Warren Books

The Washington Times wrote a terrific review of this book, which follows:

A President Of the Peephole
By Carl Sferrazza Anthony
Special to The Washington Post
Sunday, June 7, 1998

Fearing revelations about his illicit affair with a young campaign volunteer - which included sex in an Oval Office hideaway while under the guard of Secret Service agents - the president realized that stonewalling was ultimately futile. He stunned a private party of reporters at the National Press Club by confessing his carnal desires.

"It's a good thing I am not a woman," the president said. "I would always be pregnant. I can't say no."

In this administration, the scandals never seemed to end. There was the strange suicide of an administration official, made even more mysterious by a note that disappeared. Then came an investigation into payoffs and coverups connected to a notorious land deal. The president's friends launched smear campaigns against his perceived foes. Dossiers were compiled; private eyes and snitches deployed. Affidavits were drafted in which various women denied liaisons with the president. Jobs were arranged to keep people quiet.

Through it all, a steel-willed first lady kept the press at bay and did whatever was necessary to defend her husband's reputation - even if it meant destroying evidence.

The scandals erupted at a time when technological advances in communication were feeding a nation hungry for distraction, and the economy was booming. Sex sold - and the ravenous press corps was all too happy to name names and offer seamy details. The president and his wife boosted their public image by bringing Hollywood stars to the White House; they knew the value of glamour and the power of celebrity. It also helped that he was a genial populist and inveterate shaker of hands, fond of golf and cards, a man of the people.

Ladies thought him virile and handsome; he photographed well.
For some reason, all of this seems familiar. Whatever else may be said of Warren Gamaliel Harding - whose tenure as 29th president ended with his peculiar, premature death in 1923 - he was a truly modern politician. His administration, which reeked of corruption, offers a prototype for Washington scandals. Whitewater, Iran-contra and Watergate are better known today, but the granddaddy of them all was Teapot Dome, a political maelstrom that broke 75 years ago this month and is still hard to top in terms of sheer outrageousness.

Harding, a small-town Ohio newspaper publisher, was uniquely unsuited for the job of president - and he knew it. "I am not fit for this office and never should have been here," he once said. But he "looked like a president," as one major backer put it, and his wife, Florence, was instrumental in shepherding his political career. (The press considered Florence, known as the Duchess, to be the power behind the throne; one cartoon depicted the couple as "The Chief Executive and Mr. Harding.") Harding, a one-term Republican senator, won the job by promising Americans a "return to normalcy" after World War I.

Though his legacy was soiled, his domestic achievements were substantial: the 40-hour work week, improved health care for new mothers, the first balanced-budget bureau, a focus on technology. And we have to give Harding credit for establishing a venerable institution: the Washington gossip mill. Based on new documentation, here's a reprise of the Harding era.

I love your back, I love your breasts
Darling to feel, where my face rests,
I love your skin, so soft and white,
So dear to feel and sweet to bite. . . .
I love your poise of perfect thighs,
When they hold me in paradise. . . .
-- A Harding poem to one of his mistresses, Carrie Phillips

No president had more "women scrapes," as his attorney general put it, than Warren G. His first affair, three years into his marriage to Florence, was with Susie Hodder - his wife's best friend from childhood - resulting in the birth of a daughter. His second affair was with Florence's closest adult friend, Carrie Fulton Phillips. It lasted 15 years. His third enduring mistress was his Senate aide, Grace Cross.
Number four was the most infamous and the first presidential mistress to write a memoir: In the large Oval Office closet, the president had at least one tryst with Nan Britton, a campaign volunteer who had started having sex with Harding when he was 51 and she was 22. Their assignations, facilitated by Secret Service agents James Sloan and Walter Ferguson ("Harding hated to have them around, for he despised being watched," reported the chief usher), came to an abrupt stop when another agent, Harry Barker, tipped Florence off, and she ran down for a confrontation.

It was in Harding's Senate office, late one night in the winter of 1919, that Britton claimed she conceived their daughter, Elizabeth Ann. They disrobed because Harding wanted to "visualize" her while he worked there during the day. Britton worried that they lacked the "usual paraphernalia which we always took to the hotels . . . and of course, the Senate Offices do not provide preventive facilities for use in such emergencies."

