Francis Books

Live & Work Abroad is a must have for any person who is currently living abroad, thinking of living abroad or in the process of moving abroad. Simply a MUST HAVE. Our family uses it as a complete reference guide with up-to-date, practical information. As a Modern Nomad I appreciate a complete book that covers so much. It's a first-timers MUST HAVE and an experienced expat's best friend. Buy one for yourself and keep on extra on hand for friends. If you lend your copy out, put your name in big letters, or you might not get it back.

This book was the best book I've ever read. Having based the whole research on questionnaires filled in by foreigners living in other countries, and by being nomads themselves, the authors have very successfully helped others who don't work in their own countries. I believe working and living in a country where you don't live must've extremely difficult, and having to put up with the stress of not being used to the currency or not knowing the language etc. must be equally frustrating. If I ever do live and work abroad I will have this book at my side to guide me.

Live & Work Abroad : A Guide for Modern Nomads is THE single MUST HAVE book for anyone who plans to live or work abroad. Callan and Francis have put together a compendium of ESSENTIAL information and they tell it like it is. Their own extensive experiences in living and working abroad are very evident, even in terms of what they include. Things like how to ship your belongings to your new address; what problems you might encounter in doing so; and what to do about those challenges. This is the kind of tone that informs the whole book -- a down to earth, problem solving, "let's get on with it and deal with the daily things so that we can enjoy the rest of what living aborad has to offer." The book is _filled_ with invaluable contact information and questions that people may think no one has written about-- from dealing with medical problems like severe food allergies to tips for gay/lesbian travellers. These folks really have the goods! The only drawback is that the pages are really jam-packed with smallish font: but, that keeps the book itself back-pack size. Definitely a MUST HAVE... for travellers, and also their possibly skitterish parents!

This book, aptly listed as a guide for modern nomads, is a must-read for anyone going on or living through an expatriate assignment. During my years in International Human Resources I think I read every book written about the expat experience, looking for the one that I could recommend to our staff. I'm pleased to say that this book satisfies my craving, and after twenty-five years, I can stop my quest.

The book covers everything from definitions of words associated with expat assignments to detailed information on how to address various aspects of expat life. The book is presented in easy to read language. At the end of each major segment it lists additional resources on the topic, typically both print and Internet, so may continue to research a topic of particular interest.

The book can is a boon to all expats, from those moving under the auspices of a company that provides assistance in shipping household goods to those who are making all the arrangements on their own. There are some brilliant checklists that guide you through various decision-makings processed such as what to move and how to select a pre-school. Although I read this book over a three-day period, it's best used as a tool that you refer to as you face expat situations. If you only pack one book in your carry-on luggage, this should be it!

I spent 10 days diving Palau in June 2001 and this book was incredibly helpful. There are so many dive sites to choose from in this region, and this book did an excellent job detailing each and every one. Since most dive operators in this region take "requests" rather than dictate where you're going, it's nice to have some information to make an informed decision, depending upon whether you want to focus on macro, big animal enounters, drift dives, wrecks, etc. Going to dive Palau without this book is simply a bad idea.

I used by no means to be a fan of diving and snorkeling. Yet, the beautiful seas of the Pacific, combined with this wonderful excellently written guidebook, introduced me to the wonderful world of this activity. The guidebook provides excellent and invaluable information and advice for divers and snorkelers - beginners and experts alike - with special focus on how great this can be in Palau. Meanwhile, the guidebook is also a wonderful travel tool for visiting Palau, whether or not you are primarily there for snorkeling and diving. All in all, it is surely a worthwhile, if not crucial, purchase, before you set off to the Pacific.

Well worth the money to purchase this book. There are LOTS of quality places to snorkel and dive in Palau, this book gives you some help picking out the best places for you. Also some (not a ton, but adequate) suggestions for dry-land activities.
And yes, I was in Palau spring 2005- the jellys in jellyfish lake are back to a healthy population after El nino!

I used by no means to be a fan of diving and snorkeling. Yet, the beautiful seas of the Pacific, combined with this wonderful excellently written guidebook, introduced me to the wonderful world of this activity. The guidebook provides excellent and invaluable information and advice for divers and snorkelers - beginners and experts alike - with special focus on how great this can be in Palau. Meanwhile, the guidebook is also a wonderful travel tool for visiting Palau, whether or not you are primarily there for snorkeling and diving. All in all, it is surely a worthwhile, if not crucial, purchase, before you set off to the Pacific.

didnt have a cover and there was some writing in it but it was in overall good condition

This is a classic book of military history and a truly rare book. If you're reading it, either you where blessed to know Father Sampson or have an obscure interest in military history of the rarest kind.

Father Sampson joined the US Army and volunteered for the paratroops as a chaplain. He was an unarmed hero more concerned with the welfare of his troops he parachuted into Normandy, France on D-Day, protected only with his devotion to God and his uncompromising faith. He was later captured at The Battle of the Bulge and spent the rest of the war in a German POW camp where he continued to serve his men.

Father Sampson would later serve in Korea and Vietnam and earned a large number of decorations for courage under fire. He even received a Purple Heart for wounds. Sampson was the right name for a man so brave and pure of heart.

I won't spoil this story for you as a reader. It's a great read about a man who was much better, much more courageous and decent a man than I.

