Peter Books

This book includes one of my favorite works by Melville (or anyone, for that matter), "Bartleby The Scrivener". It tells the story of the document copier (or scrivener) Bartleby as narrated by his increasingly perplexed, unnamed employer. Unlike Mobey Dick which is so symbolic and philosophical, I gave up on page 13 or so, this story is strangely accessible and contemporary. The alienation that Bartleby feels for his job, his fellow employees, and the narrator is, at once, sad and humorous. Today, when it seems a job can easily become interchangeable with who we are, the fact that Bartleby is, at first, reluctant to do what's asked of him and later would "prefer not to" do anything at all is a bitter, if accurate, portrayal of the kind of ever-threatening psychosis that nibbles around the edges of the world of work from time to time, whatever it is we do to make a living. What's the word? Yeah; there's an existential quality to this tale that fits just as securely in 2007, as it does in the mid-19th century, the story's actual setting. Like Bartleby, I sometimes find myself fading away before the tasks I am asked to perform on the job; "I would prefer not to..." comes to mind pretty often, but, of course, I push on because at the time it all seems to mean something. And it does....Doesn't it? Melville was on to something.

a great collection! when it comes to Melville, i usually prefer annotated editions, but, this particular version does not include either 'The Confidence Man' or 'Moby Dick', thus, i believe i will be just fine. If you've already read 'Typee', 'Pierre', or either of the two above mentioned titles, then this collection may just be for you. It's worth it alone just for 'Billy Budd'. My one complaint? The cover artwork depicts ol' Herms to be a distant relative of Leonardo da Vinci, and while ol' Herms was a genius (although not on Leonardo's level), i think Perennial could have offered a better looking picture than the one they chose to use... talk about your old man and the sea...

This edition of Melville's short fiction is, I think,
the best...certainly a real bargain at this price.
In this one volume, the reader gets all of Melville's
short fiction -- plus the novella, *Billy Budd, Sailor*
(the Harrison Hayford/Merton M. Sealts, Jr. "definitive"
Reading Text published by the Univ. of Chicago in 1962).
The collection is edited and has an excellent
"Introduction" by Warner Berthoff.
The selections are each preceded by a very informative
"Note" which tells you when the piece first appeared
and in what periodical. Berthoff also supplies in each
"Note" delicious suggestive context insights...which
help the appreciative/analytical/interpretive process
begin to percolate.
The 1st selection is "The Town-Ho's Story" (a
chapter from Melville's novel *Moby-Dick*). But
this chapter was printed in *Harper's New Monthly
Magazine* in October 1851 (according to Berthoff's
"Note")as a portion of a work-in-progress.
The collection presents the pieces in the CHRONOLOGICAL
order of their publication in various magazines.
But it also contains "The Two Temples," which
Berthoff says was rejected for publication. So,
the collection contains all of Melville's "short"
fictional pieces, including prose pieces meant to
accompany poems. These pieces in the collection
include: "The Marquis de Grandvin," "Three 'Jack
Gentian Sketches,'" "John Marr," and "Daniel Orme."
The collection concludes with *Billy Budd, Sailor."
All of the *Piazza Tales* are in this collection
along with "The Piazza " piece, itself.
This is a fine collection. The Northwestern/
Newberry editions of Melville's works are nice,
but expensive. And you would have to get 2
separate volumes to also get the *Billy Budd,
Sailor* which you get included in this one
volume.
However, what the N/N edition of Melville's
prose pieces gives you which this collection by
Berthoff does not (their title is: *The Piazza
Tales and Other Prose Pieces: 1839-1860*)are:
"Fragments from a Writing Desk" (1839),
Melville's inspired essay of idolatry and
insight, "Hawthorne and His Mosses" (17 and 24
Aug. 1850), many other uncollected pieces,
Melville's reconstructed lectures from his
stint as a public speaker/"performer" (Yikes!)
"Statues in Rome," "The South Seas," and
"Traveling." There are also copious notes,
scholarly information, photo facsimiles,
and other helpful items in the N/N edition.
But, unless you are a scholar, a Melville
fanatic, or financially unfrugal, BUY this
edition by Berthoff and published by the
Perennial Library of Harper & Row.
* * * * * * * * *

This is worth buying if only for the masterpiece that is Bartelby the Scrivener. One of the all time great short stories, it tells the story, narrated by an employer in a Wall Street Law office who finds a peculiar scrivener called Bartelby in his employ.

