Dean Books

This book was awesome. I've read it over 100 times. It just reminds me so much of Christmasses at my house. Except I don't have a little brother who likes boogers. This is a must read for anyone who likes Christmas books.

Jack Dean Kingsbury, formerly of Union Theological Seminary in Richmond has authored a very helpful book on the Christology in Mark's Gospel. He asks the right questions, poses the right problems, and arrives at a reasonable solution, helpful for the pastor, who wants some additional work on Mark's gospel in order to prepare sermons. Both this and Kingsbury's other book on Mark's gospel deserve attention.

I read it just after it was published and I think it's one of the best books to prepare for CISSP exam. I can't say it's the only study source to pass the exam, but definitely it was very helpful.

Revised since the original, sold-out first edition, this biography of Clarence True Wilson is the most recent work penned by Robert Dean McNeil. In it, we learn that while Wilson's mission may have been the prohibition of alcohol, his legacy is best documented by his extraordinary friendship with Clarence Darrow.

None of Darrow's biographers mention this remarkable companionship ... one that came about following Darrow's retirement. After tangling with William Jennings Bryan at the Scopes trial, in the `cultural debate of the century,' Darrow agreed to debate Wilson on "Should Prohibition be Repealed?"

When Ruby Darrow met Wilson for the first time she said, "I cannot possibly know what you and my husband would have in common." Nevertheless Wilson, preacher and advocate for moral reform; and Darrow, agnostic and civil libertarian; developed a close friendship during their travels. The duo crossed the nation, debating 46 times, with crowds numbering in the thousands at each stop. Surveying an audience of 6,000 in Houston, Darrow once remarked to Wilson: "Do you know why such a large crowd? They came to see an infidel."

When Darrow died, Wilson wrote, "There passed off the stage of action one of the most brilliant, witty, sincere, and true men, the greatest criminal lawyer of our age, and the most colorful personality we had since Theodore Roosevelt and William Jennings Bryan passed on."
The book is timely. Walter Cronkite has called the present form of Presidential debates an "unconscionable fraud." Americans clamor for a more meaningful forum for an exchange of ideas ... open to wider participation. Says McNeil, "Would that today our fellows brought to debate the spirit of friendship shown by Wilson and Darrow."

Prohibition remains an issue, in the pubic debate over tobacco use and legalization of marijuana. These men's deft handling of free speech provides a contemporary model for today's society.

In 1937, The Gresham Outlook called Wilson their `most famous citizen of all time.' Long after leaving the national stage, Wilson's values - through his daughter's philanthropy - continue to shape Oregon policy by way of the Collins Foundation. The `moral sentinel' Wilson founded, now called the United Methodist Building, remains the only private property on Capitol Hill. It has provided offices for Dr. Martin Luther King and lodging for Congress and court justices.

Rev. McNeil will make himself available for book signings, lectures and other appearances.

Classic Questions and Contemporary Film provides an easy way to examine the most common philosophical topics. It is the perfect way to introduce philosophy to those new to common questions found in philosophy. The correspondence to contemporary film allows us to relate the beginnings of philosophy to new age life. It is an easy way to give meaning to studying philosophy today. I would recommend it as a great start to not only understanding but working through common philosophical issues.

This is a fascinating account of one man's journey through the developmental years of the radio industry. You experience the awe of early radio listeners huddling in front of a crystal radio set Cliff Johnson made with his own two hands. The enormous influence of the radio is chronicled through Cliff's career that spanned decades. Through it all we are introduced to an assortment of business leaders, radio personalities, famous Hollywood stars, all part of the colorful radio fabric. Cliff Johnson lived through those wonderfully exciting days where anything was possible. Throughout the book there are numerous examples how the strong family values instilled in him as a boy growing up in a large Swedish family in rural South Dakota, played an important role in shaping his life and career as a radio personality and family man. In the end, Cliff's story isn't just about radio and his personal successes, it's about people, his abundant love of people and their stories. It's also a heart-warming story about a man of principles forged in a home with love and strong Christian values. It is a well-told story and an easy read.

I am a sonography student and found this book really helpful in the lab and while doing homework. I am sure I will use it at clinical.

