G Books

I had read several of Alistair Maclean's novels, and had an 8 year break when I got a hold of this. This novel is a prime exhibit of why I enjoy him so much. A mystery, revealing tid-bits here and there, leaving you guessing who the good guys are and who are the bad guys.

If you want to be on the edge of your seat for a while, this book will do it.

To recommand for all readers to buy, read, and re-read for n number of times. fantastic book

There are lots of surprising twists in this story including a final surprise in the last sentence. MacLean did a very good job when he wrote this book.

I'm not a fan of the circus and I hate clowns. Being a MacLean fan, but with my current mentality, I figured he had finally run out of ideas (at this point in his life). But the cover of the 1975 Fawcett Crest edition (see "customer images" for the paperback edition) was intriguing: a man falling off a high-wire, the bicycle tumbling after him. Is someone killing off circus people? I had to read.

It turns out that the circus plays as a backdrop for a secret CIA mission. Believe it or not, but the agenda in this tale is about an incredible circus performer recruited by the CIA to break into a prison (that the circus "moves" next to) to steal -- as the back of the book explains -- "a formula capable of annihilating the earth itself." Sure enough, MacLean was like the Crichton of the 70s and managed to weave an entertaining yarn around the idea of anti-matter (certainly not new in 1975).

MacLean refrains from delving too deeply into describing anti-matter or how this formula will end up being used. His somewhat amusing approach to it takes place as a discussion between semi-ignorant CIA agents and Bruno, the acquired circus performer, all of whom are frightened by the power of anti-particles.

As the title may suggest, the book is a slight deviant from other MacLean adventure tales, but I rank it up there among his best works. The book is full of extremely original death scenes that, despite being accustomed to MacLean's formulas, took me completely by surprise. There are more twists in the last chapter than there are in some of his better books, and MacLean pulls it off realistically, and without creating a convoluted mess.

Keep an eye out for Carter. While no first name is ever given, he is the doppelganger cameo of Chief Officer John Carter of MacLean's "The Golden Rendezvous." (MacLean has done this with other characters throughout his novels.)

Another great MacLean classic. In this book the hero is an American athlete, an immigrant from eastern Europe. He is recruited by the CIA and is to undertake and unimaginable mission. He, of course, succeeds, but not without the extreme difficulties that macLean's heroes always face. The story twists are awesome and the ending is both expected and surprising. A great read.

From toddler-hood, my father was enthralled with everything that involved flying and aviation, and despite the depression and financial difficulties of the day, my grandfather granted his son one of the greatest gifts of his life by taking him to the Cleveland Air Races. He's never forgotten it, and it remains one of his strongest memories - so much so that he speaks of it again and again, even now at nearly 80 years of age. Well, my father did become a pilot, owned several planes and continues to be an aviation fanatic. This book, with its fabulous historic photos, brings back the experience for him. I'd like to have seen a bit more textual background, in addition to the wonderful photos, but I feel this book is a must for anyone who ever enjoyed that big buzz at Burke Lakefront Airport.

From the poignant photo on the frontispiece to the last page, a superb collection of pictures accompanied by an illuminating and focused text makes for an outstanding presentation.

Thomas G. Matowitz, Sr., a Proud Pop

Thomas Matowitz's book explores the historic Cleveland Air Races from a new perspective. The books gives a wonderful overview of the race locale and setting in the Cleveland area. Many books already describe the aircraft and pilots that participated in this famous race, but this books goes further to tell the history of the airport, the controversies and the early development of air racing in the United States. Cleveland is the birthplace of American air racing competition that continues today at the Reno National Air Races.

Inbetween the two world wars the development of aviation was proceeding at an extremely rapid pace. Both engines and airframes were improving very fast. One of the driving forces was the various air races. To win the Schneider Trophy was the goal of the plane that became the Spitfire.

One of the big time air races was held at what was then the world's largest airport, the Cleveland Municipal Airport. From 1929 to 1949 the world's fastest planes came to Cleveland every Labor day.

In order to make their planes ever faster all kinds of improvements were made in their design. Here retractable landing gear was proven to make planes faster. The photographs show the development start with the first bi-plane racers. Here new planes were flown in to be shown to the world: the brand new DC-2; the radial engined Curtis P-36, soon to be re-engined with an Allison V-12 and become the P-40; the brand new Douglas B-18, scheduled to become the main bomber of the Air Corp; and its replacement the Y1B-17; Seversky P-35s, which with a company name change and a few modifications became the Republic P-47; Grumman F3F-2 fighters, the last biplane flown by the Navy and Marines. And later on, Corsairs and P-51s; and the shape of things to come, the P-80.

This is a remarkable collection of photographs, some of which are said to have never been published before. It's an awesome collection of a couple of hundred pictures.

Tom Matowitz Jr.'s latest regional effort is another stunner for Ohioians familiar with his work. As a former employee of a Cleveland-area library, it has always been great to read Matowitz's various regional magazine and book efforts and this one is among his best.
In fact Matowitz's new book has national appeal as it delves into the fascinating minute of the famous Cleveland National Air Races of the 30's and 40's. This author/pilot has scared up important photographic documentation of this aviation pinnacle and has written some of the most well-researched and humane copy and cut lines I seen in quite a spell. Matowitz is a name Ohioians, and others, will hear again. A must for aviation fans of all stripes.

In the preface the authors thank those who inspired them and the writing of this text, we thank Yarnell, Abascal and Hooper for bringing this body of knowledge to us. This work has been an in-depth resource in our practices of clinical aromatherapy and dentistry. A wealth of botanical information including specific conditions, their prevention and treatment with botanicals; the text is well-referenced, indexed and has useful appendices. We higly recommend this be used by healthcare practioners interested in the use of botanical medicine and read by anyone interested in natural pathways for health and healing.