Bartelby is initially a quiet and efficient copyist, but when asked to undertake extra work, he deflects it with the simple rejoinder 'I would prefer not to.' He repeats this mantra, over and over, calmly and without malice. 'You will not?' thunders his employer in frustration, 'I prefer not,' says Bartelby. And with that simple 'I prefer not', Bartelby strikes a blow on behalf of all the inconspicuous millions who find themselves wasting their lives, their creative human potential, in drab, workaday office jobs, counting down the months of their lives staring at a computer screen, the sterile hum of life passing them by. All the tedium of office life is in Bartelby - anyone who has worked in such an environment will recognise the compulsive snacking, the drab natureless view out the window, the modes and systems of the company affecting the consciousness and behaviour patterns of the staff. Bartelby, simply and effectively, questions all of this with his quiet actions, heading off in another direction from the common herd, unpicking the knot at the end of the string that binds all corporate paperwork together. Hurrah for Bartelby, whose quiet, tragic existence unravells the whole rope, and hurrah for his legacy - for without Bartelby there would be no Camus, there would be no 'Something Happened' by Joseph Heller, no 'And Then we Came to the End' by Joshua Ferris, the masterful debut office novel published this year.

To read Bartelby, to devote a valuable hour of your life to Melville's pioneering existentialist story, is to momentarily glimpse a chink in the darkness, a sense of what might and could be, instead of the living death that a great many people trudge through, like the dead in T.S. Eliot's poem 'The Wasteland', trudging over London Bridge on their way to work.

This is the beginning of American literature. And these short works I think tell the tale more clearly than that confusing (though still great) big book Moby Dick. Melville wrote from an outsiders perspective and he was an outsider as perhaps all Americans were because we did not yet have an identity as a people. Melville explores our institutions of justice and our ability to comprehend life through them in Billy Budd in the way a foreigner would examine justice and understanding in a land whose logic he was unfamiliar with. He seems to ask "how will our sense of justice be different than France's or England's and therby make us a different nation than theirs?" or even more simply "Is real understanding(of ourselves, or others) ever possible?" Melville is very much the anti-idealist in a work like The Piazza in which one valley dweller imagines existence on the upper slopes to be grander than his own only to travel there one day and be made aware of the opposite. So there is no dreaming colonist in Melville, in him we have a measured study of ourselves as we were in his day, and perhaps still are, a dreaming people,a restless people with only the vaguest notions of what life and its true nature is. The strangest story in this collection is Benito Cereno which is perhaps the work which most defines a democratic nation's uneasy alliance of peoples and points of view. In that work there is no one defining perspective, only differing views of one event that remains disturbingly unclear as all of Melville's worlds are. In Melville we have an author defining what we are or perhaps more importantly what our problems will be in the future. Interesting short works full of that rare kind of insight that does not seem to be trapped in its time but somehow seems to have seen what is to come. There is the idea that a new nation has of itself and a confidence that in the works of Melville is challenged. The mystery in these works is the mystery at the heart of existence and life remains inscrutable even here in this new land with its new ways. In Moby Dick the innocent Ishmael is the only one spared, in Billy Budd(Melville's last tale) the innocent is the one sacrificed. Melville's vision is not a comfortable one. The strange Bartelby,the Scrivener is a tale where personality is consumed by an impersonal system. The story strikes an odd alienated tone which will later be taken up by Kafka and Pynchon and countless others.

Although personally, I don't live like the author, I subscribe to many of his principles espoused in the book. I am happily retired because I adhered to these principles. The book helps validate them. I highly recommend this book to the masses for its enlightening potential. It may be the best Xmas gift you can consider giving your spouse, children or friends.

To majority of people a minimalist lifestyle has little attractiveness because in this day and age we are taught to spend and enjoy our lives through acquiring material things. However, Peter recommends that one may reach a higher level of happiness if one was to spend within its means and maximizing its utility per resource level (in economic terms). Concept of minimalism doesn't mean that you cannot purchase expensive things, but rather buying things within your own means and not wasting any capital on additional items that do not provide similar satisfaction or utility. What a refreshing concept during our current housing and debt crisis!! I highly recommend Appendix G for a brief summary of the main ideas of the book.

The book is a quick read but lingers long afterward in the caverns of your mind. Why? Because too many of us feel like that proverbial hamster. Our wheel is spinning ever faster but we are going nowhere. Fast! How to remedy that situation is not easy. Peter comes up with a variety of ways of thinking about energy, consumption, lifestyle, diet, the whole mish-mash of the thing we call life. He makes you question the notion of a 'good life'. I found the book provocative and engaging. Some of it was humorous. Kudos for weaving Seinfeld into the story! Bottom line: the book is not a panacea. Don't think that was ever its intention. Or pretension. It merely makes one think. And for that I'm grateful to have read it. (full disclosure: I too have met the author)

In the world that we live in, we teach our children how to be good consumers, how to make and spend money and how to live the "rich" life.
Peter Lawrences' book comes at a perfect time, as we continue to teach our young people how to spend during a major credit crisis and economic downturn, Peter shares his experiences with becoming a minimalist and being happy with it!
Peter shares facts along with his personal experiences that led him to this lifestyle and shares how it has helped him in so many ways and can help you to. Having financial independence is a huge burden lifted from your shoulders resulting in better health, state of mind and feeling free.
Teaching ourselves and our children that the "rich" life is all about how less is really more is a lesson we should all give and now could not be a better time to begin.