He had assorted other flings, including one with Rosa Hoyle, said to have conceived his only illegitimate son, and one with Augusta Cole, whose pregnancy by Harding was terminated. He bedded a Washington Post employee known as Miss Allicott, and former chorus girls Maize Haywood and Blossom Jones - all procured by Harding's crony, Washington Post publisher and owner Ned McLean. And then there's the string of "New York women" - including one who committed suicide after Harding wouldn't marry her, and another who had a stash of incriminating love letters purchased by Harding loyalists.

The president even publicly ogled Margaret Gorman, the first Miss America, in Atlantic City, days after her crowning.

Follow the Money

Just weeks after his inauguration in 1921, Harding approved Interior Secretary Albert Fall's request to transfer oil reserves from the Navy Department to Fall's control. Fall then secretly leased the reserve at Elks Hills, Calif., to oilman Edward Doheny and the one at Teapot Dome, Wyo., to Harry Sinclair - in exchange for a "loan" of cash and stock worth nearly $400,000, delivered in a small black satchel, and a "gift" of $100,000 from Doheny. Fall became the first Cabinet member to be thrown in prison.

Col. Charles Forbes, the first director of the U.S. Veterans Bureau, created by Harding, was particularly close to the first lady. She saw to his appointment, and entrusted him with $450 million to build hospitals and provide decent medical care for the thousands of disabled veterans of World War I, on whose behalf the Duchess was a national activist.

Instead, he bilked tens of thousands out of building contractors and medical supply companies. He was eventually imprisoned - but not before Harding personally throttled him against the Red Room wall in the White House.

Although Attorney General Harry Daugherty, a Harding crony and campaign manager, eluded conviction on a variety of pardon-selling and influence-peddling charges, his Justice Department was riddled with malfeasance, kickbacks and payoffs. One of the department's central tasks was to intimidate any Harding mistress who threatened the president with blackmail.

High Officials

Evalyn McLean, the Post publisher's wife, was a confidante of Mrs. Harding and an admitted intermittent morphine addict. Despite Prohibition, she also was a heavy drinker and speakeasy regular - but then, so were her husband and other ranking government officials: Albert Fall, Col. Forbes and the president's chief aide, George Christian. In the Veterans Bureau, stories eventually broke about flapper secretaries and young officers having a regular cocktail hour, with shakers and glasses at the ready, overseen by Forbes.

The president served liquor freely in the present-day Yellow Oval Room to his guests. Alice Longworth - a regular at poker - recalled that the first lady mixed the drinks. "No rumor could have exceeded the truth. . . . [T]rays with bottles containing every imaginable brand of whiskey stood about," she remembered. And, according to recently declassified FBI reports, Harding was drunk on whiskey during an Oval Office confrontation with railroad union leaders during their 1922 strike.

At the center of the capital's most elite bootlegging service was Jess Smith - who, even though never an employee or even a volunteer at the Justice Department, used official letterhead, cars and staff, and sat in on private meetings with FBI Director Billy Burns. Smith enjoyed these perks as the bachelor companion of the attorney general. Smith also served as the first lady's favorite escort and arbiter of her jaunty '20s fashions.

Through the Justice Department, Smith had access to whiskey supplies confiscated by Prohibition agents, and some of the booze went directly to the White House, and to the McLeans, while the rest was kept for parties at the "Love Nest," the small house shared by Smith and Daugherty, complete with a pink taffeta bedroom.

Hollywood Values

Working closely with Republican National Committee Chairman Will Hays during the 1920 campaign, Florence Harding conceived of recruiting Hollywood movie stars to support her husband. Al Jolson was drafted to head the Harding-Coolidge Theatrical League, and on Aug. 24, 1920, the marriage of politics and entertainment was forged forever when Jolson brought 40 movie stars to the Harding home for a campaign rally.

The White House became a little Hollywood. On any given day, D.W. Griffith, the Gish sisters or Tom Mix might pose for newsreel cameras with the Hardings. When Hays left his job as postmaster general to become president of the Motion Picture Producers and Distributors of America, he developed a "project to link the White House with the motion picture industry" by providing a movie library. All of this was nothing short of immoral to old society. The religious press took even greater offense to Florence's ringing the stately halls with jazz for the first time. The Biblical Recorder excoriated the Hardings for "setting a bad example by joining in the modern dance with its 'jazz' music."