The book reads wonderfully and is a joy to own. What can I say about it? Not only is it an inspirational story and a great history book. But honestly, it makes me want to be a better Catholic.

This book is a must-read for every American who values his freedom and who realizes that it depends on the brave sacrifices of others. When Steven Spielberg produced Saving Pvt Ryan, he unfortunately left out critical parts of this true story. It was the brave Catholic Chaplain Francis Sampson who actually did the dangerous job of Saving Pvt Ryan. Fr. Sampson was the chaplain to whom Fritz Niland went when he wanted prayer and help in going to locate the bodies of his 2 brothers who'd just been killed hours before in the Normandy invasion and he also was inform4ed of the death of his 3rd brother in Burma. The 4 brave Niland brothers--3 of whom went to Canisius College and 1 to Univ. of Buffalo in the 1930's before they entered the service along with their cousin Pete Niland--also 101st Airborne--and said brave family is acknowledged by Spielberg in the Prologue to Saving Pvt Ryan, would have made an outstanding movie of itself. But the life of Father Francis Sampson--who parachuted in 3 wars and was a POW twice in WW II and has been honored with hundreds of awards--is a hero whose outstanding life could easily alone become an outstandig movie. When you read Look Out Below! you'll get chills up your spine and tears in your eyes. What honor, bravery, love and guts! It makes me proud to be an American and a Catholic. God Bless Father Sampson, God Bless the Niland Family and God Bless America!

Saving Private Ryan was based on a short true account on page 86 of this book. Father Sampson of the 101st in Normandy is trying to help a young soldier find the cemetary his brother is in, when he is told that another brother is also dead, killed on the same day. Meanwhile, a third brother has been killed in the Pacific. Sampson gives a historical account of his life in the 101st. His tales of Normandy are especially riviting.

SN 6/7/1999

"Marx's Das Kapital" is noted Marx-sympathetic journalist Francis Wheen's contribution to Atlantic Magazine's series on book biographies. It's short, merely 120 pages of actual text, but it does the job well. Relying strongly on prominent secondary literature about Marx, such as David McLellan's excellent biography (Karl Marx, Fourth Edition: A Biography) and S.S. Prawer's equally fascinating study of Marx' use of literature and literary references (Karl Marx and World Literature (Oxford Paperbacks)), Wheen summarizes the background of Das Kapital, how it came to be, as well as its content and its reception.

Wheen is at his best in the journalistic parts, when he can give colorful and well-done descriptions of Marx's life and activities, his relation to Engels, his trials and tribulations while working on the magnum opus, and in commentary on Marx's books and style. On the other hand, his grasp of Marx's economic theories is very weak and likely to make things more confusing, especially since he misses the point and meaning of Marx's Theory of Value entirely. Also dubious is that he appends a chapter on 'afterlife' of the book, which is mostly an attempt to summarize all of the later Marxist tradition (from an anti-Leninist viewpoint) in a few pages, a task so impossible that its attempt is fruitless and uninformative.

However, Wheen is quite good at putting Das Kapital in its historical context, in emphasizing the rhetorical and literary qualities of the book and of Marx' thought in general, and the book also contains some fascinating quotes and remarks from pro-capitalist economists and businessmen who have come to see, to their own astonishment, that ol' Marx was a better analyst of the system they wish to support than anyone else. Let us hope the reader of this booklet will be inspired by this to attempt to delve into Marx & Engels' own works, which constantly show their relevance in new and unexpected ways. As Wheen demonstrates, this is precisely as Marx had intended it.

Mr. Francis Wheen's narration of the genesis of Karl Marx's Das Kapital deserves an honored space on the library shelves of every man conversant in current affairs.

John Gooch

Karl Marx. For some, those two four letter words elicit hissing recoils and vicious claw swipes. Just one glimpse of the man resembling Santa Claus' evil twin can send them into a relentless conniption of fury. They may equate Marxism with communist, socialist, Leninist, anti-American claptrap. After all, weren't the Soviets America's diabolical enemy? Didn't they breed Bolsheviks in our washrooms? Inject anti-capitalist fluid into our drinking water? And didn't they derive such sinister plots from their hoary prophet of doom, Herr Marx? Surely the mighty bearded one inspired the killing fields, the Gulag death camps and the Red Square parades? So why drudge up this hateful mess?

After the Berlin Wall and the USSR collapsed, and especially after the September 11th, 2001 attacks, which put the focus on Middle East terrorism, Marx has acquired a more innocuous aura. Nothing cools old passions like new enemies. This new era has allowed Marx to crawl out from under those who have claimed him as their ideological messiah. And many have claimed him. But why did they claim him, an impoverished exiled German journalist? And were those countless communist regimes of the past two hundred years accurate reflections of Marx's ideas? Where did those ideas come from?

This small book explores the origins and fate of those ideas through Marx's maniacal magnum opus, "Das Kapital." As spiraling, towering, and dizzying, and as incomplete, as Gaudí's cathedral, this sprawling tome usually goes unread. A reputation for Tolstoyian verbosity, Proustian opacity, and Gödelian complexity preceded it into the twenty-first century. Not only that, at some 1000 pages, the book's physical presence alone would intimidate anyone but the most recklessly courageous bookworm. Nonetheless, it somehow persists. The story of how it came to be makes up this much shorter book's first two chapters. Procrastination, neglect, illness, despair, and squalor almost kept it from appearing. Decades passed between its conception and its printing. Fredrick Engels, Marx's partner and financial supporter, egged him on through a parade of excuses and diversions. Along the way snippets of Marx's economic theory, such as use-value, exchange-value, surplus-value, commodity fetishism, immiseration, and dialectic, also dot the narrative.

