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S
To Love Mercy
Published in Paperback by Mid-Atlantic Highlands Publishing (2006-03-15)
Author: Frank S. Joseph
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"To Love Mercy"by Frank Joseph
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-20
I read Frank's book because I lived on the south side of Chicago and attended Hyde Park High School in Hyde Park in Chicago. I remember well the streets and locales that are mentioned in the book. For me, even though it was fiction it retained the flavor of non-fiction due to places, people and events that took place. When the boys took the wrong train to get home, I was silently shouting, "Get on a train going south. You're going in the wrong direction". I knew they were heading north when I read Belmont and other stops along the line, etc. I could picture riding the El and looking out the window at those neighborhoods and wondering what life was like on those streets. I went to Riverview Park as a teenager in the 50's and this was a walk down Memory Lane. I attended the Temple Frank wrote about and remember the rabbi very clearly. It was interesting and well researched. It's a taste of Chicago!and I recommend it highly.

If Obama Hasn't Read This, He Should...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-18
...to immerse emotionally in a Chicago where black met white and through two little boys got along, long before his time. A quick read, a rather simple plot, but human interactions that make you feel you've known the characters up close and personal. Delightful dialogue, showing that Mr. Joseph has a pitch perfect ear for conversation, whether between characters or internally. A real treat that entertains but provides deeper understanding of race relations in the north.

This book makes you feel like you are a part of it.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-07
I really enjoyed read To Love Mercy. It captures the feeling and attitude of the times. I would highly recommend it! In fact I have!

A Lesson for the Heart
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-03-01
Frank Joseph's story, TO LOVE MERCY, is, on the surface, about two young boys and their families, one black, one white, living in a segregated Chicago of the 1940s; and a confrontation that might have ended in tragedy that instead inspires mutual curiosity, respect, and eventually trust. These feelings between the two heroes of the story lead them to follow their hearts, not allowing the adults, who refuse to resolve their differences, to turn them away from the truth--that they are more alike than they are different, that they have, by living through a particular set of experiences together, become friends. But the story offers even more for those who are open to its timeless and universal message. It provides a template of hope for what will certainly be one of the ongoing challenges for the next generation--achieving a greater understanding of those who are different than "us," whoever "we" and "they" happen to be at any given moment.

Strongly Recommended
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-07-09
I've never read a story quite like To Love Mercy, but I wish there were others like it. The unique way the book was written and laid-out really kept me reading and eager to find out what was going to happen next.
I am no author, but I know that writing from the perspective of someone else takes a lot of talent. Frank Joseph did this fluently and creatively, which provided me with complete mental images of each scene.
I strongly recommend To Love Mercy. It explores racial issues and is an all-around good novel.

S
Torpedo Junction: U-Boat War Off America's East Coast, 1942 (Bluejacket Books)
Published in Paperback by US Naval Institute Press (1996-04)
Author: Homer Hickam
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A limited operation well covered
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-11
The U-boat war off America's coast "Operation Drumbeat" was merely one of Germany's U-boat operations. This book is an interesting read. I, like others, wasn't aware of the magnitude of U-boat operations off America's coast. It's a great account. It's limited to that operation. There's hardly anything beyond Operation Drumbeat...but that was the book's intent. It's a good account.

Most Interesting Book Ever Read
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-15
I've read a number of books over the years, both about WWII and other topics. I can say that Torpedo Junction is the most fascinating book I've ever read. Even though the author gives lots of details about the attacks, he keeps it moving along at a steady clip. I didn't want to put the thing down. It's very well-documented (albeit with some secondary sources), but also provides a lighter narrative style along to way to break up the "action reports."

The Unknown Tragedy Immediately Following Pearl Harbor
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-24
Ultimately how good I like a book is if I'm committed to finish it. Torpedo Junction by Homer Hickman is a book I had to finish, but I was so interested in what it revealed I hardly wanted it to end. Many factors were at work here. First, Mr. Hickman's writing is so clear and linear that it belies the painstaking research such an easy to read factual narrative requires. Thank you Mr. Hickman for doing the work so I could both be reviled and astonished!

This little known yet very tragic part of World War II played out right at our doorstep. Because of Japan's audacity to hit us with one massive surprise salvo the even more insideous U-Boat war on the U.S. coastline played out largely unknown to the general public. For months that seemed to drag on and on the Germans sank boat after boat after boat. Maybe for our protection or maybe because we couldn't quite get a handle on how to stop the German U-Boat threat the mounting damage was kept quiet. It was a tremendous tragedy which caused great loss of life as well as massive destruction of resources. With Torpedo Junction we can finally see how close to home death truly came. Also, we get to know the true courage of those who protected our home shores so we could both support the war effort as well as keep that all important semblance of a "normal life" at home. To know the facts surrounding the North Atlantic U-Boat war helps to rectify those long years of not talking about it.