In Tullahoma, Mississippi, retired sixty-year-old school teacher Ernestine "Ernie" Carpenter enjoys solving problems. Being single, Ernie, who works from her home, relishes helping people with their troubles. She has quickly earned a reputation for results.

However, even Ernie is a bit taken aback when venerable wealthy icon Mary McElroy comes to Ernie's home for assistance. The elderly patron of Southern Belle Letters hires Ernie to uncover the identity of the individual who murdered writer Sukey Lytton six months ago in a reported accidental drowning. Since the same group will be at Mary's home, Ernie joins them on the pretense of helping Mary write her memoirs. Ernie quickly learns that Sukey's final manuscript is missing and wonders if that is the cause of the murder; that is if someone actually killed the author. Ernie also wonders if murder did indeed occur, and it is not the ramblings of a senior citizen, will the murderer strike again if the amateur sleuth gets too close to the truth?

This Ernie Carpenter tale, CLOSER THAN BONES, is an engaging mystery starring a fabulous lead protagonist. The story line moves forward in a genteel way as expected from a Southern cozy, but never slows down or looks back. Ernie is a great character and the support cast, especially the writing group provides the audience with an insightful novel that readers will enjoy while demanding Dean James return quickly with his heroine.

Harriet Klausner

I loved this book. I especially loved the secret technique that I had never heard about before!

COMING TO LAND is an amazingly rich book, capable of fostering profound personal and social transformation.

In the first essay, "Landing," Kathleen Moore unearths and airs the profound disconnects of our culture: "We have been away for many centuries, we people of the western industrial nations. We have built a culture on the mistaken assumption that human beings are independent of one another and of the places and systems of the earth." To borrow from author Derrick Jensen, we are a culture of make believe; and the end result of the lies we tell ourselves and our children is economic and cultural alienation en mass. But Moore is not content with this revelation. She goes on to discuss several other "lies that isolate us" (the false dichotomies of today/tomorrow, near/far, us/them, and humans/nature) and then outlines the process of grief, denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance of our ecological predicament. It is a very sobering essay that seeks "creative acts of commitment--acts of imagining and choosing." It is an essay about "caring for people and caring for places, (accepting) the challenge of reconciliation, bringing together what has been apart for a very long time."

The second essay, "A Conservationist's Manifesto," is just that--a rich, stirring document about humanity's relationship with nature. Having begun as a lively talk between members of the Century for Land and People, it encapsulates the insight and wisdom of many individuals, including such environmental luminaries as William Cronon and Bill McKibben. Point 22 reads: "In order to live, we must use the earth--but we should not use it up. For the sake of our descendants, we must learn to grow food without depleting the soil, fish without exhausting the seas, draw energy from sunlight and wind and tides. We must conserve the minerals we mine and the products we manufacture, recycling them as thoroughly as the forest recycles twigs, leaves, fur, and bone." All together, it is truly inspiring document, promoting a mature and ethical relationship between humans and the environment; and would make for a wonderful educational tool.

The third essay, "Lifting the Veil" by Peter Forbes, is actually six essays in one, and by far the longest and most eclectic of the bunch. Weaving in and out of such topics as time capsules, domestication, and the biographies of great people (Aldo Leopold, Scott and Helen Nearing, Thoreau, and Rachel Carson), Forbes articulates a new vision of conservationism. Differing from the old view, which simply seeks to preserve places, Forbes' vision seeks deep and lasting social change. Ever conscious of how it might end in less funding and social marginalization, he keeps his radical roots. In his words, "As much as conservation is succeeding in creating refugia, or safe havens for pockets of diverse life that might survive the industrial growth society, we conservationists are failing to take the risks necessary to help people life differently, to envision and create an alternative culture. The alternative culture won't emerge solely because land has been protected, but only when our relationship, connection, and communion with that land have been restored."

Altogether, this book is about "protecting the places that we have a birthright to, (helping) us find our roots or put down new roots, enabling us to envision the land as part of ourselves." Full of common sense, deep, earthly wisdom and a vision of what truly matters, COMING TO LAND contains the germ of an ecologically sustainable future.