The reception of "Das Kapital" following its publication, outlined in chapters two and three, surprised everyone, except Engels. It didn't sell. It seemed to have fallen, a la Hume, still born from the press. Engels blamed the book's dense obscurity. The one place it did catch on, to Marx's astonishment, was in Tsarist Russia. Though Marx passed on well before the 1917 revolution there, he nonetheless praised the assassination of Tsar Alexander II by a group called "The People's Will." He also spent the rest of his days waiting for the fall of capitalism. He and Engels seemed to revel in every economic disruption. But the big blow never struck. The boom and bust cycles that Marx outlined in "Das Kapital" never destroyed capitalism from within, as he predicted it someday would and should. Of course, it still could, but to this day the system endures.

Chapter three discusses Marx's legacy. Most of all, it rescues him from some of the crimes perpetrated by "Marxist" regimes. Vladimir Lenin in particular seemed to turn the Marxian dialectic on its head by postulating an elite proletariat "intelligentsia." Marx never condoned such a thing. As the twentieth century continued, Marx was also appropriated by academic movements such as cultural studies. The book dismisses these movements apparent "Marxism" through figures such as Louis Althusser. It also criticizes this movement's displacement of economics, which lies at the heart of Marx's work, with critiques of mass culture, such as television shows and candy wrappers. Most shocking are quotes from modern economists who support some of Marx's views on capitalism. So Marx wasn't blacklisted along with all those 1930s entertainers. Marx's legacy may just be beginning, but not as a revolutionary overthrowing the capitalist machine, but as an observer of the machine's working and flaws.

A better introduction to Marx and "Das Kapital" is hard to imagine. The book reads like a roller coaster in clear accessible language. Pros as well as cons of Marxist theory, its implications, and abuses receive apt attention, and Marx's turgid masterpiece comes to life. Anyone curious about "the spectre of communism" should start with this tiny but riveting - and appropriately colored - book.

If you're anything like me, you have neither the time, nor the patience to delve into Karl Marx's monstrous Magnum opus of political economics, Das Kapital. Fortunately, Francis Wheen has done us a great service by giving us this fantastic "biography" of a book that changed the world. The book is superbly written, and the audio version, eloquently delivered by Simon Vance, is equally good. It is a concise work; the CD version is 3.5 hours, while the printed format is only about 144 pages. My CD version is separated into three sections. The first section details Marx's life and the circumstances that led him to write such a groundbreaking book. The second section is a succinct exposition of Das Kapital. Wheen aptly outlines and dissects the basic principles of Marx's revolutionary economic theory, objectively pointing out both Marx's errors, as well as his numerous insights, many of which have proven true. While his prophesies of the collapse of the capitalist system have obviously not come to pass, Marx offers more insight into the "nature of the beast" than anyone else before, or since.

The final section deals with the book's lasting influence and Marx's legacy. Wheen points out that in most "Marxist" countries, Marx's ideas were never thoroughly researched and interpreted, their leaders simply took their own interpretation, made it an unquestionable dogma, and that was that. Ironically, it's been in western capitalist societies where Marx, due to the freedom of scholars to study him, has been more thoroughly understood. "Marxism as practiced by Marx himself," Wheen writes, "was not so much an ideology, as a critical process, a continuous dialectical argument." More simply put, Marx was not a Marxist.

Wheen clearly has a great amount of respect for Marx. And while he is quick to point out certain lapses in logic or prognosis, he maintains that Marx was one of the most brilliant thinkers of the 19th century. In fact, he predicts that we have not seen the last of Karl Marx, and boldly suggests that in the end, he may turn out to be more relevant than most would expect. All in all, I would recommend this as a great introduction to Marx or even a refreshing new look at an old subject. 5 stars.

Manna's writing is extremely polished and her stories are compellingly plotted. Her characterizations are deft, and while there are "no bad guys or good guys," only better and worse guys, she makes all of her characters believable, and you come to care deeply about them.

When I first read this, I thought I was reading for the erotica -- and certainly the erotica is scorching, especially if you like yours with some kink and BDSM. But as I got deeper into the story, I realized I was reading for the story itself; the erotica had become secondary to a very well-crafted novel. I literally could not put this book down. I was reading it at long stoplights.

Incidentally, while some gay fiction or slash fiction tends to demonize women, or at least betray a smidge of misogyny, this does not, as far as I could tell. There are, as with the men, better and worse women, but none of them come off any worse than the men do, and there are several women characters who are important to the story and important in their own right as characters, not just as a way to move the plot along.

Highly recommended as science fiction, mystery/thriller, and erotica.

Whether you categorise this under scifi or urban fantasy or erotica or gay - because of the relationship between the two main characters - it remains one of the best books I have ever read. I'm so pleased to see it in print. The world Manna builds is uncompromising and often harsh, but also littered with human frailty and passion and humor and confusion and determination. There is an excellent cast of other characters, who prove to be far more than subsidiary, with a refreshing balance of men and women. The plot is good and just challenging enough to balance the relationship development. The sex is hot beyond heat, though in my opinion that's because of the connection the reader makes with the characters of Toreth and Kier. It's far more complex than just a gay, erotic affair. Anyway, it's not often I try to read more slowly as a book continues because I'm depressed at getting to the end! Read it if you like strong, flawed men who are desperately and passionately drawn to each other, and a mature plot.