I recommend this book as both educational and entertaining. As with Rocket Boys I was pulled inside a time and place as if I was there. Storytelling really doesn't get better than this.

I was there...Homer did us justise.
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-06-06
As the U. S. Coast Guard Cutter Dione's lead soundman during period of Hickman's book I can attest that he did a wonderful job telling our story about some real hazardous duty. Homer's collaboration with our Radioman 1st, Swede Larson really paints the futility and danger of our sub chasing before and after convoys. I'm so glad Homer wrote about us. Now maybe we won't be forgotten.

Excellent !
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-12-27
Reads like a Clancy thriller. I recommend this book along with Michael Gannon's "Operation Drumbeat" so one can understand the havoc wreaked by German U boats along the Eastern seaboard against totally unprepared and in many cases complacent ships in the early days of World War II.

S
All on Fire: William Lloyd Garrison and the Abolition of Slavery
Published in Paperback by W. W. Norton (2008-05-05)
Author: Henry Mayer
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Took me awhile....
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-11
Bad

A. The narrative pace is just awful. I don't know what it is about this book I almost didn't make it past the first 40 pages because the begining moves so slowly.
B. The idiotic "conspiracy theory" idea regarding the Texas Revolution. Someday right minded people everywhere will be able to laugh conspiracy nuts right off the street.
Good

The book has a great deal of information regarding the beginnings of an organized abolitionist movement in this country. Garrison was the focal point for this when the movement started to move beyond isolated groups of idealists and Quakers and started to be taken seriously as a genuine force for social change.

Overall-Once you get into the book it is amazing, but you have to be in the right mood to do so.

Both sides to the story
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2005-04-08
Now a book that shows two sides of slavery that all white people were not all for slavery .Like Dr.martin luther king was saying that slavery was not about black against white ,but justice againt injustice.Because if all men and women are not free then we are all in chains.Books like this one has giving us a balance look at one of america darkest sides. But men like Garrison showed us that their were men and women that were a light of hope that all men are created equal . And being a black man I must say thank you to all the blackmen and women and white men and women of the past for fighting a fight that many of us still fight for today .And that is for an opportunity to live as we were when God created us in the beginnig as, a human being thank you.

A Superior Biography
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-26
This is the last and probably the best book completed by the late Henry Mayer.

Mayer admired Garrison, the most important leader of the abolitionist movement. In this book, he succeeds in renovating the reputation of a great reformer and activist who has often been neglected or written off as a crank.

Garrison and the abolitionists were originally hardly more popular in the North than in the South. They were seen as disrupting the Union and were regarded with suspicion for their pro-black beliefs - public opinion in the North was only marginally less racist than in Dixie. Garrison's courage and consistent refusal to trim his convictions for popular acceptance led to a career with an outsized share of controversy, oppobrium, and in several cases physical danger.

Some reviewers have felt the book is too long, and it is hefty. But the length is necessary for Mayer to give a full portrait, which shows not only the man, but also the era he lived in. In particular, Mayer writes extensively about abolitionism as a movement. Abolitionists, and Garrison himself, struggled with many problems - whether to compromise by supporting politicians whose platforms called for less than full abolition, evolving from a paternalist movement of mostly privileged whites to a movement in which free blacks and escaped slaves could play a meaningful role, and reconciling the pacifist leanings of many to their role in a war against slaveholders - that will be of interest to contemporary political activists. Mayer also shows how, after abolition was accomplished, former abolitionists seeking new causes worked for other advances, including the first stirrings of the women's suffrage movement.

Are you a Southerner? Because Garrison hates you
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2004-09-01
Let's just get the obvious criticisms out of they way. First, the author pretty much flat out states that The Civil War was fought only because of slavery--and in the preface! Yawn. Will I ever be able to find a Northerner who can write a book that examines both sides of the conflict? I mean southern writers do it all the time. The second problem is the assertion that the Texas Revolution was some kind of government conspiracy--from Pres. Jackson on down to Sam Houston--to perpetuate slavery and continue manifest destiny. While I'm sure some men fought for those reasons, this moronic conspiracy theory about secret government shenanigans has no basis whatsoever. In fact, I would recommend the wonderful biography, Sam Houston, by James Haley. It expertly destroys that awful line of thinking that has somehow survived all these years.

But, being from Texas, I tend to be sensitive to such things. For most people it won't matter.