At last an herb book that is rational, well-documented, and based on true clinical experience. While there are many books on botanical medicine available, this volume is truly informed; the book is written by accomplished clinicians and not researchers who write from literature searches, without true clinical experience as a foundation. Yarnell, a Naturopathic physician and Abascal, a Registered Clinical Herbalist, discuss herbs and clinical treatment plans in their full complexity and do not simplify their approach as is so common in today's herb books. Additionally, because Hooper the editor, is a medical doctor, the truly holistic approach that shines through in this book, provides further credibility to Yarnell's and Abascal's work. While the empirical observations of clinical experience are paramount in this volume, Yarnell and Abascal also support their approach with the available research. Perhaps this is why the American Botanical Council has sourced this book for its online database.
Another positive for the book is that besides the same old tired herbs that everyone is talking about in natural food stores, the lesser known herbs that competently trained clinicians are actually using are also covered. This provides a wider range of options for clinical work and offers clinical insights into Anemopsis (Yerba Mamsa), Bupleurum, and Opuntia (Prickly Pear), and other lesser known herbs.
There is also a toxicology section that covers such herbs as Lobelia inflata, Artemesia absinthium (wormwood), Piper methysticum (kava) and the pyrolizidine containing herbs such as Symphytum officinalis (comfrey). The relative toxicity (or lack thereof) besides the political issues of such herbs are discussed. This is a unique addition to modern books on botanical medicines.
Clinical Botanical Medicines with its four parts;
I Treatment or Prevention of Specific Disorders
II Special Formulas
III Specific Herbal Medicines
IV Issues in Botanical Medicine
targets the medical professional seeking a practical but researched-based approach to using herbal medicines.

This is a wonderful, serious book. The text respects the history of herbal medicine, yet provides peer reviewed literature references for the statments made. The chapters cover important topics, such as hypertension, various cancers, and addiction. I look forward to other work from these authors that would address difficult topics such as the treatment of insomnia, neurodegenerative diseases such as Parkinson's disease, Multiple Sclerosis, Alzheimer's, and heart disease.

The authors of this book are carrying on the traditions of received from their teachers, some of the great scholars of herbal medicine; Michael Moore, Silena Heron, and James Duke.

This is a treasured new resource for me. When I want some practical advice on herbal remedies, and not the same old echoes, this is my favorite. It is as the title implies, a great source book on herbal medicine for the clinician. And it doesn't shy away from specific dosing details. There are lots of interesting new herbal suggestions here. I'll be citing it frequently, in my teaching and writing. Jim Duke, retired USDA medical botanist.

There have been more books written on botanical medicine than any other subject, including religion. These books run the full spectrum of usefulness, approach, and accuracy. As a clinical herbalist and passionate student of botanical medicine, I have found this book to certainly rank within the top three. It is very easy to spend arm loads of money when studing and researching herbs while attempting to sorce solid/practical knowledge which will ally with clinicians and students alike. The key to saving money is to target the most well deserved educational tools. This book is a finely cut gem that is put forth by authors who really know their stuff. It looms together a blend of the traditional and scientific aspects of medicine. Truly a post mark book for the continually emerging sophistication of Naturopathy. This clearly written source can be of value to students, teachers, and practitioners who are involved with botanical medicine.

This book does a great job at providing information for clinicians by clinicians! Being a student of botanical medicine I also found the reccommendations of some quality educational programs in the Appendix useful. I have found this book to be stimulating and inspiring.

In short, if you are interested in botanical medicine, it is in your best interests to make an effort in obtaining this awesome book.

Herbaceously,
Gabriel Maroney

Chesterton's genius is unquestionable - not because of the topic(s), but because his' logic is irrefutable.

This volume contains essays revolving around GK's conversion to Catholicism. As always, GK is illuminating and entertaining--several parts of these essays had me laughing out loud. GK has a marvelous talent for utterly dismantling an argument, an attitude, or a belief, while remaining so good natured about it that even his intellectual enemies must have liked him at least a little. Here, he mainly takes on Protestantism, modernism, secularism, Liberalism, and several other "isms" of the day that challenged the Catholic Church--some of which at one time or another had even attracted GK himself. In the end, he makes as convincing an argument for Catholicism that anyone could make. In the process, he throws much light on many political and social trends that were just gearing up in the 1920's, like birth control, divorce, moral relativism and secular humanism. GK offers grave predictions for these insufficient ideas, many of which sadly have come true beyond probably even his imagination.

Well worth the price to have ,The Catholic Church & Conversion,The Well And the Shallows & The Thing: Why I am a Catholic,all in one volume. Chesterton's writings on the Catholic faith was one of the reasons I came back to the Church.With common sense,humour & erudition Chesterton will convince you of the Truth of the Catholic Faith. Chesterton like all prophetic writers speaks to our time as much as his own.

G.K. Chesterton has "disturbed" this reviewer again. This reviewer has read Chesterton's books with the view of critisizing his books and ideas. Yet, each time this reviewer has found Chesterton's books a joy to read and "food for thought." Volume III of Chesterton's works is yet another book that thoughtful people should enjoy.

One of the arguments that Chesterton uses in these essays is that Catholic ideas and tradition have lasted while "modern" fads have quickly become dated. One of the agruments that Chesterton uses against Puritanism is that in the early 20th. century, Puritanism was something that no reasonable person would touch with "a barge pole." One of Chesterton's theses in this book is that while Catholcism has remained consistent for 2,000 years, Protestantism has become passe and has changed into meaningless modernism.