Squelching the Bimbos

There was a good reason for Jess Smith having a vaguely defined association with the Justice Department. In this way, he was able to act at the implicit direction of the attorney general and FBI director and carry out a systematic intimidation of Harding mistresses who threatened to do as Carrie Phillips did and demand blackmail for their love letters. At one point, in exchange for apparently small amounts of money, affidavits disclaiming rumors of their liaisons were wrestled out of Evelyn Ruby, Augusta Cole and Cecilia Hoyle, and made their way to the first lady.

In April 1921, Ned McLean officially became an agent of the FBI, and did his utterly unethical best to destroy any anti-Harding efforts he heard about as publisher of The Post. Such responsibilities included ripping the blouse of Nan Britton to try to snatch letters she claimed to be carrying - in the privacy of his editorial office.

Even on the eve of his inauguration, Harding was providing more trouble for his troubleshooters. He had arranged a late-night rendezvous with Grace Cross, his Senate aide, in a Willard Hotel room. Some of his friends, recalled Olive Clapper, a reporter's wife, "ordered her to pack and get out of town, threatening to put the FBI on her trail if she didn't go at once. She was so frightened she left immediately."

Psychic Guidance

Mrs. Harding's diary, discovered last year at an Ohio barn auction, revealed her to be a true believer in crystal ball readings, the zodiac and clairvoyance. In February 1920, as a Senate wife, she had her first consultation with capital society's seer, "Madame Marcia." The psychic predicted that if Harding ran for president that year, he would be nominated - but that if he won the election, he would not live through his full term and instead die of "sudden, peculiar, violent . . . death by poison."

Knowing that the blackmail price of $25,000 demanded by Carrie Phillips for the love letters could never be met unless her husband became a presidential nominee, Florence pushed him through the primaries on to the nomination, ignoring the ominous prediction. During the Harding presidency, Madame Marcia was regularly fetched by the first lady's Secret Service agent, brought through the back entrance and escorted to the presidential bedroom for zodiac updates. Madame Marcia also did horoscopes for the president's public appearances; the first lady was trying to protect him from numerous assassination and bomb threats.

When Florence got early inklings of the Teapot Dome, Veteran's Bureau and Justice Department scandals, she asked Marcia to do astrological charts of Cabinet members - and used the results as evidence to remove some of the crooks from the administration.

Blackmailers' Delight

Newly discovered documents now prove that Harding was the only president successfully blackmailed by a mistress. Once he was nominated as the Republican candidate, the national GOP committee paid off Carrie Phillips's lump-sum demand of $25,000 and monthly stipend of $2,000, funneled through a secret bank account kept, apparently, under Jess Smith's name (the records were burned by Attorney General Daugherty).
Once Harding became president, Phillips returned from an all-expense-paid trip abroad and demanded that her brother and son-in-law be given federal posts. It was done. Harding even circulated the name of Phillips's husband to be ambassador to Japan - before word got out why he thought a dry-goods salesman from Marion, Ohio, deserved the post and the idea was quashed.

One night, when he was a senator, Harding had such a row with aide Grace Cross that she cut his back and the police were called. Thereafter, Cross went around town talking about a "birthmark" on the president's back that she could identify - undoubtedly the wound - which became part of her arsenal in unsuccessful attempts to get blackmail money. However, former Democratic attorney general Mitchell Palmer would later use his knowledge of the Cross affair to force Harding to drop a Justice Department prosecution against him.

Crossing a Friend

After a failed attempt to frame Cross with a phony affidavit claiming she was a liar and blackmailer, Smith approached Bertha Martin - a friend of Cross's - to try to get possession of the aide's love letters from Harding. Martin said she would turn on her friend on the condition that she was given the job of society editor at The Post. Smith went to McLean, who gave his nod. Martin took Cross to lunch, asked to see the letters, snatched them away and bolted out of the restaurant. She was made society editor - and still managed to stay friends with Cross, taking her on a European vacation, courtesy of the secret blackmail fund.