I still highley recommend All On Fire, though. It is very well written and researched. But most of all, it is the only real biography on Garrison worth reading. And say what you want about the author's biases, he can't muddle the fact that Garrison was one of this country's great patriots, willing to stand up to anyone to free his fellow man. He dedicated his entire life to this noble cause--and except for a few references in some Civil War books--is largely forgotten. What a shame.

A biography long over-due
Helpful Votes: 5 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2005-01-06
William Lloyd Garrison was a man ahead of his time. Not by years or even decades, but centuries. In the 1830s he was an outspoken proponent of not just the abolition of slavery (many advocated various ways to deal with the South's "peculiar institution"), but called for the immediate abolition of slavery with complete and full civil rights for African-Americans. He dreamed of a time when a black woman might succeed a black man as Secretary of State a decade before the Supreme Court ruled that blacks were something less than human in the infamous Dredd Scott decision. He was also an early advocate of women's rights, labor reform, temperance and civil disobedience, as well as an outspoken critic of organized religion (Garrison was what we might today call a fundamentalist "born again Christian" who recognized no formal church other than Christ's teachings).

Given Garrison's role as founding father of the abolitionist movement, his passion for the cause, longevity in leadership and terminal impact on the greatest political issue of the nineteenth century it is puzzling that he has left such an obscure historical legacy. As author Herbert Mayer notes, Martin Luther King Jr. cited Gandhi, Thoreau and the Gospel as his inspiration and motivation in the Civil Rights movement with no reference to the man whose peaceful agitation did more to eradicate bondage than any other -- and who in turn may very well have been Thoreau's inspiration in writing "Civil Disobedience."

So why the obscurity? Mayer's biography does little to address this paradox. In fact, his book makes Garrison's general absence from the mainstream of American history all the more tenebrous. The man that emerges from the pages of "All on Fire" is a moral giant, a crusader in the purest and best sense of the word, who risked -- indeed, welcomed -- verbal and physical abuse, a life of indigence and scorn, all in pursuit of a truly noble cause. Garrison grew up in New England and never traveled further south than Baltimore until after the Civil War, yet he dedicated his life to the abolition of slavery with an intensity and zeal that surpassed dissident southern whites (such as the Grimke sisters) and even some blacks that had escaped from bondage themselves. Because of his central role in establishing and leading the cause, "All on Fire" is, as the full title suggests, as much a history of the entire abolitionist movement as it is a biography of its leading agitator.

However, a close reading of "All on Fire" also reveals a hidden side of William Lloyd Garrison that Mayer, unfortunately, never fully explores: a man of extreme ambition, vanity, and conceit. Garrison fought tenaciously to keep himself at the front-and-center of the moral movement he came to regard as his own. One senses that the fame and notoriety he gained by his agitation came to mean quite a lot to him. In this sense, Garrison reminds one of a contemporary political gadfly increasingly enamored of his high-profile image: Michael Moore. Perhaps Garrison's attraction to celebrity never fully outweighed his commitment to the ultimate prize of freeing three million humans from bondage, but it certainly meant more than the pious Christian in him would have liked to admit -- and certainly more than biographer Mayer is willing to concede. Again and again throughout the narrative Garrison experiences a painful and personal falling out with some of his closest friends and coadjutors: Frederick Douglas, Wendell Phillips, the Tappan brothers, etc. And time after time Mayer attributes the rift to simple misunderstandings or the result of the stress and pressure of the times. That Garrison might have been something less than the Galahad on ante-bellum America is left unexplored.

Nevertheless, for anyone with a desire to know more about America and especially to learn about a man that was once one of the most controversial and well-known figures of his century, only to sink to near anonymity, this National Book Award finalist can be highly recommended.

S
Don't Leave Me This Way: Or When I Get Back on My Feet You'll Be Sorry
Published in Hardcover by HarperCollins (2006-06-01)
Author: Julia Fox Garrison
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A must read for all health care professionals
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-20
Julia Garrison Fox writes her experiences after suffering a stroke at the age of 37. This is a must read for all healthcare professionals especially those who work in the rehabilitation field. She pulls no punches and write candidly about what it feels like both physically and emotionally to go through a life altering incident. This is a wake-up call for all in the healthcare field, we are real good at treating the body but we sometimes forget the human spirit we are also caring for.

An Absolutely Wonderful Read
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-16
I really loved this book, and would recommend it to anyone and everyone. Although I've never suffered any of the physical impairments that the author has, her story is very easy to relate to. Not to mention that it serves as a reminder to all of us to never give up, and to never take anything for granted.

Ms. Garrison's persistance is to be admired, as is her sense of humor through ordeals that have broken the spirits of many. Kudos to you, Julia, and may you never lose your courage, love of life, and wonderful spirit!