The universe Manna creates is vividly detailed and always painstakingly human. The mystery plots are excellent, and the sex sequences are sizzling. Also, she writes some of the most phenomenal character dynamics I've ever read between her two lead men, with a fascinating and perpetually ongoing power play taking place between them. I very highly recommend this book!

These are interesting characters--complicated and compelling despite (or because of?) their considerable flaws. The book is very well plotted, blending sci-fi, mystery, and romance seamlessly and compellingly. The development of the relationship between the two main characters is handled deftly and is one of the book's strongest points. Sex scenes are well written, explicit, and also never fail to advance the plot. A fun read!

If you thought Caligula was the last word in Caeserian depravity, you must check out the life and times of Nero, the last of the Julio-Claudian emperors. And Ms. Griffin's splendid biography is an excellent place to begin. She's both a classically trained (Oxford, Harvard, Columbia) historian and a gifted writer,

Thus, this biography is both scholarly and fascinating in a grisly rise and fall of an ancient psychopath sort of way. What follows is just a partial list of Nero's major crimes: matricide, parricide, fratricide, uxoricide, foeticide, homicide, suicide and maybe arson. Ironically, arson for which his name is historically synonymous, is the one felony for which hard evidence is lacking. However, he probably did play the lyre (not the fiddle) while Rome burned to the ground. Nero was absolutely devoted to the arts.

Ms. Griffin, like all good historians, has her own educated slant on Nero, but uses the primary sources--Roman historian Tacitus, Roman biographer Suetonius (The Twelve Caesars) and Greek historian, Cassius Dio--extremely well: she doesn't agree completely with any of them. My own favorite among this group is Suetonious. He's gossipy, entertaining, highly opinated and sometimes accused of not always being totally reliable because he was writing not too long after Nero's death and his sources were, for the most part, then current word of mouth:

"Besides abusing freeborn boys and seducing married women, he debauched the vestal virgin Rubria. The freedwoman Acte he all but made his lawful wife, after bribing some ex-consuls to perjure themselves by swearing that she was of royal birth. He castrated the boy Sporus and actually tried to make a woman of him; and he married him with all the usual ceremonies, including a dowry and a bridal veil, took him to his home attended by a great throng, and treated him as his wife."

Abusing boys, seducing women, debauching vestal virgins, bribing public officials, castrating and then marrying a boy. And that's just a small sampling of Nero's criminally insane imperial career. He also enjoyed slipping out of the palace in disguise of an evening and robbing and beating (sometimes to death) ordinary citizens. Sometimes he donned the skins of wild beasts and tortured male and female prisoners who had been tied naked to stakes. He kicked his pregnant second wife, Poppea, to death. For reasons known only to himself, he demanded that his tutor and chief advisor, the distinguished and blameless stoic philospher Seneca, commit suicide. And there were some exceedingly dark suspicions about the true nature of the relationship between him and his mother, the notoriously manipulative Agrippina. Optima Mater (Best of Mothers) was the first Praetorian guard watchword of Nero's reign. Eventually, they had a serious falling out which ended very badly for Agrippina.

Nero's reign lasted from his seventeenth year to his thirty-first. By then he had been pronounced a public enemy by the long-suffering Senate. They planned to punish him in the ancient fashion: the criminal was stripped, fastened by the neck in a fork [two pieces of wood, fastened together in the form of a "V"], and then beaten to death with rods. On hearing that ghastly sentence Nero, who had fled from Rome to hide in a country manor, wept and wailed for a long time about how the world was losing "a great artist." Finally, as the posse charged with bringing him in approached, and with the help of his private secretary, he managed to stab himself in the throat. His bugged-eyed corpse horrified everyone who saw it.

Nero's three immediate successors were Galba, Otho and Vitellius. All had brief, insignificant reigns. And all were brutally slain within months of assuming the imperial throne. Sic transit gloria mundi.

This is less a biography than a scholarly exploration of specific aspects of Nero's reign, with a specific focus on assessing the relative credibility of Suetonius, Dio and Tacitus, and exploring the numismatic evidence. The book assumes pre-existing knowledge of Roman political and social structure as well as the general historical period being covered. Nero comes across as a surprisingly cultured and literate young man who was ultimately ruined by his emotional volatility and the temptations offered by absolute power.

A biography of a Roman emperor should concentrate on the life being observed but must also convey the events that occurred in the empire. Otherwise, the biography will be incomplete. However, the author runs the risk of writing a history without providing insight into the biographical subject. Miriam Griffin understands this and although she writes at length on the history of the principate she does not bury her immediate subject. Nero's life emerges from the sources that have come down to us (mainly by Tacitus, Suetonius, Seneca and Dio). As far as the book evoking a flesh and blood Nero, Ms. Griffin refrains from speculation and does not add her opinion although she seems to want to. Perhaps this will not be to the liking of some readers, and I think the lack of information invites intelligent theorizing about what Nero was really like.