Deadly Sins

During a party at Smith and Daugherty's "Love Nest," some New York chorus girls were brought down to entertain a stag party. In attendance was the president. When glasses and bottles were being flung off the table so the dancing girls could perform, one Washington prostitute, identified only as a Miss Walsh, was knocked unconscious. Harding was hustled out. The woman died and was buried in a potter's field.

In recently discovered transcripts of her taped revelations, Evalyn McLean recalled that the FBI director "railroaded" the woman's brother into St. Elizabeths mental hospital when he suggested a blackmail payment.

Censorship by Book Burning

"The Strange Death of President Harding," written in 1930 by the notorious perjurer and former FBI agent Gaston Means, implied that Florence Harding poisoned her husband in retaliation for his adultery, but the book has long been dismissed as a fabrication. New evidence shows that while Means lied in details, he told general truths. He said that he was part of an FBI effort to seize and destroy a small, privately printed book, "The Illustrated Life of Warren Gamaliel Harding," that revealed Harding's affair with Carrie Phillips, the RNC blackmail payoff and Florence's out-of-wedlock child by a common-law first husband.

This turned out to be the only book suppressed by the government in peacetime. The entire action was illegal, and thus the boxes of books and updated manuscript inserts were taken not to any government property but to the McLean estate, where they were all burned. Well, not all: An original with the author's notes sits with none other than Evalyn


Spying

Among Gaston Means's other sensational charges was that he spied for the first lady on Nan Britton. In fact, it was probably Grace Cross - for at least one letter sent to her from the president's office was purloined and found its way into the file on Cross in the McLeans' private papers. Post reporter Vylla Poe Wilson later admitted that both "Mrs. Harding and Mrs. McLean were very jealous women, and they hired Gaston Means to follow Harding and McLean and report on their actions." In congressional hearings on the Justice Department, it was confirmed that Agent Means not only spied on Cross but the president's physician, Charles Sawyer, and his mistress, the first lady's housekeeper.

Suicides

Congress first heard tales of gross corruption at the Veterans Bureau in February 1923. Col. Forbes's colleague in kickbacks, Charles Cramer - the bureau's chief counsel, and the purchaser of the Hardings' Senate home - wrote out a letter to the president in his dining room, then stood before the bathroom mirror and shot himself. The letter mysteriously disappeared.

At the start of the summer, the first big Harding scandal broke with the news that Jess Smith was found in his room with his head in a trash can, and a bullet in his head. The official word went out that it was a suicide due to health and emotional problems. Bertha Martin of The Post recalled that it was "noised about" town that Smith was a known homosexual, and that he was heartbroken over Daugherty's sudden rejection of his friendship when the president learned of Smith's nefarious activities. Others, like Evalyn McLean, simply believed Daugherty, Means or Burns had Smith killed because he knew too much. As for Martin, after a second career bootlegging whiskey to embassies, she was found dressed in her fur coat, pearls and white gloves with her head on the gas range, another alleged suicide.

Negligent Homicide?

Beginning on June 20, 1923, the Hardings sought to escape the heat and scandal of Washington on a 15,000-mile transcontinental train trip and voyage to Alaska. The president was 57 at the time. The recently unsealed diary and notes of naval physician Joel Boone reveal Boone's grave concerns about the president's heart condition. The warnings were ignored by longtime Harding homeopath "Doc" Sawyer, who made no effort to stop Harding from speaking in the blistering heat, driving the golden spike to complete the Alaska Railroad, or doing other arduous tasks. In this Sawyer had the absolute approval of the first lady, who was now enjoying the height of her national popularity and didn't want the trip canceled. She viewed the incompetent Sawyer as her own Rasputin, who'd miraculously kept a chronic kidney ailment from killing her.

When Harding suffered a bout of food poisoning from tainted crab meat at Cordova, Alaska, Doc Sawyer ultimately weakened the president's sick heart by treating him with heavy doses of purgatives to flush out the toxins. On Aug. 2, 1923, when Boone was out of the sickroom in San Francisco's Palace Hotel, Sawyer plied one too many purgatives - in Florence's presence - and Harding died. There was a quick coverup regarding who was in the room and at precisely what time the president died. Mrs. Harding refused to permit an autopsy or a death mask, protecting her beloved Sawyer. "Now that is all over," she told Evalyn McLean after Harding's death, "I think it was all for the best."

