Ward Books

I thought I would find this book obtuse, difficult and boring but I was completely wrong. The reason I bought the book is that I am working on a history project and wanted to get a sense of what people were reading in the early 1900's. I read the book in a few days because I could not put it down. While it is wordy-as was the style at the time-it is well written and gripping.

This impressive and helpful Marian treatise, blessed with both the Censor Librorum's Nihil Obstat as proof that nothing, doctrinal nor moral, obstructs its publication, and the Imprimatur of the Vicar General of Westminister ordering its publication, serves as companion piece to this influential and effective author's Christ the Sacrament of the Encounter With God.

First published in 1954 in the Netherlands as Maria, Moeder van de verlossing, it reflects perhaps the highest point of orthodox Thomistic methodology. I review here the 1964 Sheed and Ward edition while recognizing another edition emerged thirty years later, which I long to see, as the author continuously revised and amended each edition.

In any case, and following the stern warnings of Pope Pius XII, it avoids scrupulously any heretical idolizing of the Virgin Mother, but always maintains Mary as foremost in the light of the Redeemer, hence the careful title, and chapter headings.

Nevertheless we find here at the climax of this beautiful book the most profound and meaningful examination of the spiritual, psychological, sociological and theological implications of the daily prayer of the Rosary, both in solitude and silence and as a family or prayer community. This section alone remains essential reading in every Catholic family or in every hermitage, and is substantial and nourishing and fortifying food for our letio divina, as is the rest.

Some readers may find the Thomistic methodology and technical theological language discouraging, which is why this is best read as lection divina, with its slow process of meditation and re-reading for comprehension. Like with the great novelist Mr. James Joyce, we ever understand more deeply the more we re-read it, which is an elevating joy in itself. THe more often we read this work the more we enter the mystery of Mary, the MOther of God, and the more we build our abilities to read further works by this great Catholic theologian, teacher and preacher, not only his Christ, the Sacrament mentioned above but also his monumental theological trilogy consisting of Jesus: An Experiment in Christology, Christ: The Experience of Jesus as Lord and Church: The Human Story of God.

Meanwhile I remain with this very welcome book. Perhaps we no longer read and think along Thomistic lines, but I find a home here, and a depth, and I receive this holy book with great gratitude and thanks to Almighty God as an aid to my weak intellect and my Faith within this present darkness.

Please acquire this old yet traditional book today, still closely studied by Catholics everywhere and see if it doesn't slowly over time with careful and repeated reading clarify and deepen our appreciation and understanding of the primary place of Mary within all salvation history, and impulse and compell our prayerful practice of praying under her protection, with her generous help, as our advocate and Mother longing to stand with us in prayer. As we see clearly in Our Lady of LaSallette, she pleads our case contnually with her Son:

"They have no wine."
"Woman, what is this to me."

And she instructs us:
"Do whatsoever He tells you do."

And He tells us to love one another, to turn the other cheek, to do good to those who harm us, to love our enemies, to do unto others what we want them to do unto us. And He changes our water into wine, and the wine into His Most Sacred Blood, which He gives that we might have Eternal Life in abundance.

And she presents the most powerful prayer after Her Son's own prayer, in the Magnififcat, once prayed daily with particular liturgical gestures and openings by religious throughout the Church, now mostly unknown to the Catholic laity for its revolutionary eschatalogical message, as beautfully commentated by Father MAestri in Mary: Model of Justice (Reflections on the Magnificat).

Read this Book, and that one, too.

I have presented a few product updates for this excellent introduction to the mysteries of Mary, including that this book is not four but fifty-eight pages, and with author listed as Elizabeth Hart, MA, not yet Mother Columba Hart.

The wonderful hardcover edition which came to me through the excellent Saint Anthony's sellers originally resided well cared for and loved in a Dominican College Library in New Orleans. It came to me in nearly unused condition after all of these years and upsetting events. But this review is not of the miracle of its provenance but of the early Scriptural commentary itself.

What is most remarkable about this book entitled for the mighty canticle of Mary for which it is named is how very few of the Magnificat's many revolutionary verses the author actually examines, or even quotes. The author instead meditates Rosary and Angelus mysteries, including the Annunciation, the Visitation (scene of the declaration of the Magnificat), the Nativity, the Presentation or Purification, and the Epiphany.