This is an excellent study of Nero and has become the standard study to many. There are excellent appendices on historical sources and Nero's coinage. I agree that the book is a thoroughly researched and well-written but it could use some updating. I found it a little odd that Ms. Griffin brings the story of Nero's life to an end and then has chapters dealing with events in the empire, such as the Jewish revolt and Nero's tour of Greece. I think it would have been better to avoid this division. I was interested in some more detail about the Jewish revolt. Ms. Griffin also contrasts Nero with Caligula and Domitian, I think incorrectly. The issue of Caligula declaring himself a god is raised in contract with Nero (who did not). However, I think it is clear now that Caligula only authorized the worship of his numen. In a similar vein, Ms. Griffin recalls that Juvenal called Domitian a bald headed Nero, and relates how both killed off their relatives. This is a rather superficial comparison. Nero appears to have launched a campaign to eliminate all possible rivals and, while it is true that Domitian had his cousins executed, several years separated these actions and were the result of a conspiracy and treasonable activity.

In short, this is an admirable book that adds to our perspective on Nero and I highly recommend it.

A rather dry, scholarly account of Nero's reign (not quite biographical, but with some like elements). Obviously, this isn't a completely entertaining book, and if you're looking for a more "novelistic" account of the popular image of Nero, there are plenty of books that indulge in that excess. This is the finest resource on Nero that I know of : a complete, belated modern analysis. Griffin presents upfront the remaining contemporary accounts of Nero (Tacitus, Suetonius, Dio) and other evidence, especially coinage, to piece together the reign of Nero, debating it point-by-point to find the most likely of occurances. Many myths of Nero are dealt with in this probing, even-handed professional history that, I believe, paints a pretty convincing picture of his personality and politics.

If you love Roman history, this deserves to be in your library.

What a fabulous idea that Linda Francke had - combining an account of the life of the greatest Saint with a story of her own spiritual journey with a travel guide. A teacher in high school (a Jesuit) once told me that we don't all have to live like St. Francis, but we should all be willing to invite him into our busy live occasionally and allow him to ask us some tough questions. This book is a pleasant and thought-provoking way to do just that.

Linda Bird Francke's book is a must! I am always looking for more stories on this saint as I am an avid St. Francis of Assisi fan. He captured my heart on my first visit to Assisi in 1999 with my talented artist/sculptor husband Mic Carlson. Mic had an exhibition of his bronze collection on the life of St. Francis at the Basilica of St. Francis in 2004. He was the first American artist to be invited. During our month long stay we became followers of St. Francis. What a marvelously wonderful honor and experience! Mic is now working on a St. Francis prayer and meditation sculpture garden depicting the life of this saint, as well as life size peace statues of St. Francis in Assisi and Grand Rapids. Walking in the footsteps of St. Francis brought his spirit right beside us. You can feel his presence in so many places. Since then I have written a children's book about this beloved saint.
Tommy's New Shell exhibits the kindness Francis had for all creation. Mic and I are always searching for more history on St. Francis and Linda's book with all my highlighted pages will be tucked in my back pack on our next venture there in this fall. Linda went over and beyond the stories of Francis and even the places to visit. I felt every emotion she portrayed and cannot wait to experience new places she took me to. If you ever plan to visit the Umbrian or Tuscan areas in Italy, please read this book. You will not regret it. Not only does she tell the true story about this sweet vagabond and his followers, but she gives you the history of places and events that are confirmed in the many ancient frescoes all over Umbria and Tuscany. Linda will also take you to the hard to find caves and mountain top ledges where Francis spent his time with God. She also gives you the true feeling of living among the Italian residents in out of the way little villages. The cozy coffee shops, restaurants and inns with the locals are so vivid in my mind...these are the places where you really get the ambiance of true Italians. You can envision Francis as he walked along these same streets and offered his sweet spiritual messages to the people and even to the birds in the fields on his life long voyage. Linda didn't miss a beat in her journey of St. Francis, his followers and his Sister St. Clare. My next wish is that this book be made into a movie! I could not put this book down from the 1st page to the last! Thank you Linda Bird Francke! God Bless You!
Susan Evangelista
Author
Grand Rapids, Michigan

A fascinating look into the life and wanderings of an interesting character in some of my personal favorite parts of Italy. Specialized reading for specialized interests. I have recently commissioned a painting representing one aspect of the life of Francis of Assisi, and this book added greatly to my own and the artist's understanding of the man.

This is an amazing book that takes you on a journey with Francis of Assisi and Clare. Unlike dry preachy spiritual books, spiritual books with a not so hidden agenda or dry historical discussions that you have to force yourself to finish reading, this book seems to have just the right balance between travelogue packed with action and spirituality that makes it a page turner. I actually reread some of the chapters and they were just as good the second time. The author is a skilled observer and has put in just enough history to fascinate rather than bore the reader. She refrains from telling you what to think or how to feel. At the same time she shares her emotions at certain points, but it is so honestly conveyed and well done that you just feel it is part of the journey. As a result, you actually go on the journey yourself as she leads you and you are allowed to draw your own conclusions. Also, the inclusion of both Francis and Clare work very well in telling the story so you are able to appreciate the profound impact that they have on one another. Their story unfolds in a very powerful way in this travel format. This book just works!

Parts that you will recognize that are so well told:

Francis denouncing his father
Clare fleeing her family for the spiritual life
Francis adventures in Rome with the Pope
Francis and the wolf, and so much more.