Chesterton has an interesting comment on page 280. To paraphrase part of this page, Chesterton remarks that modern Protestantism has replaced predestination with suggestion. The Catholic theologians have defended the Faith (The Catholic Faith) with reason. Along these lines, Chesterton effectively argues that Catholic authorities and theologians helf the beliefs of the Faith in a careful balence. The Protestants and modern agnostics have distorted both their own ideas and concepts by exaggerating parts of religion at the expense of everything else. This has led to distortion.

Chesterton gives reasons for his conversion to Catholicism. He proceeds to explain why other ideas and religious views were not reasonable. He also explains the distortions historians have made regarding the Faith. Chesterton's own intellectual curiousity led him to the Faith which he viewed as more sane and more reasonable.

Chesteron demonstrates historical insight in this volume. This reviewer gets the impression that Chesterton is holding something in reserve in making his historical arguments. He may have been inviting his critics to question his historical knowledge whereby he would give the historical details and knowledge. Readers should note that Chesterton was very knowledable of history.

Another interesting aspect of this book is Chesterton's concern over distoritions of language. He comments that some of the moderns were demanding a universal language and that they got was "journalistic jibberish." Chesterton remarks that Europeans had a universal language-Latin. Chesterton remarks that Latin was a precise language which had been neglected in favor of bad thinking and poor writing.

Chesterton did not engage in ad hominem arguements and was usually generous to his critics. He did not object to comments about his size and appearance. He could laugh at himself. Yet, he offer fierce cefesne of truth and honesty when they were attacked.

Volume III of Chesteron's works is well worth reading. As this reviewer wrote before, some may consider me as skeptic. However, Chesterton's writing, knowledge and reason is enough to make anyone pay attention and read his books to learn and to understand clear thinking.

This particular volume in Ignatius Press' collected Chesterton series pulls together his specifically Catholic books. Widely read in his own time, they were later praised by Hillaire Belloc and other writers during the Catholic revival in Britain. Yet they are little read in our time. One reason is that Chesterton converted fourteen years after writing his masterpiece, Orthodoxy, in 1908, and the current Chesterton revival is fueled largely by his novels.

My introduction to these books came in the brief overviews in Dale Ahlquist's G.K. Chesterton: Apostle of Common Sense, which whetted my appetite to read them. One in particular stood out: "The Catholic Church and Conversion." As with Orthodoxy, it's a lively book with a dull title. I was shocked reading his account of the three stages of conversion: 1. Patronizing the Church, 2. Discovering the Church, 3. Running from the Church. But for me, the book was full of shocks of recognition.

I generally don't like Omnibus type volumes such as the Collected Works, and would like to see Ignatius issue this book on its own, but if this is the only way to read it, I highly urge curious readers to obtain this Ignatius edition (Volume Three of the Collected Chesterton). All of the books in this volume were originally issued individually nearly a century ago, and are eminently worth reading. One of them is interesting because GKC wrote it late in life, and reviews some of the ideas in his earlier books. Were these books available individually now, they no doubt would all have reviews on Amazon. As with Orthodoxy, this volume showed me that Chesterton's non-fiction can be as startling and fresh as his fiction.

with a little experiance of knowing HOW to use this book, it quickly becomes a unique favorite.

A weird book but really quite incredibly on the money. It has profoundly influenced half a century of astrologers of all types and cannot be ignored. The tone (from WW II Germany) can be very dark, but the pithy summaries for each midpoint combination are uncanny. Ebertin was originally a Hamburg School "Uranian" and pupil of Witte; he branched off his own school, called "Cosmobiology," which is another Uranian system. As with Witte, dials and midpoints usurp the place of house delineation, which he ignores--but the book is nevertheless in the library of almost every professional astrologer, even those who have no interest or background in Uranian methods at all.

Dear Foretellers,

I find this book very useful to those who are interested in advanced tools and techniques. It has been giving me lot of light and clarity, always leads closer to the truth. Reinhold Ebertin has simplified `Cosmobiology' so well that anyone who has little more patience and strong love for Astrology would understand and use this book intelligently.

I feel it is matter of pride to have this book in library. If you have this book handy, you need nothing more!

Regards,
Bhavesh N. Pattni

When you have a lot of conflicting info from a "jumbled" chart or a dearth of data in a sparse chart, midpoints can often point the way out, and CoSI by R. Ebertin can be indispensible. I had this book stolen about 20 years ago and need to get a new copy. There may be more modern midpoint definitions out there, but I got along fine with this one amazing Cosmobiology book.

Even if you don't use midpoints in your charts, the information in this classic book is invaluable.

Ebertin gives psychological correspondances (pos & neg), as well as the sociological & biological correspondances for all pairs of planets as well as each planet with Asc, Mc, & North Node. Each planetary position, plus Asc/Mc/NN placements are given by sign and house.

'Probable manifestations' are listed for each combo, & you will find some basic info for every planet--also the psychological, sociological, & biological correspondances for them (which are useful for medical questions, too. Ex: Uranus = pituitary gland, Neptune = pineal gland...that sort of thing).

Much knowledge in a small package--definitely a gem!

This book is absolutely remarkable. Although G. K. Chesterton wrote his material almost 100 years ago, his writings are so poignant to anyone living in today's world. Dale Ahlquist informs us of a multitude of very important subjects addressed by Chesterton throughout his life. I can't say enough about it; you just have to read this book!

"This is not a book about Chesterton," Ahlquist writes. "It is a book about everything else from a Chestertonian perspective. It is an attempt to get inside of him and inhabit him like a large house so that we can see the world through the windows he provides. . . Chesterton wrote about everything. An ocean of words poured out of his pen. . . It is deep, it is dangerous, it is delightful, it is refreshing, it is full of suprises, it is full of life" (9-10).