Evidence Destruction

At the McLean estate, aptly named Friendship, Evalyn permitted the widowed first lady to bring from the White House wood crates full of government documents (which may have been incriminating to Harding) and helped burn them. Even though Mrs. Harding was being spied on and her phone was tapped during the congressional investigations of the scandals, she was able to keep destroying documents within the privacy of her Willard Hotel suite.

Four months after leaving Washington, Florence died at age 64 in Marion, Ohio. She was staying in a cottage on the grounds of the Sawyer Sanitarium "for the treatment of nervous and mental diseases," amid signs that read: "Please do not stare at the Patients."

This article is adapted from Carl Sferrazza Anthony's just-published biography, "Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age and the Death of America's Most Scandalous President" (Morrow).

The Harding administration is buried in 20th century obscurity. Aside from the words "Teapot Dome", which few laymen know anything about, and the overriding scandal that dogged Harding's reputation after he left office, there are few people who would even know the name of the first lady.

Florence Harding portrays the image of a plain, dowdy hayseed, but the author brings her to life in the context of an amazing time in our history.

The 1920's were a time of a burgeoning economy, a rich underground economy with speakeasies, amazing jazz, racial awareness, and a recovery from World I. Florence Harding worked behind the scenes to prop her husband up to the challenge of the presidency. Recent revisionist historians have re-examined his presidency to look at his leadership, and his vision beyond the republican side of the aisle.

Florence Harding welcomed in the Jazz Age, consulted "spiritual advisors", and looked at feminist causes long before many of her contemporaries. She also loved and adored her husband, looking past his infidelities, and his out-of-wedlock children.

Warren Harding was in over his head as President. He was an innocent idealist who was thrust into a dark horse candidacy by unscrupulous men who he believed were his friends. He was also a popular and beloved President at he time of his death.

This book, however, is about his wife. She was a tirelessly driven woman, cannily intelligent, with a strength that propelled her to the pinnacle of American leadership.

It is a story few would undertake to tell, and it is riveting. While Florence Harding never comes off as likable, she is portrayed as loyal, admirable, and visionary beyond her time. There is a touching passage, as she sits next to Warren's open coffin, when she tells her husband "nobody can hurt you now, W'urrn".

She clearly understood the power of the office, and the damage it had done to her husband.

An engrossing biography, on an unlikely subject.

How to make a fairly dull and unpleasant like Florence Harding come alive is a difficult enough feat, however the author does a splendid job of doing it! Expertly researched and pleasantly told, Mrs. Harding comes off far better than she has ever been depicted before - and perhaps even better than she deserves.

Writer Carl Anthony has composed an outstanding biography in his work Florence Harding. Harding Florence Harding been one of the more easily understood or admired First Lady's in this nations history, this book would have been written years ago. However, Mrs. Harding's legacy has been in the past told and retold more as a tabloid story than factual account.

When approaching this book, one needs to understand how Mrs. Harding's legacy was tainted by three men, none of which was her husband Warren G. Harding. First, Gaston Means - a grifter and one time low level FBI agent - did a master job at maligning the deceased Mrs. Harding in his book, The Strange Death of President Harding, a ghost written work that was penned by a tabloid jouranlist who sued Means when he failed to honor his obligations to the writer. In this book, Means paints the picture of Mrs. harding that is pervasive in American Pop Culture: that Mrs. Harding was clueless love lorn hag, who spent her time with mystics plotting the Presidents next moves in star charts. This is an image that the public bought, hook, line and sinker.