Everyone Should Read This Book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-24
I read the first two paragraphs, stopped, and read them again. I then got up from my comfy chair, found my husband and daughter and read the first two paragraphs aloud to them. We were all blown away. The rest of Julia Garrison's story is just as breathtaking. I couldn't put it down. I cried hard twice and laughed out loud too many times to count. When I finished, I just sat for a long while with the book in my hands, looking at the cover, wishing for more. I'm the same age the author was when, without warning, she had a massive stroke, and her life changed forever. So I keep imagining myself in her shoes, wondering if I possess the courage, determination, and positive attitude Julia has, wondering if I would survive...and then thrive. I don't know, but I know this: Her story inhabits me now. And I carry her messages of positive attitude, dignity, and hope with me. This book should be read by everyone who has ever been a patient, everyone who has ever faced overwhelming obstacles, every doctor, and definitely every medical student. Have I left anyone out?

Inspiring True Life Story
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-25
This is yet another insight into the hellish situation that exists when healthy people become incapacitated and end up in rehab or nursing home situations. (For comparison, read Joni Eareckson's autobiography and Stephen Thompson's Genesis: A Portrait of Spinal Cord Injury. Each one of these author's stories begin in different decades, but all, including Julia Garrison, describe first-hand similar experiences of dealing with a health-care system that is both abusive and neglectful).

If Julia's family hadn't been there for her, including a devoted husband, mother and eight brothers, she would have quickly withered and died in a nursing home. A simple request for tampons was denied, and she was offered adult diapers as a substitute, because the home didn't stock tampons or even pads. It was far easier for the nursing home staff to have a compliant patient in diapers, rather than an ornery, loud and gutsy 37-year-old woman who refused to roll over and accept the cards that fate had laid out for her.

The medical profession will move heaven and earth to save the life of an accident or stroke victim, but then doesn't seem to know what to do with the patients whose lives they have just saved. Julia Fox Garrison, with an insane will to survive, and surrounded by the love of her family, took charge of her own recovery and made her own plans for the rest of her life, the one she would have to live after she was discharged from the hospital and sent home.


Garrison's book is must reading for anyone whose life has been altered by a single event. Life does somehow go on, and the book is blessedly free of the heavy-handed preaching that often accompanies the retelling of tragic true-life stories.

I loved this book
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-07
I am a rehab nurse and I just couldn't put this book down.

Yes, all of the portraits are not flattering of folks in the healthcare profession. We must view patients as people, with all their likes, dislikes and quirks.

I found it to be a very funny, uplifting first person account.

S
The Dot (Irma S and James H Black Honor for Excellence in Children's Literature (Awards))
Published in Hardcover by Candlewick (2003-09-15)
Author:
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Great Book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-30
This is a great children's book. I have read a few of this author's books and I like this one the best.

The Dot
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-24
Simple, yet profound. Many lessons can be learned from this story. The Dot is encouraging and uplifting and I recommend it to everyone.

A must have
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-06-09
I love how this book helps kids make their mark. I use this book in my class rooms and it goes great with my little ones who are just learning how to make art for the first time.

Amazing Book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-04-24
This is one of the greatest kids books ever! Especially for my son, who always thinks he has to be perfect. This book shows kids that everyone has their own talents; it might not be what you thought was perfect, but it can still be beautiful and amazing, unique and yours. I hope this book gives more children the courage to do their own thing and express themselves.

The Value of a Signature
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-10
How do you teach a child confidence?
You could put their work on the refrigerator, frame it, or talk about it with others. In this story the teacher frames a small dot drawn by a child who claims she is unable to draw. The little girl is also asked to sign her work, which emphasizes value.

Society values signatures. We want the signed book, the signed football pendant, the autograph, etc. because we perceive it is more valuable. Children can relate to signatures. Children understand signatures mean something (whether it is a report card that needs signing, an illness note for school, or the need to sign a "take home" folder). Thus, immediately the little girl realizes when asked to sign her work that her dot, her creation, is also valuable.

This wonderful story teaches children about trying, about at least starting, at least making an effort, and then seeing where that start can take you... This lesson is taught through art in this storybook but reminded me of what we were always told in writing, "Write, just start.... "

Henry Ford said, "If you think you can... or if you think you can't... you're right." This simple story illustrates a message of positive "can do" type thinking.

I also especially like that the little girl passes on what she learns at the end of the story by asking a little boy to sign his work. Setting a good example and passing on your knowledge to help others is a lesson for all children!