Dangerous and delightful indeed. In this unusually written but suprisingly well executed book, we see the genius of Chesterton at work on nearly every level. From poetry to capitalism to catholicism Alhquist extracts and applies the Chestertonian "essence" almost as if he were the man himself. He does this through substantial (but not overbearing) excerpts from Chesterton's volumous writing and careful commentary.

Alhquist seemingly pulls off the impossible: He offers a comprehensive introduction to Chesterton, includes enough direct excerpts from Chesterton's writing to effectively convey his wit and stytle, manages to apply his thinking to the present era, and does it all in under 300 pages. A remarkable feat.

Whether you come to Chesterton from his Father Brown fiction or from 'Orthodoxy' there is something for everyone here. I was repeatedly suprised by his timeless wisdom and grace. Of the half-dozen books I've read about Chesterton, Ahlquist's is the most well-rounded and interesting.

Highly recommended.

In the opening chapters Dale Ahlquist gives a vivid and rich description of the captivating character that is G K Chesterton. Ahlquist, an admitted Chesterton fan, provides a guide to the world 'through Chesterton's eyes' with the focus on the question - what is really important in life? There are some hard questions asked and some blunt answers given. Not a book for those who feel wish to remain comfortable with atheist, Darwinian, Marxist, Freudian or even scientific beliefs. If you are happy to challenge your beliefs and are willing to ask questions of yourself and others, Ahlquist and Chesterton offer a wide range of ideas to debate. Easy to read, entertaining and challenging.

At six foot four, weighing in at 300 pounds, Chesterton was certainly the biggest writer of the Victorian/ Edwardian era. But why was he always laughing? "I suppose I enjoy myself more than other people because there's such a lot of me having a good time." If that doesn't make you want to read this book, nothing will. But that's only from the Introduction of this 300 page book, the tip, if you will, of the iceberg.

As with Ahlquist's earlier book, The Apostle of Common Sense, this book is collected from TV shows that played on EWTN. However, the reaction I continually had when watching the first series on video was "Ah! Let me write that down!" The great thing about that book (and this one) is that it is written down. Not only that, the book ends with a biography of all the books by Chesterton, with brief and very helpful annotations (notes) on each book. Most of the Chesterton I've read I found out about either from Dale's other book or his notes on books sent out by the American Chesterton Society, of which he is president.

In between these two bookends, as it were, I expected quotes from GKC, but it's more than that, with our host providing what are likely slightly revised transcripts of the shows. So you get a cornucopia of Chesterton, with footnotes of where it came from so you can track down those books, but also Dale's engaging writing. In my view, he is the Boswell if Chesterton is Johnson. It's as if he were introducing us to a particularly zany uncle or grandfather who afterwards we can not wait to visit.

Rock savvy readers will place my title as a spoken aside from "Stairway to Heaven", but this book gives the answer. "Angels can fly because they take themselves lightly," quipped GKC. For all his poundage, so did he. Ahlquist invites us to that forgotten realm where easy laughter is part and parcel of common sense.

If there is anyone one the planet qualified to write this book, it is Dale Ahlquist. I have never had the privilege of reading, or seeing on TV, anyone more deeply rooted in Chesterton's thought than Ahlquist. As this book is essentially "Chesterton Updated," Ahlquist is certainly the man to do it. If the academy were not in free fall due to political correctness and liberalism, Ahlquist would be a respected and tenured Chesterton scholar tasked with teaching students Chesterton's works.

What Ahlquist has done here is remarkable. He was taken Chesterton's thoughts, and often his words verbatim, and put them together in one volume that is cohesive and addresses our age. It is an easy, but riveting, read that hooked me right from the beginning. If you are a serious Catholic, rest assured, any thought you have EVER HAD, is likely not original. Chesterton already had it; eighty years ago. He is prophetic, correct, and intimidating. After reading Chesterton you would not be alone if you concluded that no further apologetics for the faith were necessary. If people of good will read Chesterton, they will become Chestertonian Catholics.

This is a great introduction to Chesterton's thought. If one is interested in reading Chesterton, I would start with this book, and Ahlquist's "Apostle of Common Sense." Then, I would dig headlong into the master himself.

This book was a Christmas gift for my husband. Since Christmas he has reread this book at least 3 times. I have to make him put it down so he can go to sleep at night. He loves it. I'm glad I got him something he has enjoyed so much for Christmas.

As an avid Civil War reader, I have sometimes comes across titles that bore the reader and become unnecessarily bogged down in detail. Thankfully, Rod Gragg's gem is not one of them!

The author packs the title with descriptive actions of the 1st and 2nd Battles of Fort Fisher and interesting anecdotes of several of the major participants. Particularly interesting were the descriptions of William Lamb, William Whiting, Braxton Bragg, Admiral Porter, Alfred Terry, Benjamin Butler, and several colonels and other officers. Gragg is also careful to point out the heroic sacrifices of several noncommissioned officers, privates, and black troops who served in the battle.

Gragg's book is well-balanced: an interesting read without being simplistic. The only complaint I have are the few maps in the book - a few more would have made Gragg's book even more enjoyable.

All in all, an excellent read! As a North Carolinian, I'm glad to see excellent books on Civil War battles in our great state. Oftentimes when North Carolina is mentioned in Civil War history, the emphasis is on the large number of troops who sacrificed their lives and physical well-being during the conflict.

Read it!

You should see the movie! It will be premiering on UNC-TV November 6, 2005 at 10 PM. Rod Gragg is interviewed throughout, and it is based on his book, of course. He is a great writer, and it turned out to be a wonderful film.

Gragg's book is very easy to read and is filled with great descriptions of the many participants. He describes why Wilmington was so vital to the survival of the Confederacy and why its capture was so important to the Union for a quicker end to the War.