The other two men who betrayed Mrs. Harding were her doctor, Charles E. Sawyer and his son Dr. Carl Sawyer. The Sawyers held Mrs. Harding in their sway - she believed that they were great medical doctors, however it was the elder Sawyer's mis diagnosis of President Harding's heart condition as food poisoning. When Charles Sawyer discovered that the widowed First Lady's kidney ailment acted up, he travelled to Washington DC and demanded that Florence return to Marion Ohio for treatment at his private Sanatorium rather than seek treatment at at the better suited facilities in Washington. Mrs, Harding was placed in a cottage at the facility, and then kept at the facility by Sawyer's son Carl after the elder Sawyer died. Following Mrs. Harding's death, Dr. Carl Sawyer assummed total control of the Harding Memorial Association and maintained an iron grip on the Harding legacy until his death in the 1960s. As with all great dictators, Carl Sawyer controlled all aspects of the Harding legacy. As a result, the public never had a fair opportunity to study the Harding's, but rather were fed a steady stream of "approved" information about the couple.

Anthony's work goes the distance in seperating the negative myths from the honest truths in her life, which by any standard was not charmed. However, the author does take liberties in communicating his emotions about Mrs. Harding. He believes that she has been mis-portrayed and his passion about correcting that sometimes overstates her case. However, his book is very well documented by copious endnotes and reliable first person accounts and primary documents.

This book will never be a New York Times best seller - the public would rather believe that Harding Myths inseatd of the facts - but for those who care to learn more about the truths of the 29th President and his most remarkable wife, this is a satisfying and accurate book to read.

I found this book hard to put down. I had not realized all the things this obscure first lady was involved with in her life. She looks like somebody's stern grandmother so when I idly looked through this book, I was surprised to find myself drawn in immediately. It is a large book, but I read it very fast as I just could not put it down. This is how a biography should be written, it is well researched and yet still reads almost like a novel.

EXPECT THE SUNRISE is the third book in the TEAM HOPE series by Susan May Warren. Each book follows the lives of search and rescue members that make up Team Hope. EXPECT THE SUNRISE takes place in the Alaskan wilderness after the plane piloted by Andee MacLoad, a mountain rescuer, crash lands during a storm. Sterling "Mac" MacLeod, an FBI agent, is one of seven survivors and immediately suspects there is a saboteur on the flight, with the Alaskan Pipeline as its target. Andee and Mac clash when decisions have to be made regarding the safety of the passengers. With Andee's best friend injured, she decides to hike out on her own in search of help. Mac fears she is the saboteur and insists they stay together, not wanting her to get the opportunity to accomplish her plan for disaster. What results is an intriguing story as Andee and Mac struggle with trust, survival, and secrets that could shatter their growing interest in each other.

I thoroughly enjoyed the TEAM HOPE series. With adventurous stories set in the great outdoors, Susan May Warren captivates her audience with deep characters, rich plots, and enough suspense to keep you guessing.

A terrorist is going to blow up the Alaska pipeline. Mac and his partner are there to stop the violence. But Mac's partner is critically wounded in the fire-fight. Mac frantically tries to save him, waving maniacally to a helicopter flying overhead. He attributes his partner's death to the fact that the pilot didn't stop.

Mac is living with a chip on his shoulder after the death of his partner, still blaming the helicopter pilot for his loss. Andee, a member of Jim Micah's SAR team, is spending her summer flying in Alaska. She meets Mac on one of her flights. They share a Scottish heritage, but as they grow closer they learn that they share so much more. Can they overcome the past? Or will they miss out on what promises to be a beautiful future?

Susan May Warren is a master of romantic suspense storytelling! Her characters are authentic role models of Christian behavior in extreme circumstances. The way she records their thought processes makes me sit back and examine my own reactions to less stressful experiences. Not only have her novels afforded me many hours of wonderful entertainment, but they have also helped me to deepen my relationship with God and others.

In Expect the Sunrise, the third book in the series Team Hope, Susan May Warren delivers. The book opens with the heartbreaking scene where FBI agent Stirling "Mac" McRae's brother is dying in his arms, and he believe's it's his fault. All of a sudden a bush plane passes overhead and he signals that he's got an emergency, but the plane ignores him. He vows to find out who the pilot was who left his brother to die. After healing some from his brother's death, he must take a plane trip in a small craft. Andee MacLeod is the bush pilot and this is her last flight before winter sets in, as she tries to climb above a storm front, the plane crashes. Some of the passengers are injured, including Andee's best friend. To make matters worse, Mac discovers there is a terrorist in the group, but he doesn't know who. In fact, he suspects Andee. The same group of terrorists have also taken Andee's father captive, a bush pilot to taught his daughter to fly and a former star FBI agent. Throughout the book, the author demonstrates God's love, forgiveness, and grace. This is an exciting read and is well written.

