into the Maelstrom, everyone would suddenly be at war with these alien horrors that immediately showed up; at least that was the impression I got from FASA's web site on the game. Instead it read like a distant-future version of World War Three with some occasional alien weirdness thrown in.

I enjoyed this book. As an owner and collector of the Vor: The Maelstrom game, it enhanced my gaming experience. As an avid reader of science fiction, however, it also seemed to stand on its own. Having a few concurrently developing plotlines showed good reflection of how the world might react in the Vor setting.

Even though FASA is now defunct, I'd recommend this as a good read anyway....

Needed some guides for promotion preparation. This is one of several that I purchased, and I think all helped a little in different areas.

If you have a lot of time to prepare and study (and you always should be preparing for promotion in ANY job) then get as many books & guides as you can. They will help you do better now, and get recognized now. When promotion time comes - you will be ready!

Very useful information. This book is good for 10-25 points on your score. If you have never sat for an assessment center this book will take away some of the mystery and give you the advantage.

this book is one mans story of his rise and fall of the drug game. It was pretty good reading. If you grew up on the eastside of Detroit i strongly recommend that you read this book, you never know who you might know.

While this book provides first hand details from the authors life, I was left wanting more. I had previously read and in depth account of the author's life from another writer and was hoping to gain more insight into the author's perspective. I think the most disppointing thing was what seemed to me a lack of acknowledgement and regret for the actions that lead to his downfall. The accounts of various destructive actions, relationships, and the treatment of women seemed to glorify and even excite the author in recounting specific events. Giving latitude for how many, including myself, may misinterpret the author's retelling of certain events. It seems as if no true remorse for certain lifestyle choices were presented. Aside from being incarcerated, what personal contrition is evident and offered to the many families destroyed, community at large, as well as to the author's family and friends for the actions chosen? I think this was a missed opportunity to educate many youths, especially disenfranchised African American males, of how not to follow his many missteps. That said...I would still like to thank the author for offering his side of the story.

I really enjoyed this book. The storyline was fresh, and original. I really wanted to know what would become of the characters through each page. The characters were complex and the ending was unexpected. I look forward to future novels by this author.

Three friends, who happen to be reservationists for the same airline, find themselves working amid escalating workplace violence. The "Left-Handed Killer" is on the loose, the number of dead bodies found is increasing and the killing is a little too close to home for comfort. Pretty soon it becomes obvious that one of them is a serial killer. Through a series of interconnected events and scattered clues, investigators are able to narrow the list of suspects down to one of the women, who turns out to be secretly psychotic. As is often the case, no one knows the killer is mentally disturbed until it's too late. And when she is discovered, she offers a sordid story of childhood trauma and betrayal as reasons for the murderous rages she cannot seem to curtail.

THE RESERVATIONIST, written by Barbra Porter Coleman, was an easy read, though not as suspenseful as I had hoped. Coleman kept the story orderly and the events leading up to the discovery of the killer in logical sequence, but the element of surprise just wasn't there. It was an entertaining, predictable read, but wasn't what it purported to be; a suspense/mystery. However, Coleman has to be given kudos for good pacing and conflict resolution. I liked how she kept track of the various storylines and that, by the time the book ended, each one had been closed satisfactorily. She also touched upon many of society's problem areas and managed to make me feel a measure of sympathy for the "Left-Handed Killer," though I still wanted to see her get hers.

Reviewed by T. Shelly B.
for The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers

Story of the Coleman family in Colorado and history of ranching on public lands in the western United States. Very readable history on the family and how the development of the public lands directly affected this family.

It gives the history and problems of Mel Coleman's development of a natural beef program.

A well written book that tells of the rich Indian, mining and ranching history of Colorado's San Luis Valley, based on historic documents, photos and stories handed down four and five generations. It also tells a story about Mel Coleman, a fourth-generation rancher who litterally bet the ranch on the growth and popularity of natural foods, and WON!