Some of the most interesting characters of the Civil War participated in at least one of the battles. William lamb was 29 years old when he finished building the fort. Young Lamb had a keen interest in military history. As a young boy of twenty in the mid-1850s, Lamb became captivated by a farawy war that was then being waged between Russia, Great Britain, and France. Fisher's design and physical features drew praise from her Federal captors-and more than a few references were made to the Russian fortress of Malakoff (a defensive bastion at Sebastopol that had greatly influenced Lamb's efforts to strengthen Fort Fisher)that was built during that war.

The First Battle effectively ended the military career of Union General Bejamin Butler, a "Political General" who was a constant headache for both the Lincoln Administration and any Commander to whom he was a subordinate. The Failure to capture the Fort after a sucessful amphiboious landing was the final nail in his coffin and he did not receive another command during the war.

Is there a Confederate defeat outside of Gettysburg and Petersburg that does not have the hand of General Braxton Bragg somewhere behind it? Bragg was in command in Wilmington instead of being cashiered after Missionary Ridge mainly because he was friends with Jeff Davis. Bragg did not send reinforcements to the fort that would have cut off Banks' invaders.

Alfred Terry was in command of the second attempt to storm the fort in January 1865. One of the lesser known of Grant's favorite lieutenants, he is better known as the scapegoat of Custer's Last Stand.

Lt. William B. Cushing USN was a precursor of the Navy SEALS. He had many special forces operations during the war including the sinking of the CSS Albemarle with a mine and doing soundings in a rowboat off Fort Fisher while under fire.

Gragg's book was a page turner for me even though I knew the outcome beforehand and I would reccomend it to Civil War enthusiasts everywhere.

UPDATE: 02/14/2006. NC Educational Television ran a television adaptation of the Book last week featuring a recreation of the two invasions of Ft. Fisher. It really helped bring the book to life.

Fort Fisher, guardian of Wilington, North Carolina, was easily the strongest fort in the entire Confederacy, thanks to the engineering genius Col. William Lamb, who at age 26 was given command of the fort. He quickly determined to make it "a work of such magnitude that it could withstand the heaviest fire of any guns in the American navy." He came very close to succeeding, arming the fort with some of the heaviest cannon in existence, including a powerful 150-pounder Armstrong cannon. However, Col. Lamb was plagued by a serious lack of troops, and his superiour, Gen. Braxton Bragg, was an unreliable moron who refused to believe that Fort Fisher could be taken by any assault.

Of course, there were also infamous morons on the Union side, like Gen. Benjamin Butler, known as "Beast Butler" for his notorious policies during the Union occupation of New Orleans. It was Butler's fault that the first assault of Fort Fisher in late 1864 ended in a near disaster for the Union army, after which he was finally relieved of command. The second Union attack which would take place in Jan. 1865 was to be better planned and had far better officers in command (this time Gen. Terry was to be in overall command). Still, even after days of bombardment from the Union navy, the fort proved to be a tough obstacle for the 10,000+ attacking force, which included over 2,000 sailors and marines.

The sailors and marines attacked one side of Fort Fisher while the thousands of well-armed infantry attacked the other side of the fort. The sailors and marines were bloodily repulsed (one in every five was a casualty) while the infantry slowly fought their way into the fort. Col. Lamb had fewer than 2,000 men but he made the enemy pay dearly for every foot of ground they gained. Finally, six hours after the assault began, the fort finally fell. The Union dead were actually in piles (some estimate as many as 1,710 were killed or wounded in both battles at Fort Fisher) around the fort, and the Confederates also suffered heavy losses, with aprox. 600 killed or wounded during both battles.

Rod Gragg told the story of Fort Fisher in a gripping and entertaining way and he's one of my favorite authors. In fact, his book _The Illustrated Confederate Reader_ was one of my very first Civil War books, bought when I was 8 years old! This book has several great maps and two sections of photos, showing both the main Union and Confederate officers involved in the battle as well as photos of the fort itself. Captain Towle, one of (Union) General Terry's staff officers, perhaps summed up the battle best. "The fort never surrendered to anybody. It was taken by Gen. Terry by force of arms after a long and desperate resistance which did honor to both sides." This book is an absolute must for any Civil War buff!

The author has given a great expose' on the problems of abuse that exist in corporate America. The expectation that corporate boards are serving as a watch dog in their duties is a myth that is propigated by the illusion of proxy voting and "independant" directors. I would love to hear more about solutions that are available to small shareholders to counter this movement. A listing of websites and ideas on how shareholders can consult other experts on issues of the day when corporate boards are meeting is important and could have helped in this book as well. Still a great read for all shareholders to understand the landscape of corporate governance. dls

Corpocracy both delights and informs in a way only Bob Monks can. His lifework has been delineating the underlying dynamics of corporate power to devise a system that combines wealth creation with societal interest. No one else can write as well about "How CEOs and the Business Roundtable Hijacked the World's Greatest Wealth Machine" because no one else has been as engaged as Bob Monks from so many angles. His insights into pivotal points of view and decisions are enlightening.

For example, he points to the role of Douglas Ginsburg, a leader in the field of law and economics, in instilling a belief that it is okay for corporations to violate environmental laws, as long as they account for possible sanctions in their budget. Under Ginsburg's view, according to Monks, people aren't motivated by moral or social obligation but by simple desire and cost-benefit analysis.

Then there is Bob's analysis of Lewis Powell's court decisions. His finding of a constitutionally protected right to "corporate speech" provided the judicial framework for management "to commit untold corporate resources to influence public opinion and public votes - resources so huge and unmatchable that individual contributions are now all but meaningless in state and nationals elections."

And, of course, the Business Roundtable holds a special place in Bob's heart. The "BRT has come to function in significant part as an agent for the CEOs...who have established themselves as a new and separate class in the governance of American corporations, answerable to virtually no one, accountable only to themselves."