The book recounts the author (who in full disclosure I know and is how I became aware of the book, but this is an honest review.) has pared down his life considerably, and lives with a lot of things many of us would consider necessities. I don't realistically think his experience will translate to the population at large, and he admits as much.

Those limitations aside, he builds a good case for a minimalist lifestyle not only from a perspective of what is good for the planet, society, but also what is good for the individual. A particular point is our reliance on automobiles and a sedentary life is making us more obese as a nation. He also pulls from a range of sources in historical and contemporary literature to make the case that these are tried and true ideas. Making no claim to being ground breaking, it is a nice summarization of thought in support of a minimalist lifestyle.

The value of "The Happy Minimalist" is not in the descriptive reasons for his lifestyle, but the prescriptive remedies and suggestions he takes from his experience. He provides real usable tips for reducing the impact of your life and on your life that modern age throws us. For instance, what put Lawrence on the path of writing this book was his encounter with a doctor who prescribed medicine for a chronic condition. Upon further studying Lawrence decided that regimen of diet and exercise could correct the situation, something the doctors said was not possible. However months later his condition disappeared. I think this says more about our desire for a quick fix. There are many paths to health, wealth and well being that do not require consumption.

The book's value is another example of what can be done with less without a decline in happiness or quality of life. There are things in the book that will give you a pause and think, and you can't ask for much more than that out of a book.

Watch Video Here: http://www.amazon.com/review/RIF1M2NFS96YR The book started with Guillermo del Toro (GdT) recounting how Hellboy went from being one of his favourite comic books to become a Hollywood movie he would direct.

Major characters in the book have their own biography pages, providing a little background for readers, like me, who didn't read the original comic book series. That was helpful.

Conceptual art was plentiful and are accompanied by the movie script. Short captions by artists explained how the art was created to fit into the vision of GdT. This book's main subject is most probably artistic direction with function. From the captions, every thing drawn has form, function and purpose. Here's a little quote from GdT:

"Let me make something abundantly clear --- in case you've been on Mars --- NO RED!!! --- Except for Hellboy or the atmospheres that are intimate/related to him: BROOM, LIZ, GRIGORY, and/or colors in WWII. - GdT"

This book was heavy on character design, set design, movie story boards and props design. Movie frame stills were hard to find.

For Hellboy fans, getting this book is a no brainer.

There are more pictures on my blog. Just visit my Amazon profile for my blog's link.

Mike Mignola's HELLBOY is no longer a obscure character enjoyed by unwashed comic geeks thanks to Guillermo Del Toro & Revolution Studios.
A full finished script of the film is included, as well as some background stories on some key characters.
The book's preproduction art from Wayne Barlowe, Mike Mignola, Simeon Wilkins, & TyRuben Ellingson is no less than phenomenal. Creature, Prop, & Location designs are found throughout each page. Arguably, some of Wayne Barlowe's best designs can be found here. Even Guillermo Del Toro's sketches find their way into the book. This book makes for an excellent introduction to one of modern fiction's most unique characters.

Besides a complete shooting script and lots of commentary, this has tons of illustrations and concept art done by all the artists involved in the movie. It's wonderful to see Mike Mignola's and Wayne Barlowe's sketches following the development of all the various Hellboy monsters, characters and environments, and lots of stuff that didn't make it into the movie. A must for any fan of the film.

I was unfamiliar with the world of Hellboy prior to seeing the movie. When I did and when I ordered this book, I was blown away by the wealth of visual richness that inhabit the Hellboy universe. Being a collector of "Art of..." books, I realized that the strength of Hellboy lies in the visual galore. The book is fully detailed with drawings from every level of production as well as the closeness of working atmosphere between the filmakers and the creator of the original material not commonly known in Hollywood.

My only gripe in this book is that the structuring is kinda messed up and confusing, since the book mixes up the art section with the script.