I highly recommend this book for anyone on a spiritual journey and especially to St. Francis and St. Clare fans.

Frederick Lanceley's "On-Scene Guide for Crisis Negotiators" is a long needed compendium of technique and definition in the field of crisis negotitations. Mr. Lanceley's vast experience has enabled him to provide techniques based on real-life situations not just theory. The volume is arranged in a concise, easy-to-reference format which should be a part of every negotiator's "Ready Kit". One of the most important points about this book is the fact that it addresses the types of situations faced daily by police negotiators. Suicide intervention, long a subject ignored in many negotiations seminars, is given in-depth treatment. In addition, the entire book is an interesting read. His account of his involvement at Ruby Ridge is fascinating. I would recommend this book to anyone involved in the field, police commanders and anyone interested in crisis intervention.

Recently retired FBI Special Agent Fred Lanceley gives us the benefit of his expertise in this highly detailed book on the actions a crisis negotiator must take in the field. Lanceley describes techniques that will be of benefit to any police officet, tactical dispatcher, hostage negotiator or crisis counselor who is confronted with a barricaded subject, a mentally disturbed individual or a potential hostage taker. These people are encouraged to read Lanceley's book and to include it in your current training. Dave Larton, Member, California Association of Hostage Negotiators

Good 1st book to read on those wanting to be Negotiators in the Law Enforcement field.

Excellent basic text which covers practical aspects of Crisis Negotiation. Solid, contemporary content and a great reference resource.

I've only read the first chapter so far, my first impressions of the content are excellent, but I have a complaint for the publisher: the font is painfully small and makes it actually a bit of struggle to read.

The ideas are very dense, so I would tend to make the font and line spacing a bit bigger than usual to reduce the strain in that area of comprehension and save the reader's mental energy for understanding the ideas rather than screwing their eyes up at the type. I'm not exaggerating - it's like the size they usually print footnotes in!

Clarke uses the following Framework for intercultural contact: - Gadamer: hermeneutics of the dialogue: it comes bit by bit, and entails a continuous exchange of meaning between interpreter and interpreted, the goal is 'fusion of conceptual horizons' which requires 'self-awareness of difference' and 'recognition of otherness of the other'. Problem: doesn't take into account underlying discursive power relations (Foucault) - Said: the influence (power) that the west exerted via colonisation, to secure world hegemony, is present in the image that has been created of the East in the West. Everybody involved in orientalism is consciously or not guilty of western imperialism. Clarke says that this image of Said is not complete and shows that interest for the East has often been connected to pragmatic interests, deeply rooted in Europe's own intellectual, cultural and political history. Orientalism often had a countercultural, counterhegemonic rol in the past three centuries and has often been source of energy for radical protest. This way orientalism has often not enforced Europe's established role and identity, but undermined it. Periods of cultural revolution and global expansion in Europe made it possible to create a painful void in the spiritual and intellectual heart of Europe, but also favoured the establishment of certain geopolitical conditions that allowed the transmission of alternative worldviews of the East to the West more easily.

The making of "the Orient"

Both the French Sinophile Enlightenment thinkers and the German Indophile Romantici used orientalism as instrument for the subversion and reconstruction of European civilization, to fight the deeply rooted evils of that time. This way they idealized and romanticized heavily eastern thought and culture. Confucianism gave the French a model for rationalistic, deistic philosophy, but also the Hinduism of the Upanishads gave the Germans an elevated metaphysical system that resonated with their idealist suppositions, as a counterweight to the materialistic and mechanistic philosophy that came to dominate the Enlightenment period.Buddhism: Schopenhauer formulates a radical critique on the Jewish-Christian tradition that searches salvation throught a divine Savior, while buddhism searches it by denial of the will. Wagner and Nietzsche give similar critiques because buddhism, so they claim, offers a psychologically more honest explanation of suffering. Because of the Victorian crisis of faith and belief in progress, and the apparent compatibility of buddhism and science (positivism, Darwinism, evolutionism, materialism, monism), buddhism gains importance. Also the American transcendentalists (Emerson, Thoreau) used buddhism against Lockean materialism and Calvinism, in their belief in the essential unity and spiritual nature of the cosmos, combined with a belief in the goodness of humans, and the domination of intuition over rational thinking.Besides romanticizing voices, also racist and denigrating voices are found in orientalist discourses.

Twentieth century

Because of the quick progress and economic and social transformation of traditional to modern, Europe experienced an atmosphere of malcontentment with the promises of Western civilization, which made it search for more meaningful and satisfying alternatives. There are two types of associations of the turbulent twentieth century with orientalism: on the one hand the creative involvement in philosophy, theology, psychology, science and ecology, and on the other hand associations with occultism, and mystical undercurrents of fascism. In a period of growing imperialist expansion (which enhanced communication with the East), there was a possibility to begin to see the East really as other (with a different culture), but there was also a sense of being afraid, mixed with feelings of guilt toward the East. This had a different intellectual response: on the one hand there were big speculations about a universal philosophy or global religion, on the other hand there were more modest propositions for the encouragement of a hermeneutical dialogue. There was a tremendous spread of orientalism in the twentieth century, buddhist monasteries arised in the West, poets, writers, hippies and Beat movement, and also New Agers made use of Eastern thought, though not all of them seriously. Academic institutions were built, and eastern scholars came to Europe. Important European thinkers were influenced by the East. This accelerated the understanding of Eastern thought.