S
Freedom in Chains : The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen
Published in Hardcover by St. Martin's Press (1999-02)
Author: James Bovard
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Disturbing Examination Of State Usurpation Of Civil Rights!
Helpful Votes: 18 out of 19 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-10
According to perpetual social and political critic James Bovard, the power inherent in government is alive and well; unfortunately, as he reminds us, they are not always necessarily accomplishing the people's will. Thus we find ourselves in circumstances in which governments are both larger and more powerful than ever before, while the individual citizen's ability to control and influence the course of his or her own life and liberty is becoming more and more problematic. In this stirring expose, the author explores how the federal government increasingly poses a threat to destroy individual rights and liberties in an attempt to preserve the fiction of government as superceding the citizen. Bovard wonders along with us how this state of affairs has managed to occur, and takes a thoughtful and impressive tour of the history of government control over individual liberties in an attempt to better understand it, and the future it presents for our cogitation.

Long before it was either fashionable or popular, conservative author Bovard was railing against the accumulating power and privilege of the crony-based capitalists who now seem to control the country. Here he draws blood from a dissection of the notion of state sovereignty, which he contends amounts to nothing so much as a glossy justification for the power elite's lust for ever-increasing power and privilege. Especially egregious in the author's view is the way the doctrine is being used to justify the behavior of others, to limit their rights to protect themselves, or to keep the fruit of their own labor. Indeed, all of this is food for thought. Moreover, Bovard is an interesting and quite eclectic scholar, someone who accomplishes both meticulous research and establishes the substantiation for his claims as he proceeds, and does so quite convincingly. He also seems to be profoundly well read, based on his wide use of quotations from such luminaries as Marx, Hegel, Rousseau, and Thomas Hobbes.

Thus, he manages to raise some thought provoking issues regarding our seeming need to regulate many aspects of private behavior (such as the use of pot) that we can neither effective enforce nor usefully demonstrate to be evil for the individual. Bovard argues quite convincingly regarding the potential dangers of allowing others to regulate our Constitutionally guaranteed civil liberties according to their own moral prerogatives. Bovard reserves special scorn for the so-called "Peter Pan" theory of government as the benevolent and paternalistic defender of the commonweal, and actively guides the reader through a critical review of the two hundred year history on the subject, a history he finds rife with examples through which government has repeatedly used its power to thwart rather than support the will and civil liberties of the majority. This is a splendidly researched book that reads well and which has some disturbing thoughts regarding the state of our polity. It is also one I highly recommend. Enjoy!

Research excellent & sources of "wisdom" unrivaled
Helpful Votes: 2 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2005-11-29
James Bovard is a bestselling libertarian author and lecturer, whose political commentary targets examples of governmental waste, failures, and abuses of power.
His Books:
The Fair Trade Fraud (1992)
Lost Rights (1995)
Shakedown (1996)
FREEDOM IN CHAINS: THE RISE OF THE STATE AND THE DEMISE OF THE CITIZEN (2000) Just finished this book and it is filled with examples of the "Statist" (politicians and bureaucrats) extorting money to facilitate their appetite for power and thus controlling as many aspects of life in these "United States"(separation into red and blue states does not make much difference). The research is excellent and the sources of "wisdom" are unrivaled. The EEOC and EPA appear to be the most outrageous of bureaus but closely followed by HUD and others; however, the Supreme Court clearly wins the "stuck on stupid" award between the three branches and the Senate is a clear choice in the Congress. Much of what Mr. Bovard relates is probably well known by the average political savvy reader, but his ability to back up his message with research, i.e. facts and sagacious quotes makes for an excellent read. Still, as one other reader stated, "What exactly can be done with the current apathy and addiction to the Welfare State by so many voters?".
Feeling Your Pain (2001)
Terrorism and Tyranny (2003)
The Bush Betrayal (2004)
Quotes:
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." (1994). This is my favorite and another version could be a jackass (Dems) and an elephant (Republicans) fighting over "hay" (tax receipts) that does not belong to them. They then give some back to the "original owners" (taxpayers) after eating their "fill" (outrageous retirements, perks, etc.) and providing some to their "herd" (special interests). THIS ITEM WAS EDITED--From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia--LOG ON http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

"Can you fear me now?" --US Government
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 6 total.
Review Date: 2006-02-04
"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy

"Your government knows your mind, and you know your government's mind." -Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -George W. Bush (sometimes it is more honest to deviate from the script and speak from the gut!)

One would hope that a political tome written 7 years ago would become outdated; that politics might have changed since then. Sadly, James Bovard's "Freedom in Chains," is more relevant now than it was then. Despite a republican president (and congress) which, at one point, professed a "small government" platform, the size of the government has grown to unprecedented heights.