A must have for art, comic and production design lovers, has lots new designs by Mignola Barlowe and other great artists including the prop makers. Includes beautiful pages illustrating both concept and the picture of the final prop supported by the commentaries and thinkings of the artist involved in the creation of that specific prop. It also includes the final shooting script, and images from Guillermo del Toro's notebook which are nice sketches and annotations depicting the first idea behind the final design of each character. Great!!! one of the best, just do not read it before watching the movie.

the pictures , the instruction GREAT GREAT GREAT thank you Lisa you are one in a million

This is an easy to read, clear approach to yoga for beginners. I love the photos! I have begun a 20 min.morning routine after a fifteen year hiatus from yoga. I recently had a child and am grateful to get back to yoga. Thank you Lisa!

to learn, review, expand and refresh my knowledge of yoga postures and their benefits for health and well being. Looking forward to getting Lisa's new yoga books on pregnancy and children. I love this book, and know I'll love the new ones.

I began looking into yoga because my back and legs hurt constantly after standing up at work all day. Most of the books on the subject out there seemed to be either too difficult or else plagued by a condescending writing style. This was the exception. It looked approachable--not too many exercises that just looked flat-out impossible. So I bought it and took it home. That was about three weeks ago.

My back doesn't hurt anymore. My legs don't hurt anymore. If they feel a little achy after work, I just go home, do a little bit of yoga, and voila! instant relief. In addition to the post-work relaxation, I've taken to doing a longer yoga workout every other day for general fitness. I started by just working my way through the beginning stretches, and have been adding advanced poses as I felt comfortable with them. I feel great, and as a side effect, I am gaining some muscle tone, and my figure looks better. I haven't lost any pounds per se, but my clothes fit much better. How great is that? I've finally found an exercise that feels good and is also good for me. I think I'll be sticking with this.

Trivell's book is very useful. She provides two sections of stretches--beginning and advanced--and then gives us ideas for how to combine them into workouts for those days when we don't have time to go through all the exercises. There are sections detailing which poses are good for different areas of the body, so you can focus on your weak points. There are 10 and 20 minute routines; there is a morning "wake-up" routine and an evening "destressing" routine. Everything about this book is approachable and down-to-earth. I love it. If you're a beginner to yoga, this is the bomb! Then, once this is old hat to you, you can maybe check out one of the other books, the ones that looked intimidating not that long ago.

I had never done yoga before ordering this book, and it has been a great help to me. The poses are described and deomonstrated in a clear and straightforward manner with quality photographs to use as a guide. I enjoyed the book so much that I have enrolled in a yoga class. It's benefitial to have an instructor to correct you and instruct you in person, but this book has been a great companion to my instruction. I only have class once a week and this book keeps me motivated and practicing between classes. Definitely a good starting point for a total beginner.

The illustrations are truly fabulous. The kind of art you want to hang up on your child's walls. The gentle washes of color coupled with evocative actions and expressions are appealing to both the parent reading the book and the child hearing it.
And the rhymes match the pictures perfectly: gentle, soothing, and captivating.
The book is like a warm hug!

My son -loves- elephants so it would be hard for this book to be a miss. The illustrations are beautiful.

My 3-year old daughter loves the story so much that she reads it over and over again until she is able to recite. This is an excellent book that helps mommy and child bond. Highly recommended!

My 2 year old and I read this every night. It is a wonderful book and we look forward to it every night.

We have been reading this story to our 2 year old daughter since she was 2 months old and it's still her favorite book. She now recites the words as I flip through the pages - this book has definitely left an impression. Additionally, the pictures are colorful and fun! It's such a sweet story about the fun a mother and child have together, and the special bond the two share. I'm sure your little one will love this story just as much as mine does!

I pass ccna2.0 with 935/1000 today. All I have is this book and Boson exams. I've read my friend's Todd Lammle book. I think this book is much better than Todd's. Todd's is written for passing the exam. For the ICND book, you actally learn the CCNA stuff in depth. I strongely recommend this book for everyone who want to pass the CCNA2.0 with FULLY understanding.

I pass ccna2.0 with 935/1000 today. All I have is this book and Boson exams. I've read my friend's Todd Lammle book. I think this book is much better than Todd's. Todd's is written for passing the exam. For the ICND book, you actally learn the CCNA stuff in depth. I strongely recommend this book for everyone who want to pass the CCNA2.0 with FULLY understanding.

I read ICND by Cisco Press before. I found this book used on Amazon and bought it just because it was cheap. Now I can not put it down. This book is far better than Cisco Press' ICND. It has about 100 more pages than Cisco's. To me it is worth every minute spent to read this book.
I passed CCNA in December. So, I don't have the exam pressure. I am reading this just for fun and enjoying it.
I strongly recommend it over Cisco's ICND if you intent to take CCNA test.