Philosophy

- Universalism (Leibniz, Moore) - Comparative philosophy (Nagarjuna compared with Nietzsche, Heidegger and Derrida, Madhyamaka with Wittgenstein) - Hermeneutics (Rorty: "the conversation of mankind", Larson: "from talking to one another, to talking with one another") - Diversity, otherness, difference, but a sharp awareness of the danger of cultural imperialism

Religion

- Exclusivism - Inclusivism - Pluralism

Psychology

- Psychotherapy and mental health: holistic contextual approach of the individual, more emphasis on experiential knowledge than on intellectual knowledge - Fromm, Jung, Maslow, Naranjo, Ornstein - Transpersonal, humanistic, cognitive psychology - Meditation

Science and ecology

- Sovjet Marxism and buddhism - Capra, Jung, Bohr, Heisenberg, Schroedinger, Prigogine, Bohm - Schumacher, Naess, Macy - Wholeness (holistic medicine, ecology)

Reflections

Besides the problem of interpretation of different cultures, there 's also a problem of projection: Eastern ideas are appropriated by simply projecting them to categories and presuppositions of the West, and the West has become a sort of all-eating monster, usurping all cultures. Clarke claims the aim is not to avoid use of a vocabulary that is derived from the own culture, but that the crucial point is that one does so with critical self-awareness. He emphasizes the importance of mutuality in the hermeneutical process: interpretation begins with pre-conceptions that are replaced by more appropriate conceptions. Example: the wrong understanding the West had (and still has) throughout buddhist history doesn't have to be considered as a failure, but as a necessary and wholesome "turning of the hermeneutical wheel". Orientalism contributed, so says Clarke, to a growth in mutuality, dialogue, knowledge and sympathy, and this while the East has now on the one hand enhanced grip to its own tradition (partly as a result of the encounter with the West) and on the other hand can formulate a solid critique to fundamental aspects of western culture. Also Said believed in a postcolonial era, where an increasingly sophisticated study and criticical self-awareness would make possible a post-orientalist epoch where westerners could approach the East without disturbing presuppositions.

This book is principally an examination and explanation of how the West has seen the philosophies, religions and cultures of the Far East - chiefly of China and India. To this interest in the East Clarke gives the name Orientalism. That word since 1985 has carried the connotation that Edward Said gave to it in his book of that name. Though that work concerned itself chiefly with the Arab Middle East, other scholars have applied Said's characterization to the western study of cultures further East. That school of thought saw Orientalism as permeated with condescending, exploitative and colonialist attitudes, and scarcely allowed any other factors to play a role. Clarke admits that colonial attitudes were one aspect of Orientalism, but his study demonstrates that there were many others. True, students of Orientalism, like students of all other subjects, cannot help having agendas, and agendas are liable to lead to distortions. So the West's interpretations of the Orient (the word `hermeneutic' turns up with rather tiresome frequency in this text) generally fulfil some need felt by the West; but this is often not at all a need to exploit the East, but rather to gain through Oriental studies a new and enriching perspective on Western culture and frequently to provide a remedy for what are perceived to be its flaws or discontents.

Clarke argues, along with other scholars whom he cites, that in the West the Renaissance and the Reformation ushered in a philosophical restlessness and uncertainty which made Europeans be more inquisitive and open to other ways of thinking. This uncertainty was generated from within European culture, whereas in Asia it was only when Western technology and power irrupted into the area that the interest of Asians in European culture began, in response to a challenge from outside rather than from within their own culture. Clarke acknowledges this interest, but devotes only a small part of the book to the impact of Western thought on Asia.

He documents how in the 18th century the philosophes set up their rosy view of Confucian China in opposition to the religious and social criticisms they made of their own society; how, when this interest faded, it was replaced in the 19th century by the interest of the Romantics in Indian thought. We learn of Anquetil Duperron (1723 to 1805) who first translated the Upanishads (into French) and of William Jones (1746 to 1794), who showed that most European languages have an affinity with Sanskrit, which suggested that many of the peoples of Europe came originally from Asia. German nationalists, resenting French cultural hegemony, preferred the idea that their culture was rooted in the Aryan languages (and later, by a perversion of the word, in the Aryan race). Philosophically also, the most profound impact of Indian thought was on a line of German philosophers: Hegel, Schelling, Schlegel and Schopenhauer saw an affinity between the monism of the Absolute and that of Brahman, between their own metaphysical ideas that the world as we know it through our senses is not the real world and the Indian notion that we see the world only through the veil of maya. Both Confucianism and Buddhism were seen by many Europeans as a system of ethics which was independent of a belief in God, and was therefore espoused by many western thinkers in reaction to the claims that religion was the essential basis of ethics.

Towards the end of the 19th century and into the twentieth, at the very time when the West's cultural imperialism emphasized by Edward Said was at its height, there was also the countervailing current that the West's cultural hegemony was increasingly questioned in the West itself; and the interest in Eastern ideas became a broad stream with wide diffusion. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803 to 1882) and Henry David Thoreau (1817 to 1862) popularized Eastern thought in America on a scale that earlier thinkers had not been able to achieve. Edwin Arnold's poem The Light of Asia (1879), disseminated the Buddhist message and sold nearly a million copies. The Theosophical Society, founded by Madame Blavatsky and Colonel Alcott in 1875, had over 45,000 members in 1920. It was strongly infused with oriental ideas, and even played a part in the revival of Hindu and Buddhist self-awareness and self-respect in Asia itself. Some Western actually thought that western civilization, with its frenetic materialism and its spiritual life eroded by rationalism, was worn out and needed to draw on Eastern thought to renew itself. Eastern influences have moved out of the academic and literary world to permeate the very life-style of many westerners.