What is rather unique about this rather slim and beautifully printed volume is its early and close consideration of unwritten aspects of Mary's life and experiences of the Divine, reading between the Biblical lines, and its being written by a woman (here called Elizabeth Hart, MA, rather than Columba as advertised. Whether Elizabeth later became the well known Mother Columba Hart merits further research on my part, and I beg you forgive my laziness at this time). Thus it contains a very traditional presentation of the Marian mysteries, enlivened from a woman's viewpoint (not yet called feminist nor inclusive).

Certainly a volume worthy of close and prayerful study today, written from within the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of sixty-five years ago, a time in which such scholarly Biblical studies were not widespread, nor those written by women aside from the great Dorothy L. Sayers.

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Recently I received Spirit of Grace (an early meditation on the gifts and presence of the Holy Spirit) by the same author, which explains that Elizabeth Hart indeed became Mother Columba HArt, OSB, although written while still Elizabeth.

Massage Made Easy begins with background information on the history and benefits of massage, basic massage strokes, and information about acupressure and reflexology. The rest of the book consists of massage routines for specific goals, including relaxation, and relief of backache, tension headache, and joint pains. The reader is given a step-by-step routine of which stokes to perform, and acupressure and reflexology techniques. The routines are illustrated with hundreds of color photographs that show exactly how to do it. Important safety guidelines and information about massage oils are also provided. Overall, I found this book very interesting and easy to understand.

I purcahsed this book for class. I loved the layout of the book and the exercises in each chapter. This book is a must have for those in retail.

After many years of study, I have come to accept the reality of automatic writing, the method by which Suzanne Ward tells us that the contents of the book were communicated to her by her discarnate son, Matthew, some 14 years after his transition to the "other side" following an auto accident.

Nevertheless, I did approach this book with much skepticism, not the pseudo-skepticism of the closed-minded cynics who call themselves skeptics. One never knows for certain whether the writing is in fact coming from spirit or whether it is coming from the subconscious. Of course, it could also be total fabrication. Suzanne Ward seems honest and sincere and so I ruled out the latter. To fabricate such material would be in total opposition to the message. As for it coming from the subconscious, Ward recognized this possibility and explained that many of the ideas coming from Matthew were totally alien to her, even to her imagination. Thus, I was left to conclude that Suzanne Ward may very well be one of those gifted with the ability to communicate with the spirit world.

While many of the ideas expressed by Matthew are foreign to Christianity and other religions, they are similar to other revelation through mediums, including automatic writers. They appeal to reason and are consistent with a just and loving Creator. It should be kept in mind that much of the Bible is based upon such medimship. Moses receiving The Ten Commandments is an example of automatic writing.

Matthew describes his environment, the activities in his realm, the nature of time, the difference between angels and spirit guides, the effects of prayer, and other aspects of the "larger life," including the nature of transition from this side. Very little of it was new to me, but it would be very enlightening to people who have had little exposure to such "Truths," if we can accept them as such.

Since I am the first person to review this book, it seems that few people are open to these Truths. I think that is sad. We spend time reading "Harry Potter" and other fiction, but totally ignore books offering real wisdom, as this one does.

This book was well-planned from the outset. Three of the most highly respected authors from the US, Great Britain, and Germany bring treatment philosophies together in a manner that pays great attention to pictoral demonstration. A comprehensive book dealing with current approaches to cranio-maxillofacial trauma has been long overdue. Of particular mention here is the respect to which these authors have given to reconstruction of the soft-tissue component of injury, including facial nerve injury. The book is well-written in general. The treatment concepts reflect current practice standard, including the use of modern imaging and case preparation techniques. The color illustrations are well chosen throughout. It is highly recommended

Jeffrey R. Marcus MD
Chief, Pediatric Plastic Surgery
and Craniofacial Surgery
Director, Craniomaxillofacial Trauma
Duke University
Durham NC USA

This is an interesting tale for elementary-school aged kids. Tasneem moves to a new town and quickly makes friends in her new school. But the new friends can't understand why Tasneem wears her scarf at school and not at home, and why she won't eat meat at school despite enjoying burgers at home.
The story takes place in England, so some of the terminology needs to be explained to American kids. My daughters enjoyed reading about a Muslim girl in an everyday setting.