I just finished reading this book cover to cover and feel very confident about moving on to the next stage of my CCNA preparation, practice tests and simulation! I've been using the CCExam software from CCStudy.com as well as a few other practice tests and am amazed how easy a lot of the questions were after reading this book. Just an indication of how comprehensive this book is.

More important, in my opinion, is the book's "readability"! I'm sure there are numerous books that cover the exact same information as this book yet might not be written in a manner that is clear and simple to understand, especially for Cisco newbies like myself. This book is just a lot of fun to read.

Finally, I really enjoyed the "real world" tone of this title. It isn't written for someone who's bound for the testing center, but rather for someone who needs to apply the knowledge at work in the field. I'm certain that I'll constantly be using this book as a reference even after passing the exam. Very cool.

All in all, I'd like to recommend ICND to the Cisco neophyte who's looking for that great "First Book" to start off his or her Cisco library. I'm really glad I got this book and I'm sure you will be too.

Good luck on your CCNA!

I pass ccna2.0 with 935/1000 today. All I have is this book and Boson exams. I've read my friend's Todd Lammle book. I think this book is much better than Todd's. Todd's is written for passing the exam. For the ICND book, you actally learn the CCNA stuff in depth. I strongely recommend this book for everyone who want to pass the CCNA2.0 with FULLY understanding.

I was fortunate to have read "In the Lord's Library" quite some time ago and thoroughly enjoyed the entire book. I feel that MARSDEN did a superb job in creating this storyline and was able to put into writing a very believable tale. It is evident that MARSDEN spent a portion of his career as a police officer and he has been able to bring to life some of the situations which he faced while in service.
If you are looking for a great story to read during these rainy winter months, look no further than "In the Lord's Library"

Enjoy!

We were so caught up in this book, that we read it in a day!
We read it aloud. Reading, as if it were a script.
Each character was brought to life, as P.J. Marsden described them in detail.
"In the Lord's Library" was the book we chose to end the year with.
It was the perfect selection, for best friends to read together.

I look forward to reading more books, by P.J. Marsden.

You can certainly tell the author of this book is a veteran police officer. The places he takes you, and skillfully I might add, could only be achieved by a cop who has been there, done that, and yes, even took the pictures for his file. While there was certainly a lot in this book for me, I can easily say there lays within these pages a little something for everyone, as well as the lesson that we can all be as strong as the main character Judith. We just have to allow our free will and inner strength to take us there. The author skillfully weaves this believable story by leaving you hanging at the end of each chapter, challenging the reader to abandon the pages but I would have none of that. I kept right on reading!

My mother sent me so book to help divert my mind as I too lost a loved one during the mindless violence of September 11th. My grieving will go on for some time, but reading this novel about a young school teacher (Judith Noble) and the tragedies she must endure, as well as the other characters in this book have given me the strength to start down the long road to my recovery. I laughed, and I cried, and I embraced every tear that I shed for these characters, and applauded when they got themselves through their most turbulent times. Every now and then I read a book that I won't soon forget and this is one such book. It went on, and very strongly for 421 wonderful pages!

This novel took each and every one of my emotions out for a test drive, and what a ride! If I wasn't laughing, then I would be crying or lost in thoughtful repose. The author manages to give the reader a little bit of everything, and delivers in a style that I have never seen before. I thought I was entering into a religious story, but I soon discovered I was wrong. Hope to see a lot more from this writer!

Andrew Bacevich probably was able to get the publisher to re-issue this out of print book. Bacevich writes the forward. Great.

The "useful" rating I have received for all of my reviews to date is about 47%--now I know how John McCain feels! In an effort to raise my rating to an Obama-like 53% I have undertaken to review a book that has been republished for this election year.

Whenever a book by someone now deceased is re-published one should ask why, and when that author has written several books the additional question becomes why now. In the case of The Irony of American History by Reinhold Niebuhr the answers are clear from reading the back cover. There you will find Barack Obama saying that Niebuhr "is one of my favorite philosophers," (which is akin to a chocoholic saying, "Herseys is one of my favorite candy bars.") There is also a reference that the book has been cited by "politicians as diverse as Hilary Clinton and John McCain." So it's re-publication is about making a buck in this presidential year. Still it is well worth reading.

Niebuhr has some important things to say in this book, but not what people such as Andrew Bacevich, who wrote the Introduction for the book, claim. It is not, as Bacevich boldly states, "the most important book ever written on U.S, foreign policy." It is not even a book, in the sense that, as Niebuhr himself writes in the Preface, the substance of the book consists of two series of lectures given in 1949 and 1951. Also it is not about American foreign policy, or for that matter even about the irony of American history. What the book is really about is a critical examination of the differences between Communism, as it existed at that time and the Western political and economic system and values with which it was in conflict.