Bovard's "Freedom in Chains" not only documents the incursion of government into the people's liberty, but tries to dissect how this began. Not suprisingly, his first chapter points largely (but not exclusively) to FDR. With a careful eye, Bovard analyzes FDR's shifty rhetoric, which was able to effectively redefine the word "freedom": a word that used to mean "absence of coercion by the state," was now morphed to mean "safety provided by the state." Where we used to talk of freedom to buy and sell as one pleased, now we heard talk of freedom to buy and sell at "fair" prices as dictated by government. FDR (and others) were soon able to tell the citizenry with a straight face that freedom meant the ability of the government to take care of them via legislation.

From there, Bovard spends chapter after chapter highlighting examples of this paternalism run amok. "Cagekeepers and Caretakers" highlights how politicians use the idea that they were democratically elected to justify incursions into liberty under the guise that "that's what the people wanted." (And witness in 2004 the argument from the GW Bush camp that the president has a "mandate" from the people!)

In what might be the best chapter, "The Moral Glorification of Leviathan," Bovard documents how government has claimed for itself such things as: the right to tell farmers how much of what they can sell and at what price, the right to tell landlords that they may not discriminate by refusing to rent to drug addicts addicts (or any other group the government happens to like), and the right to tell companies what numbers of which "groups" they can hire. (A particularly great example was the government's failed attempt to mandate that Hooters employ as many male waiters as female waitresses!)

From here, we read documented accounts of government officials exempting themselves from laws the public is expected to obey (e.g. while it is illegal to lie to the police, the police may lie to obtain a confession!), etc. I confess that at this point, the book does become a bit monotanous. While an advantage to Bovard's "laundrey list" approach is its thoroughness in documenting claims, a disadvantage is that after so many examples, each one begins to lose its bite. (I must admit that after a while, I began to skim rather than read, as so many paragraphs began looking like ones I'd read before.)

Another small criticism is that I do not think that supporters of government's growth will be convinced by this book. In other words, this is not a book that argues forcefully that government growth is a bad thing in itself; rather, it documents the growth of government and assumes that the readers' symapthies will be against such trends. (For books actually arguing against statism, read Freidrich Hayek, Richard Epstein, or anything coming out of the CATO institute).

For all this, I must still give this book four stars. Bovard does an admirable job documenting abuses of government power and attempting to alarm an appallingly unalarmed public that a government unchallenged translates to a people unfree.

Government vs the People
Helpful Votes: 6 out of 7 total.
Review Date: 2004-02-02
If you still labor under the delusion that the United States Government is here for your benefit, read this book. Mr. Bovard puts paid to that myth. Americans are now subject to such an unrealistic array of laws and statutes that every one of us is ripe for picking by some bureucrat looking to "get his numbers up". America has truly gone from a government "for the people" to one "against the people". Our constitutional protections are not worth the paper they are written on. If you manage to go through life without running afoul of some government functionary, you are indeed a luck individual. Read this book

Bovard nails it again
Helpful Votes: 7 out of 9 total.
Review Date: 2004-05-20
I read this book when it was first published and as I was reading was half the time wanting to throw the book across the room. It was the frustration making me do that.

I re-read this book again and after 3 1/2 years of Bush I found Bovard to be very prophetic. What he said is even more true today than when he wrote it.

If you are concerned for that state of this country, don't just read this book, but think about and act on it.

Bovard is the anti- Micheal Moore.

Read this for a view of whats really happening.

Oh yes, DON'T throw the book.

S
Gong Hee Fot Choy Tells Your Fortune
Published in Paperback by U.S. Games Systems (1982-03)
Author: Margarete Ward
List price: $10.00
New price: $65.56
Used price: $27.85

Average review score:

How do you Interpret this book?
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-04
Can anyone give more detailed instructions on how to interpret this 'game'.

I find it interesting, but also a bit frustrating at not being able to fully comprehend the valuable message.

Thank you in advance everyone.

Guide book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-21
I have replaced my original book, which was handed down to me by my grandmother in the 1960's. Even for people that don't want to believe in fortune telling, this book and the way the Chinese have done it for centuries, amazes as it hits the nail on the head. The numerology is interesting also. Highly recommend it to all.

You don't have to be a psychic to know the future...try this book!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-25
I read all the 5 star reviews about this book and I decided I should get one for myself to verify whether the reviews are true or not. I got my copy from Amazon.com last January. I was very excited to do my first reading the day I got it to see the result. All I can say is that this is truly an AMAZING BOOK! I'm always fascinated about the pyschic world and I wanted so bad to develop my psychic ability (if I have one). I have books about tarot card reading, scrying using crystal ball, dream interpretation, numerology etc. but sad to say none of those books helped me develop anything. But the good news is--I have this book now! I'm glad I did bought this book. After I received my first copy I bought 2 extra copies more. I found my very first reading very interesting and out of curiosity I wrote them down on a piece of paper to see which one will come true. Believe it or not, the book is INCREDIBLY ACCURATE! One thing I noticed about consulting this game board is that there's a balance of positive and negative reading. Good vibrations are fun to read but when it comes to the negative vibes I look at it as a warning signs for me....something I need to watch out for. There were several readings which actually happened to me couple of weeks after consulting the game board. Whether it's a coincidence or what--no one knows!...All I can say is that I wish I can give this book not only 5... but 10 stars! This is truly an INCREDIBLE book about fortune telling. Get a copy and see for yourself.