Monks appears to be a believer in the forces of markets but regulated to ensure a level playing field. Without that, the overall effect has been to turn the stock market into "a gigantic, round-the-clock casino that runs the biggest game the world has ever seen." Market values and goals have become national goals. Corpocracy is another top-notch effort from the individual who continues to have greater lasting impact on the field than anyone else. Still, I would have placed a different emphasis in the "How to Get it Back" portion of the book.

Monks may be A Traitor to His Class, but he is also a gentleman, reluctant to force change. In his flights of fantasy, Bob dreams of a president who will use his/her powers to end conflicts of interest and compel good governance in contractors. "The framework is in place. The laws exist," he insists. Yet, two pages later he notes the need for legal changes. He reminds us the First Amendment "was not meant to protect the Church from government intrusion, but rather to protect the government... We need similar protection today from the dominant institution of our own time, the corporation."

How can we get shareowners to think of themselves as long-term owners rather than as betters at what Bob calls the biggest casino the world has ever seen? If they know they are owners, what tools can we make available so that voting is not only easier but also more intelligent?

While Bob's focus has been on institutional investors, retail investors also deserve attention. There are dozens of efforts underway. Here are four worthy of further attention:

* Facilitate the ability of proxy assignments, so that retail investors can vote by brand...like CalPERS, Domini, TIAA-CREF, or Fidelity.
* Andy Eggers' Proxy Democracy system would allow retail investors to discover how trusted institutions are voting.
* Glyn Holton's idea of a proxy exchange would allow retail investors to assign proxies to an intermediary that would find like-minded voters.
* Collectively Paid Proxy Research, based on the ideas Mark Latham laid out in Proxy Voting Brand Competition builds off Monks' ISS idea but eliminates the "free rider" issue.

When, on some future date, the Mount Rushmore of Corporate Governance is carved into some mountainside, Bob Monks' profile should be chiseled into the stoneface in a position roughly corresponding to that of Washington's or Jefferson's. Present at the creation, Bob Monks has had a career in corporate governance that spans the transition from the early era when governance activists were seen as gadflies, tilting at windmills, to the current era when Institutional Shareholder Services (his creation) wields enormous power. Been there, done that - you name it and Bob Monks has done it because he has done everything in corporate governance.

So what does Bob Monks have to tell us at a time when the conventional wisdom is that corporate governance activists have triumphed and managerial discretion has been constrained? As usual, his views are counter-intuitive: Corporations are today beyond shareholder control and dominate the political process, emasculating meaningful regulation. Many of his assessments are tart, pungent and disenchanted: "the SEC has become an advertisement for the mandatory sunset of government agencies" (p. 167); today, "we are . . . under the thumb of a corporate oligarchy, bent on plundering and unchecked by any effective ownership," (p. 191); "without effective regulation . . . and without institutional pressure to reform, most corporations - and the largest among them - will loot their own resources to enrich the very few at their helm" (p.186). Basically, he views corporations as self-perpetuating hierarchies in which boards are manipulated by senior executives.

These assessments will seem unduly harsh to many of us, but this is a work of advocacy. Like Emile Zola writing "J'Accuse" in defense of Captain Dreyfus, Monks is not worried about overstatement. Still, if Bob Monks is not always fair, he is often fascinating. The strength of this book is not the nuanced subtlety of its judgments, but its description of life on the cutting edge of corporate governance - how it is actually practiced.

Prescriptively, Bob Monks focuses more on shareholders than boards. He seems most annoyed with his own alma mater, Harvard, and similar foundations for their passivity as investors, and he is similarly critical of "socially responsible investors" who have strong prophylactic rules for what corporations may not do, but exercise little oversight over how they do what they may do.

Monk's greatest concern is the sheer power of the "corpocracy." The danger is clear and present in his view that corporations, organized through groups such as The Business Roundtable, can dominate the political process and thwart the democratic majority. This book was written before the SEC in late 2007 rejected proposals for greater shareholder access to the proxy statement - a decision which he would no doubt cite as proof of his hypothesis. In truth, fear of corporate power is a recurrent theme in the classic literature of corporate governance. As he well knows, seventy five years ago, Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means concluded their book, The Modern Corporate and Private Property, with a warning that the power of the corporation was coming to rival that of the state. But then came the New Deal, and a wave of regulation.

Writing at the end of the Bush Administration, Bob Monks is similarly positioned to Berle and Means, who wrote in 1932; each warned about excessive corporate power after an era of rampant deregulation. But will the world look the same in five more years? Who knows? Ironically, the latest development may be the appearance of major corporations in China, Russia and elsewhere that are clearly puppets of the state. Sovereign wealth funds similarly show that globally the balance of power between the state and the private corporation may be shifting towards the state.

Still, if Bob Monks has not charted the future in all its complexity, he describes the excesses of the present with passion and anger. "Corpocracy" is a call to arms to investors to forego passivity and protect themselves. In essence, he is saying: "Shareholders, arise; you have nothing to lose but your chains."

Robert Monks begins by informing readers that he is a strong supporter of for-profit corporate enterprise. He then goes on to recite how the leaders of these enterprises have recently run amok in the U.S.

"Efficiency," without regard for externalities (eg. pollution, off-shoring American jobs), using "GWAP" reporting (Gee, Whatever Accounting Principles), surrounded by board member, accounting firm, pay, board-evaluation consultant, and stock analyst conflicts of interest, fortified by think-tanks funded by corporations, and beyond accountability via ending the "one share, one vote" rule - their top leaders enjoy scandalous pay and retirement packages, without regard to organizational performance.