Niebuhr begins by calling attention to the idea of American exceptionalism. The founders of this country regarded themselves as God's new chosen people and set out to be different from, and better than, their European counterparts. Niebuhr expounds on two ideas, Calvinism that was predominate in New England, and Jeffersonian values that prevailed in Virginia. He also refers to Max Weber and the idea of a "Protestant Ethic." What developed was a "cult of prosperity" and eventually a reliance on technology to solve our problems. "The irony of America's quest for happiness," Niebuhr writes on page 63, "lies in the fact that she succeeded more obviously than any other nation in making life more `comfortable,' only finally to run into larger incongruities of human destiny by the same achievements by which it (sic) escaped the smaller ones."

Niebuhr devotes much of the middle of the book to an analysis of Communism. He notes that Communism developed primarily in those countries that were feudal, agrarian static societies (Russia, China and Southeast Asia). Even in Europe it made the most inroads in those countries--France and Italy--that retained the remnants of feudalism. He also castigates both Communism and Capitalism for taking too simplistic a view of reality. Communism assumes that the differences in wealth in the world are due to the manipulations of the owner class and if class differences can be removed everyone will live in a utopian world. In this view it overlooks the fluidity of the capitalist system in which people can readily move from a low economic status to a high one (the essence of the American Dream). Capitalism, on the other hand, assumes that the differences are due solely to differences in abilities, access to resources and personal ambition, ignoring in the process the effects of prejudice and efforts of the rich and powerful to control others and consolidate their power.

We have to remember that Niebuhr was writing at a time just after China became Communist and during the Korean War. Thus he shows what now we can call an undue concern for the spread of Communism in Asia. He also fails to foresee the collapse of Communism which occurred some 40 years later, the rise of Islam and the role that globalization has played in transforming the world.

A second important aspect of the book is Niebuhr's comments on values. For example the following quote is from page 63: "Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in our lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope. Nothing which is true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history; therefore we must be saved by faith. Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone; therefore we must be saved by love. No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as it is from our standpoint; therefore we must be saved by the final form of love which is forgiveness." This statement is as good a recipe for how to live as any I have ever read and by itself makes the book worth reading.

I have rated this book as five stars because I think it is vital reading for any thinking person, even given its somewhat dated ideas. But the book should be read slowly and carefully and even several times to get the full meaning.

I first heard of this book on NPR where they reviewed it as timely today as it was in the 50s when first published. In this election year and the significance of the religious element in politics "The Irony of American History" explains America's Puritan and Calvinistic thinking that has shaped our nation.

"Simply put, [this] is the most important book ever written on American foreign policy." Thus writes Andrew Bacevich in his introduction to the newly reissued book written by Reinhold Niebuhr in 1952. Bacevich is a Niebuhr scholar and author of the just published book, "The Limits of Power". He was largely responsible for getting "Irony" reissued.

The timing of this book becoming available, as well as of Bacevich's own book, couldn't be better. Niebuhr was a pastor, teacher, activist, moral theologian and prolific author. He was a towering presence in American intellectual life from the 1930's through the 1960's. He was, at various points in his career, a Christian Socialist, a pacifist, an advocate of U.S. intervention in World War II, a staunch anti-communist, an architect of Cold War liberalism, and a sharp critic of the Vietnam War.

The Irony of American History traces the course of American idealism and exceptionalism from its very beginnings in the providential thinking of the Pilgrims who settled Massachusetts. Written early in the Cold War, Niebuhr devotes much of his analysis to comparing and contrasting Marxian communism and the "bourgeois" liberalism, or liberal democracy of America. While he clearly argues that the liberal project of democracy offers more to the "common good" of the community than does Marxism, both have the seeds of their destruction in the illusions they hold. So-called "Niebuhrian realism" is the ability to see through such illusions as a condition for avoiding the worst pitfalls they carry.

Alas, one of the greatest of these pitfalls is the American tendency to suppose that we can manage history. As Niebuhr writes: "The illusions about the possibility of managing historical destiny from any particular standpoint in history, always involves, as already noted, miscalculations about both the power and the wisdom of the managers and of the weakness and the manageability of the historical 'stuff' which is to be managed." He goes on to point out that "In the liberal versions of the dream of managing history, the problem of power is never fully elaborated. ...On the whole, [American government] is expected to gain its ends by moral attraction and limitation. Only occasionally does an hysterical statesman suggest that we must increase our power and use it in order to gain the ideal ends, of which providence has made us the trustees."

Is it not painfully evident that we reached one of those "occasional moments" after 9/11 when "hysterical statesmen" - Bush and Cheney, et al - argued for a profound increase in the power to gain the "ideal ends" of bringing "freedom" to Iraq and the Middle East since we are the obvious "trustees" of this freedom?