AMAZING
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-07-12
I bought the 1948 version with board included. I am truly amazed that this is the most accurate card book that I own. I have other card books that are not clear. I have been doing readings for friends and they have told me that mostly everything I have read to them is accurate. Hope this article was helpful. This is definately the one to own.

This book works!!!
Helpful Votes: 3 out of 3 total.
Review Date: 2006-03-15
Within four days of my doing a reading for myself, six predictions already came true! This book is a reprint of "Gong Hee Fot Choy Book Of Fortune" but this reprint is easier to read.Most used copies don't have the gameboard. You can buy g.h.f.c. Book Of Fortune (which is still in print) and get the gameboard from that book then use this book, which is organized better, for readings.

S
Light on Life: The Yoga Journey to Wholeness, Inner Peace, and Ultimate Freedom
Published in Hardcover by Rodale Books (2005-10-07)
Authors: B.K.S. Iyengar, John J. Evans, and Douglas Abrams
List price: $24.95
New price: $8.60
Used price: $1.28
Collectible price: $24.95

Average review score:

inspiring book
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-23
This is a good book to read if you are a serious yoga practitioner or teacher, since it reviews in a simplified way the Yogasutras of Patanjali and Iyengar's point of view on life and life experiences. It has nothing to do with religion, it is just a different take on life that might prove useful and enlightening.

Best Yoga Book Ever
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-11-25
If you love yoga, or even think you would like to practice, this book is a must. Iyengar is the guru who will help you see the light and love of your practice and understand what yoga really is all about. I refer back to the book all the time. Merritt Becker, Maputo, Mozambique

very inspiring read
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-27
Mr. Iyengar writes so anyone can understand and brings humor to complex subjects. The book has helped me deepen my yoga practice immensely. I completely recommend to anyone, especially those choosing to follow the yogic path.

A book telling of a journey
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2007-05-13
I thought this was quite an interesting book of life--the life of B.Y.S. Iyengar. Recommended for those who are real curious.

Yoga philosopy 101
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2007-09-27
This is a surprisingly accessible overview of yoga and levels of practice. It is not a "how to" manual, but rather a "why to" manual with insights for the beginner as well as the experienced.

S
The Prom Queen (Fear Street, No. 15)
Published in Mass Market Paperback by Simon Pulse (1992-03-01)
Author: R. L. Stine
List price: $4.99
New price: $2.00
Used price: $0.01

Average review score:

One of The Best!!!
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2006-09-21
This book is so great, that I can't even explain it! It is full of suspense and HORROR!!! I have read many more of this series and hope to someday have read them all! I would reccomend this book to anyone who loves reading and horror stories! HORROR!!!

Very Suspensful
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-11-10
Prom Queens are dying 1 by 1 and Lizzy is determined to find out. This book is highly recommended. If u don't believe me then check the other reviews.

She was drop-dead beautiful...
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2004-01-04
There are five prom queen candidates for the Shadyside High senior prom. One of them gets kidnapped and then another one gets murdered. Lizzy McVay, one of the prom queen candidates, realizes someone wants all the prom queens dead. Now she must find the murderer before she's next to die.

All I can say is "wow." What a great book! There are so many suspects in this book that it's almost impossible to guess who it is. I could've sworn it was that guy but it was actually someone else. Trust me, you'll never be able to guess the murderer.

If you read this book, expect the murderer to be who you least suspect.

Dance Of Death
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-03-08
Lizzy is so excited because she is one of the Prom Queens. Then, the prom queens start dying. Stacy, a candidate was found in the Fear Street Woods by a hiker and was stabbed sixteen times. Rachel and Elana were murdered because they were going out with the killer's boyfriend. [Right, it's a girl]. Before Rachel died, Gideon[his boyfriend] dumped her. Rachel's parents were out for ice cream so the killer took the chance to kill her. Elana was murdered in school. She was at the auditiorium. In the end, Dawn[Lizzy's friend] almost died because of the killer but because of Lizzy, she lived.