I have to believe that any body who reads any one of Shel Silverstein's books is going to want to read the rest of his works and want to know something about the author who has become one of their favorites. In this juvenile biography by S. Ward, young readers will learn about the cartoonist and musician who became a beloved children's author. They will find it interesting that his work was first considered too childish for adults and too adult for children. But most kids know the adult world does not make a whole lot of sense (a lesson they probably learned, in part, from Silverstein's books).

Ward does try to provide some critical perspectives on Silverstein's work; for example, while describing Silverstein's first book, "The Giving Tree," a side-bar notes that some people thinking the story is more about a selfish boy than a giving tree. Ward also talks about how Silverstein wants people to make up their own minds about his stories, which is another good things for kids to know about literature. I really like how Ward talks more about the relationship between an author and their work, and that work and its readers, than focusing just on the biographical details of his life. That is what makes this a first-rate introduction to Silverstein for young readers.

I do find it somewhat ironic that visually this is such a busy book. Silverstein's books are black on white, whether we are talking the lines of verse or the ink drawings. These books have detailed backgrounds, with the page numbers on gold ribbons, Silverstein's signature in gold ink under the picture, which is in a wavy paper shape, and much, much more. This is a format used throughout the About the Author series, which makes it over ironic to have visual overkill in a children's series about writers.

"Meet The Tiger" (later retitled "The Saint meets the Tiger") published in 1928, was Leslie Charteris's first book in the Saint Saga (even though Hodder & Stoughton later pretended that Enter the Saint was, presumably because they weren't the publishers of the former).

It's a useful (though not infallible) rule of thumb that if a book doesn't hook you by the end of the first page, it's not going to. Here are the first two paragraphs of "Meet the Tiger":

'Baycombe is a village on the North of Devon coast that is so isolated from civilisation that even at the height of the summer holiday season it is neglected by the rush of lean and plump, tall and short, papas, mammas, and infants. Consequently, there was some sort of excuse for a man who had taken up his dwelling there falling into the monotony of regular habits -- even for a man who had only lived there for three days -- even (let the worst be known) for a man so unconventional as Simon Templar.

It was not so very long after Simon Templar had settled down in Baycombe that the peacefully sedate village became most unsettled, and things began to happen there that shocked and flabbergasted its peacefully sedate inhabitants, as will be related; but at first Simon Templar found Baycombe as dull as it had been for the last six hundred years.'

Not the greatest opening Leslie Charteris ever wrote -- he was to become pretty skillful later -- but quite respectable for a young man of 21 in only his third book. The character so introduced, of course, was to become the longest-running fictional hero of the 20th century.

Even at this early stage, the Saint (plausibly from his initials -- but you knew that) is a more well-developed, more travelled and certainly more eccentric character than his near-contemporary, Bulldog Drummond. There are few of the wilder parts of the world which he has not visited, and few of those in which he has not had adventures. He has won a gold rush in South Africa, and lost his holding in a poker game twenty-four hours later. He has run guns into China, whisky into the United States and perfume into England. He deserted after a year in the Spanish Foreign Legion (Drummond would have been horrified at the idea of joining, let alone deserting).

Likewise Patricia Holm, the Saint's companion in so many later adventures, is a much more interesting heroine than boring little Phyllis Drummond, who exists only to be threatened and rescued -- someone whom the swine have got, or might get, and nothing more.

The elements of the plot are pretty much the standard stuff of the day: a debonair hero for the reader to identify with; a million dollars in gold stolen from a Chicago bank by a mysterious mastermind known as The Tiger; a gang of ruthless criminals; and of course a damsel in distress. What separates this from the majority of such efforts is the way Charteris plays with these elements -- tongue clearly in cheek, in places -- and weaves a story that carries you along from first to last. Some of the characters (Algy, for instance, or Aunt Agatha) are so skillfully drawn that you feel you'd recognise them if they walked into your local pub.

Other characters that recur later include Simon's faithful manservant Orace, and -- briefly, in Knight Templar -- Detective Inspector Carn.

From what I can make out, "Meet The Tiger" is very difficult to get hold of; but if you want to read the Saint books it's worth making the effort. They're definitely best if read in the right order.

P.S. For a list of -- and discussion of -- all Charteris's Saint books, see my So You'd Like To... Guide.