Herein lies the element of "irony", the philosophical and spiritual core of Niebuhr's arguments. The first element of irony, Niebuhr points out, "is the fact that our nation has, without particularly seeking it, acquired a greater degree of power than any other nation of history" and we "have created a 'global' political situation in which the responsible use of this power has become a condition of survival of the free world."

He continues: "But the second element of irony lies in the fact that a strong America is less completely master of its own destiny than was a comparatively weak America, rocking in the cradle of its continental security and serene in its infant innocence. The same strength which has extended our power beyond a continent has also interwoven our destiny with the destiny of many peoples and brought us into a vast web of history in which other wills, running in oblique or contrasting directions to our own, inevitably hinder or contradict what we most fervently desire. We cannot simply have our way, not even when we believe our way to have the 'happiness of mankind' as its promise."

In Iraq we have met the enemy and "it is us". Not enough of us understood that "we cannot simply have our way" in the exercise of American power, which is thought to be essentially military power, to head off the folly in which we are buried and the prospect of a war without end.

Writing all this in 1952 with the cataclysmic dangers of the Cold War becoming a hot war, Niebuhr foresaw the increasing globalization of the world and the danger of not recognizing and accepting the limits of our power to bring freedom and happiness to the rest of the world, especially through military means.

This slender book of 173 pages is loaded with these prescient observations warning us clearly of the catastrophic dangers that can follow from a failure to understand the limits of our power of our exceptionalism and of the illusion that we can manage all this history to accomplish our supposedly moral and "good" ends for other nations.

When you finish reading this book you will then want to read Bacevich's book, "The Limits of Power", in which he essentially channels Niebuhr's understanding and traces the history of the last 60 years in which the Bush-Cheney foreign policy has become simply an extension of the direction American foreign policy has taken, primarily from the Reagan administration onward.

Neibuhr makes a strong case that America's history has in some ways worked against us, and brought us to a perspective that we, and we alone, have the best world view and the best way of doing things. The book is not a response to our invasion of Iraq, but our culture as he saw it during the Cold War era in which it was written.

Beginning with the attitudes which developed as a result of our being on an incredibly rick continent, and able to thrive in relative isolation from European wars, our prosperity led us into kind of an echo chamber of self-confirming blessedness: of course we (and our way of life) must be superior, or why would God have given us such a continent to live on?

Among the ironies which Neibhur focuses on is how our strength has actually put us in a position of weakness; because of our strength, we have a responsibility to use that strength very carefully (kind of a weakness, since we can't use the strength willy nilly).

Secondly, the confidence we have in the righteousness of our views is a confidence which communism also has, although Neibhur is explicit in labeling Communism as tyrannical.

It's a fine book, and I can't begin to do justice to his arguments here. But I highly recommend it, and in case you're wondering, it's not at all a "hate America first" book.

maybe i'm just partial.

naming god auggie was genius - it allows the reader to get out of the hell of any personal prejudices/predilections associated with that god word.

The J Affect finally takes on, in a passionate and thought provoking manner, the core issue of existence and spirituality inherent in the messianic image. Timely and relevant in light of "The Passion", but real and forward looking - a very, very necessary exercise. I hope to see more from this author.

Peter Burstin's compelling and zany novel made me question some of my most basic assumptions about our role in the world. The characters are drawn with affection - yet they pinpoint aspects of the human nature with a cynical accuracy which reminded me of Kurt Vonnegut's loving portrayals of a wrecked future. The outlandish J Affect tells the story of the coming of the messiah, and of the present-day Daffy family, whose scion Bob is mistakenly raised as the Saviour in the public eye.
Auggie's cryptic sense of humour guides our protagonist through history, selecting him as a witness to tell the tale of the four Js. Burstin may seem cruel at times in his portrayal of humanity, but is also full of compassion for their plight. The result is a biting satire that keeps you turning the pages like an addict, wondering "...is this really us?"

What a great read by Peter Burstin. I found myself unable to put the book down, I could not wait to get tho the next page. Quite a creative approach to our possible future and our past. He weaves together a story that has layers of implications. It is truly thought provoking, especially to our current world crisis. When is the next book comming?

The J Affect manages to shift focus off the structure of religion, redirecting it to where it's always belonged, on true spirituality.
Elegantly written, and with more depth than Dan Browns' tie collection, The J Affect manages to unfold a thought provoking epic that leaves one with the sublime gift of possibility.
In Burstins' form of deadpan humor, and break-free imagination, dreams unfold, God speaks and answers are revealed to those wise enough to accept them.
Much like the impeccably designed cover, this book is well thought out and contains layers of revelations that continue long after turning the last page.