The Prom Queen
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2006-01-25
Looking for a four star book that will keep you from sleeping.The Prom Queen will do just that. Shadyside High is having a prom. There has been five girls elected to be prom queen. They were all excited until sudden deaths of spome of the prom queens occured. Now none of the remaining girls are exicited. They're all taking precautions, Which girl will live long enought to be prom queen i cant say but the end is shoking.
This book has an uncalled for end and each chapter leaves you in suspense. "A spring night...soft moonlight....five beautiful Prom Queen canidates, dancing couples at the Shadyside High prom. These should be the ingredients for romance.But stir in one brutal murder then another and another and the recipe quikly turns to horror" This book is all horror and fright with a twisted ending. With everypage turn you'll widh you were in your room with all the lights on and you mommy holding you close. read this book and be glad you dont live on Fear Street.

S
The Qur'an (Oxford World's Classics Hardcovers)
Published in Hardcover by Oxford University Press, USA (2004-07-01)
Author:
List price: $29.77
New price: $19.54
Used price: $18.99

Average review score:

Nicely done
Helpful Votes: 0 out of 0 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-23
This translation shows literary polish and is very pleasant to read. It uses brackets in the text to clarify who is being addressed by "you" and imperative verbs. This is important since standard English does not distinguish between singular and plural in the second person.

There are a judicious number of footnotes to explain certain interpretive issues, but they do not try to present a particular sectarian understanding of the text. They aim to present uncontroversial interpretations to help non-Muslims such as myself understand what any native Arabic-speaking Muslim would already know about the background of certain words and statements.

I have run across a pair of cases in which the repeated literary polishing (referred to in the introduction) evidently got ahead of the note editing. On p. 38, Sura 3:46 begins, "He will speak to people in his infancy..." and there is a footnote reference after "infancy." The note says, "Cf. 19: 29-30. The word _mahd_ means a place smoothed out for a small child to sleep in. It is not a piece of furniture like a cradle." Very good, but the translation as it stands has no word for either a smoothed place or a cradle. Looking in the Arabic (with the aid of a bilingual edition), I see that it has a clause that can be literally translated something like, "He will speak to people from the sleeping place," where 'sleeping place' is my rendering of _mahd_ intended to avoid the translation "cradle" to which Mr. Haleem objects. The point is that the English word "infancy" implies nothing about a sleeping place; it refers to the earliest stage of life. Thus the note here (and in the cross-referenced passage) is confusing. It only makes sense if a more literal translation is given. In Haleem's translation, it should simply be omitted.

Other than this, though, I find the translation quite good. I recommend it to all English speakers who wish to acquaint themselves with the contents of the Qur'an without having to suffer through the archaisms of some earlier translations. However, if you want a version that is more formally similar to the Arabic, you will probably need to get one of these older translations and endure the "thees" and "thous". Even better, learn Arabic, as I am trying to do, and see how the originally _really_ goes.

decent and clear
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 1 total.
Review Date: 2008-07-05
This translation is among the best translations of the Qur'an i have read... The verses of the noble Qur'an are translated in a very clear and easy to understand vocabularies that anyone with an adequate background in english can benefit from it.. Most of the translation of the Qur'an are very hard to get the concept due the the translators' usage of obscure and archaic english but this translation is quite clear and manifest for anyone wanting to get the most out of it... I strongly recommend this translation..

Some Brief Thoughts on this Edition of the Quran
Helpful Votes: 1 out of 2 total.
Review Date: 2008-01-20
I have not read this all the way through, but what I have read is a clear, crisp and easily digestible translation. The type and font size is perfect in my opinion. This would make a good introductory book for reading the Quran or Koran in English.

The best English version of the Qur'an
Helpful Votes: 17 out of 17 total.
Review Date: 2007-02-22
No other translation of the Qur'an is as accurate, elegant, or readable. Behind this translation, I would choose the Yusuf Ali translation, although the language style is archaic in that it imitates the King James Bible; this makes it rather tough to read through, although it is still pretty accurate and beautiful. This translation, however, is far superior, in my opinion. The notes and introduction are both extremely helpful, although it is not as complete as a full commentary would be. Before I read this translation, I had a strong contempt for Islam and its teachings. But after reading Haleem's English rendition of the religious text, I have developed an understanding and even a respect for Islam that I had not before. I highly recommend this translation to all English speakers who wish to learn about the Qur'an.

Straight-forward and easy to read translation
Helpful Votes: 4 out of 5 total.
Review Date: 2007-10-23
If you are looking to learn about Islam and the book that guides it, I recommend this translation. Written in straight-forward contemporary English, this translation is easy to read, more like a book than a religious text. The introduction is very good and I strongly urge you to read it before starting in on the Qur'an itself. It starts with a historical background; compilation, structure, and style of the Qur'an; interpretation of the Qur'an; and a short history of English translations. Only within this framework can the reader truly understand and appreciate the meaning of this complex work.


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