At they same time today's corporations are expanding their realms by privatizing government roads, health care, and warfare functions, in the supposed name of efficiency - while actually usually costing more, providing lower service levels, and/or even less accountability. (Helping vitiate a key Democrat-party base of government workers, and gaining increased lobbying influence are additional benefits.) Other government "benefits" today's organizations enjoy include toothless law and regulation enforcement (eg. SEC, DOL), and the ability to shed expensive pension obligations through bankruptcy or simply walking away.

Monks sees pension funds as having a key role in taming today's out of control corporations. Specifically, he touts Hermes Investment Management Company (a London pension fund for phone workers) as an example of what could be done. Monks also praises Elliott Spitzer for accomplishing far more than the SEC or DOL with fewer staff, CEOs Gary Immelt of G.E. and Frank Blake of Home Depot (replaced Robert Nardelli) as examples of principled leaders.

One final comment: Late in his book Monks almost off-handedly remarks that 10% of market value ($1 trillion) was transferred from investors to corporate principal offers. He also asserts that about 95% of all stock options go to the top 15 or so officers. I don't for a moment question his conclusions - Monks' reputation is quite solid. However, I do wish he spent more time elaborating and emphasizing these points.

Corpocracy is an ugly word, not just because of its mixed roots, but because of the governance situation in the United States which it has been coined to describe. In this compelling book, Bob Monks has summarised the means by which American business interests have conspired to suborn the state. No-one else has his authority or breadth of experience in this field of corporate governance. A corporate lawyer and banker by calling, he headed the division in charge of ERISA in the political field and he helped launch Institutional Shareholder Services and LENS to prove that active investors create value. He has distilled his remarkable range of experience into a brief and highly readable polemic. In doing so, he argues that the balance of power between corporations, those who own their shares and those charged with regulating their conduct has to be redressed.

It might, at first sight, seem that the situation which he analyses so penetratingly is peculiar to the United States and that the wider world need not actively concern itself with the author's message. This would be to underestimate the importance of this book. The lessons to be drawn from the consequences of the rise of the political power of American business, which it chronicles, are universal. In addition, given the global reach of American corporations, the need to restore their accountability to their investors within an effective regulatory framework has global implications.

Corpocracy is not a lament, though it describes much that is lamentable. It is a sober and arresting account of the manner in which the author's personal efforts to persuade the appropriate authorities, regulators and major investing institutions to do their duty, morally and juridically, has met with little effective response. The book's impact is all the greater for the restrained manner in which Bob Monks describes how those appointed to discharge their statutory and fiduciary duties repeatedly failed to do so. Inaction by the gatekeepers, left the field open to the untrammelled rapacity of imperial CEOs.

The balance of power between boards and CEOs in the United States remains a paradox, given the country's regulatory history of preventing accretions of power in relation to trusts and to banking. Nowhere else would it be possible to elect a director on a single vote, nowhere else could shareholder votes be invalidated by "ballot stuffing", nowhere else are shareholders so limited in their ability to raise issues at AGMs, which some directors may not even bother to attend. The prevailing concept of CEO/chairmen selecting their outside board members, thus compromising their independence, strengthens the hand of the CEO at the expense of that of the board.

The response to this imbalance in governance terms is the financial track record of US corporations, but at whose expense has it been achieved? Bob Monks' answer is:

"History will look back on the 1990s and early 2000s as a time when the principal officers of public American corporations transferred from shareholders to themselves approximately $1 trillion - or 10 percent of the market value of public exchanges. This must be the largest peacetime movement of wealth ever recorded, and it was accomplished through stealth that amounted to theft and in a spirit of regulatory permissiveness that certainly rises near to the level of criminal neglect." In addition, there is the extra 5 percent of profitability that the Corporate Library metric tells us is lost through bad practice, plus the opportunity cost of boards focusing on short term personal aggrandisement at the expense of sustainable profitable growth. As the one member of the SEC, who opposed the Committee's recent decision to limit the ability of shareholders to put forward resolutions, said: "Corporate governance in the United States is not well served by inattentive boards that are effectively unaccountable to shareholders."

Inevitably one of the headline manifestations of this lack of accountability has been the grossness of the rewards, which some of these principal officers have arrogated to themselves, for failure as well as success. There are attempts to justify these excesses by analogy with the earnings of stars of sport, stage and screen or by claiming that they are market determined. The analogy with the stars is manifestly spurious. The stars earn what their individual talent commands in the hotly contested market for entertainment. The profits of a corporation are earned collectively and represent the sum of the efforts of everyone in an enterprise. The issue therefore is how they should be distributed in a form that would be generally perceived to be fair and in accordance with the concept of natural justice.

A corporation's pay structure should meet the test of equity, rewarding those working for it, from top to bottom, in relation to their contribution to its performance. Ignoring equity in rewards sows the seeds of social division and dissension with its longer term consequences. What seems to have set the bounds to the multiple by which the earnings of the principal officers of companies exceed those of the average employee in most countries is a sense of social cohesion. The multiple varies by country and through time, but it represents a social constraint or discipline, which carries with it economic advantages not to be ignored.

The fact that shareholders are outraged by the grosser excesses of the pay packages of the principal officers of some corporations is no more than a symptom of the lack of accountability of US boards to those who own their stock, hence the theme of the book. It is a cause which Bob Monks has espoused and pursued with a determination and energy that is wholly admirable and selfless. In spite of setbacks, he believes that this essential accountability can be restored. He sees no cause for new laws, agencies or fiscal measures, though the existing statutory and regulatory framework should be effectively enforced. He argues that it is the major investing institutions that carry the obligation to themselves and to society to restore trust in the capitalistic system.