Can a Scotsman living in France write about an American pathologist and a Chinese detective and make it real?

Without a doubt!

May has written six novels about his unusual pair of protagonists, but only three have been printed in the U.S. so far. The first two do a wonderful job of introducing the "real" China to his readers by giving insight and joy to the daily lives of people in Beijing. I found them to be a wonderful education as well as a delightful read.

In this novel, the action moves to Shanghai, and his insights into the differences between that city and Beijing are fascinating. He is the only westerner to be given honorary membership to the Chinese mystery writers Association, and when you read his novels, you'll understand why.

Oh yes, the mystery part is remarkably good as well. Well plotted, good characterization, and all three books catch you off gaurd at the end, as good mysteries should!

Peter May's China Thriller series of books continues with The Killing Room. All is not well with Margaret and Li's relationship as the location is mostly Shanghai in his third of the series.

Having visted Shanghai nine times in the past two years, I find the Chinese background and culture in this series and this mystery in particular are outstanding. Written in 2000 and just released in the USA, this highly charged mystery actually foretells some of Shanghai's modern 21st Century political history of local corruption. While other novelists may touch on the corruption in a lighter, more oblique way, May gets right to the point in demonstrating how the hierarchy works. He touches on the continuing power struggle between Beijing and Shanghai.

The other reviews cover the story line well. The setting of Shanghai is remarkably accurate, and the description of life and families is still quite relevant eight years after the book was authored. (Many things can change in Shanghai in eight years.) As I have Shanghai friends to explain many customs in modern China, I find that May captures them in very subtle ways. May distills the Chinese manners and details them into background throughout the novel.

If you are travelling to Shanghai and want to get an inside look into the city's life, this is a must read. Only you will find that Shanghai is a much safer place than what happens in the vicinity of Margaret and Li.

I just started reading this book and I'm already hooked. I will definitely be reading any others that Mr. May has written or writes in the future. Definiately a must read!

First Sentence: The rain, like tears, streaks his view of the world from the back seat of his limousine.

Beijing detective Li Yan is working on a case where a woman's body has been found. It appears the victim had undergone an autopsy while alive, organs removed and her body cut into pieces.

Now Yan is sent to Shanghai to oversee the investigation instigated by a mass grave being found there with the similar remains of 18 women. Yan, oblivious by the attentions of his female counterpart in Shanghai, sends for American pathologist Margaret Campbell, with whom he has worked before and with whom he is lovers. While the nightmare of the case escalates, so do the problems with their relationship.

There was definitely more to like about this book than not. I really enjoy learning about China of today and seeing it through the eyes of both a resident, albeit of Beijing who, himself, doesn't feel comfortable in Shanghai, and an American make the story particularly interesting. Yan is a very good policeman who is classically clueless as a male at times, while Margaret is an excellent pathologist who is almost overwhelming insecure as a woman. Those aspects make the characters very believable and human.

I also learned about pathology and science, but in a way that was clinical; not horrific or ever boring. There is suspense that does build nicely. Although I suspected one villain, I didn't see the other one coming.

The first book of the series, "The Firemaker," is still my favorite, but I shall definitely continue on with Margaret and Li.

When the bodies of eighteen women are discovered in a mass grave at a construction site in Shanghai, Deputy Section Chief Li Yan is sent to establish if the corpses relate to an unsolved similar murder in Beijing. He requests that American pathologist Margaret Campbell be allowed to assist with the forensics. Their on again-off again relationship remains rocky, especially because of local Deputy Chief Nien Mei-Ling, who Margaret finds a formidable competitor for Li Yan's heart. While examining the bodies, Margaret discovers that all of them had organs removed while they were still alive.

I particularly like two aspects of May's books. One is the culture clashes between Li Yan and Margaret Campbell. Despite their strong feelings for each other, they are just very different people. I learn a lot about Chinese culture through Margaret's eyes and would probably make the same missteps she does.

The other is May's ability to explore social and cultural problems in Chinese society. He tries hard to portray both sides of a controversial subject without taking sides. In this book, and a bit of the previous book, The Fourth Sacrifice, that subject is the single-child policy enacted to reduce the population in China. Li Yan's sister previously dropped off her daughter with him when she found she was pregnant with a son. Li Yan remains the child's guardian in this book.

I found more humor in this book than the previous two in this series. The competitions between Margaret and Mei-Ling for the attentions of Li Yan were laugh-out-loud funny. I also find it interesting that these books are written by a Scottish man living in France, writing about an American woman living in China. And he does it very well.

Armchair Interviews says: Super read as a mystery with a lot of cultural learning thrown in.