So Zen and Tibetan Buddhism have found many followers in the West; there are now many practitioners of t'ai chi, yoga and transcendental meditation; the young have gone on the hippy trail to visited ashrams in India. From this point onwards, about half way through the book, Clarke produces so many examples of the interaction between East and West - on literature, on the arts, on religion, on psychotherapy, on holistic medicine, on ecological thinking, on non-violence, even on the philosophy of modern physics (though, curiously, only marginally on the mainstreams of western academic philosophy) - that a short review like this cannot do justice to them. There was even a strand in fascism which claimed an Oriental heritage. Clarke's range is truly encyclopaedic, and in this second half of the book that there will be found much detailed material and many names that are likely to be unfamiliar to the educated non-specialist.

The mainly narrative chapters are followed by two final superb reflective ones. In the first of these Clarke reflects on the philosophical traps into which Orientalism can fall and sometimes has fallen, but his defence of the value of Orientalism is eloquent and persuasive. In the second (more difficult) one he shows how deconstructive Post-Modernism challenges Orientalism but can also find an ally in it.

I'll like to write this review partly in relation to the last one written for this book, which, I think, many people will find quite daunting. While I'd agree with the author of that review about the excellence of the book I'd like to give a more accessible view, hoepfully just as Clarke's book provides an accessible approach to very difficult ideas.

Firstly, ,any readers are likely to be put off by all the references to those very difficult postmodern (etc) philosophers who are mentioned, either because they'll think, a) I won't understand that, or b) I'm not into postmodernism. To set your minds at rest, Clarke doesn't engage in the lingusitic exercises of using almost indecipherable language to say very little that is typical of many of this school, also, he sets the postmodern agenda (or, at least parts of it) firmly in his sights and demolishes many of their empty stances based on ideology not fact or reason.

As such we can recommend this book to a)anyone who either doesn't know much about orientalism - he provides an excellent introduction as well as analysis; b) anyone who doesn't know much about postmodernism, as you'll be treated to a critical survey of certain aspects of it; c) supporters of postmodernism, as you'll find an able voice against whom you need to defend your ideas; d) a whole range of people not at all interested in orientalism and postmodernism but who have interests in such things as cross-cultural encounter, especially between Europe and Asia, religion, modern European thought, etc.

As to the contents of this book, Clarke surveys the history of the encounter between East and West (Asia and Europe) to show that claims that the two stand as polar opposites which have no connection is untenable. with lucid commentary, clarke deals with the views of orientalists and postmodernists and presnts a more balanced and less Euro-centric approach. for more details, using technical terms which Clarke aptly leads the uninitiated through with subtlety and clarity, whilst providing new insights which will give food for thought for even those well read within this area.

Raskin does an excellent job in showing how the Supreme Court has slowly eroded our individual rights guarenteed under the Constitution of the United States. It is frightening that most people don't even realize what is actually going on in our government. The only flaw in Raskins book is that he doesn't show how the average citizen can get involved in stopping this erosion of our Constitution or to get involved with his idea of Constituional Convention to change and improve this great document.

This book is extremely useful ammunition for all of us who argue with smug right-wingers. Raskin gets down to the nitty-gritty of what happened in Florida, and what's been happening for 30 years on the Supreme Court. Get this guy on the Supreme Court, already!

A set of essays that try to improve on the liberal mantra of trusting the courts to expand rights. Some essays are preaching to the converted- that is, they are unlikely to persuade anybody to the right of Raskin. But there are some essays I really liked.

I especially liked Chapters 5 and 6 (in which Raskin shows how government has impaired democracy by keeping third parties off the ballot and out of debates, and criticizes judicial deference to the two-party duopoly) and Chapter 9 (in which he criticizes attempts to amend the Constitution to prohibit flag-burning, pointing out (a) that an anti-desecration law might actually encourage people to burn flags to get publicity, and (b) that an anti-desceration law that allows nonpolitical destruction of used flags but outlaws flag burning by political extremists is essentially thought control, in that it would prohibit flag burning only by people with political messages to convey).

Other chapters are much more touchy-feely. For example, in Chapter 7, Raskin defends school busing on the grounds that racially integrated schools make society more "democratic"- but parents hardly feel like part of a democracy if unelected judges are telling their children where to go to school. Raskin proposes an amendment providing: "All children in the United States have a right to receive an equal public education for democratic citizenship." But the uncertainty of the concept of "equality" would give judges carte blanche to dictate virtually any concievable policy.

"Democracy" is a vague concept; some people see democracy as majority rule, others see democracy as at least partially about liberty or equality. On issues dealing purely with the former, Raskin's book is excellent. On issues dealing with possible conflicts between these meanings of democracy, Raskin understandably has more difficulty.

Jamin Raskin is one of the most brilliant constitutional scholars of our time. His arguments are as bullet-proof as they are engaging. It's a must read for anyone interested in the Supreme Court.