They have the power to reform the governance of corporations and they have a straightforward economic incentive to do so. The obligation, however, of the great foundations, among the investing institutions, to play their part in bringing about reform goes beyond the calculus of financial gain. It lies at the heart of their creation. They directly assist their chosen causes, but that is within the wider context of a market system which provides them with the ability to do this. They have a responsibility to maintain the means by which they fulfil the aims for which they were founded.

The book's message is therefore optimistic, provided that it is heeded in time. Trust and accountability can be restored, but it will take courage and above all leadership to do so. What is needed is enlightened leadership by those in a position to exercise it in the investing institutions and in corporations themselves. In Bob Monks' words:

"It demands that those with a majority stake in the corpocracy - its principal owners and beneficiaries - lead the way back to the broad light of day. The hour is late. The sun won't always be waiting."

Read Corpocracy and judge for yourself!

Si Klegg is a must read book for anyone intersted in the American Civil War. Esspecially those that are in the Cvil War Reenacting hooby. Although Si and his pard are fictional characters from company "Q". The stories and the time line are correct. Si and his pard go through the trials and tribulations of the common Civil War soldier and the reader will be able to take that information with other actual documented actions and events and apply them to what they do during living histories and demonstrations. If you are into the American Civil War this book is just as much as a must read as "Hardtack and Coffee".

I love the book Si Klegg and His Pard. It's Fantastic!

This is a very good book, much like Hardtack and Coffee, and it goes into details that John D. Billings did not cover. I give this 5 stars because it is a good insight on the camp life and more unknown things about the war for the Union. Late Lt. Col. WIlbur F. Hinman is an excellent writer with lots of humor and further insight.
I also would like to reccomend to the civil war buffs out there that they should buy it. This is a rare opportunity to buy a book that I looked for for 2 years! Never did I see it once and I was repeatedly told it was out of print and I would never find it. I never gave up my search and I decided (just for the heck of it), to search for it on amazon.com and I was amazed. One thousand thanks to Amazon.com. One cheer and a tiger for Corporal Si Klegg and his pard!!

EXCELLENT READ! ALTHOUGH A FICTIONAL CHARACTER; WE FOLLOW SI KLEGG AND HIS FRIEND SHORTY THROUGH HARD CAMPAIGNING, IN THE WESTERN THEATER. FROM HIS INITIAL ENLISTMENT IN AN INDIANA REGIMENT TO THE END OF THE WAR. THIS BOOK WAS INTERESTING AS WELL AS ENTERTAINING! IT IS OF NOTE THAT THIS NOVEL WAS WRITTEN BY A CIVIL WAR VETERAN. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED. EXCELLENT.

Don't bring any expectations to this read. The less you expect... the more you will enjoy this "gem", written by an actual Civil War veteran, who served in the Ohio 65th Volunteer Infantry. Although the regiment in the story is fictitious and from Indiana instead of Ohio, its experiences, roughly follow the experiences of the author's factual regiment. The battles in the story, though purposely unnamed, will be identified by a knowlegeable reader as those fought by the Army of the Cumberland... including Stone's River, Chickamagua, Chatanooga and the Atlanta Campaign.

The book, as it's title states, is about the life of a volunteer soldier. And peppered throughout it's excellent narrative, is authentic, sincere and heartfelt dialogue. Dialogue, written in the style of the way the men spoke, with all the ye's, ter's and reckons included. It took a little while accustomising myself to it, but shortly afterwards, I enjoyed the dialogue so much that I started reading it out loud.

Josiah Klegg is a young, enthuisiastic and patriotic recruit, who is unwise in the ways of the army. And Shorty "his pard", whom Si meets shortly after enlisting (or 'listing as they call it) is a hardluck Huckleberry Finn character. Though having had a rough lot in life, Shorty is a quick thinker and wise to the ways of the world. The two of them are "stayers", and together, they travel the long hard (and often painful) path from inexperienced recruit to veteran soldier.

Their personalities play off each other wonderfully. Shorty tolerates Si, who is naive and never short for expressing an opinion. And Shorty, always faithful and yet slightly dower, is continually uplifted by Si's irrepressable enthusiam.

There is much in this story of interest for the Civil War buff, including detailed descriptions of marching (blisters and all), camp life, hospital scenes and actual combat. In the end, this story is about the bonds that tie men together. If it is at all possible to understand the feelings men had for each other, during that terrible interlude in American History, you'll get closest, reading this book.

This is not your pop-business or pop-anything book. It is a scholarly work that has global political reach, as well as personal impact. Part of the beauty of this work it how systematic it is in providing a well-rounded picture of power dynamics that transcend the century in which they play out.

An ingeniously crafted book, Siu explores modern-day Machiavellian philosophy as it applies to the corporate and political realms. I found this book to be extremely educational, providing me with the information necessary to recognize and deal with the power plays that happen in every day life. Few will want to follow the recipe given in this book to pursue power, but all can learn directly applicable insights from this book. It is a real shame that it is out of print.

I have been a student of the philosophy, if not the practice, of war for as long as I can remember. I've read everything from Machivelli to Napoleon to Sun Tzu in an effort to study the nature of ruthlessness. The comparsions of this book to Robert Greene's work are unavoidable. But for any serious student of the nature of power this book is indispensible.

I was constantly reminded of "The 48 Laws of Power" as I read this book. The author used laws (80 compared to 48), as well as historical and political examples to make his point. This book is much shorter, making it an easier read. I enjoyed reading this book, but should have had a dictionary handy, as there were a lot of big words. If you like "The Prince", "The Art of War", or "The 48 Laws of Power" you will like this book as well.

In this book, Siu applies the philosophies of Machiavelli to the subject of power in the modern-day corporate and government realms. I learned a great deal from this book. In particular, it provided me with a lens through which I can identify and deal with the power plays that occur in every day life. While few will want to follow the recipe provided by Siu to obtain personal power through his methods, all can learn from them.