Susan May Warren is a terrific author. This is her best series yet, and this book may be the best in the series as well. I love how her characters always seem so real. I had trouble putting this book down. I'm still eagerly awaiting the fourth book in this series!

This is the third book in the Team Hope series and hopefully not the last! This was another wonderful addition to this series. The characters are such a joy to get to know.

Mac and Andee end up stranded in the Alaskan mountains after Andee's plane crash with several other passengers. The tale of their harrowing journey out is definitely worth the read. Add in terrorists and you have a great suspense novel.

As I sat at my computer, I glanced over at my bookcase and reached for a book. It was a Cup Of Christmas Tea. I began reading out loud and soon started crying. Several times I had to stop and wipe away tears. It takes you back to when holidays were simple and pure and about the people you love.
As I finished the book and wiped away my final tears, I decided that I will make our Chanukah celebration something special for my grandsons.

Symbolized by sharing a cup of tea with an elderly aunt and reminiscing about Christmases past - this is a heart warming poem reminding us to slow down during the holidays and enjoy our time with family and friends.

A friend recommended this book to me several years ago, and when I read it, I was moved to tears. Since that time, I have given countless copies to friends and family because I want to share the message that I received from it with everyone I know. The text is brief, but very descriptive, so I could picture in my mind the events that the authors were describing. The message that I received is that monetary gifts are not as important as the gift of time that we spend with others; so often we set out to do things for others because we feel obligated, and in the end are more blessed than the person who was the object of our attention. This is truly a wonderful Christmas story to read again and again!

I think of this book as an adult "christmas book". I have had a copy for some years and purchased this one to accompany a Spode Christmas "tea pot and cup for one" I gave to my mother. The 25th Anniversary Edition is a celebration of a book that will never go out of style and is a perennial reminder of gracious traditions and feelings that are the heart's treasures.

It's a family tradition to read this book at Christmas

The book is great. My son loved it. Sadly though, it was ordered with the guarantee that it would arrive before Christmas, and it showed up on the 26th. Amazon has been non-responsive and has ignored my correspondence (e-mail & snail mail). So, I would recomend buying the book, just not through Amazon.

This book is magical for kids - I just bought a second one to make sure both of my sons have this book when they are grown and have their own children. The story is about Peef - a bear that Santa makes by hand. Peef is Santa's right-hand "bear", but really longs to be given as a gift to a boy or girl, but he just can't bring himself to tell Santa. Santa figures it out and decides to give him to a child on Christmas Eve. Great lesson about love. Definitely buy the stuffed Peef they sell with the books and then place it in bed with your child Christmas Eve. After the kids have read the book several times leading up to Christmas, and then wake up to Peef on Christmas morning, they feel so special. They believe Santa decided they were the one who was special enough to receive his special bear.

I am so looking forward to reading this to my kids! It really is a cute book.

The book is a great story and even better when you hear the author read it the way he wrote it. It is a great story about Santa making a friend and eventually giving his friend away to a little child.

Santa is up to something! He's asked all of his elves to pick out their favorite fabric and bring it to him. Just what is Santa doing? Why he's making a multi-colored Christmas Bear, that when the final stitch is completed and with a push from Santa's finger, the bear speaks his own name...Peef.

Peef is an important bear. He is Santa's chief assistant and dearly loves Santa. But what Peef really wants is to belong to and bring happiness to a special child. That doesn't seem to be Peef's fate until one Christmas Eve when Santa is one toy short. Peef's dream is realized as he is left behind to bring one special child great happiness.

This is a wonderful Christmas story! It wraps up the gift of love, sacrifice and the sense of belonging all in one little bear. The illustrations are spectacular and will draw children and adults alike into the story.

Armchair Interviews says: This book, first introduced in 1995, is sure to become a classic and treasured by all children everywhere who dream of loving that special bear.

This is a must read for churches, pastors, leaders and ministries to help to understand the subtle shifting away from the heart of the gospel that is so prevalent today in our churches and in particular in the church growth movement. One may not agree with absolutely everything, but the author does a good job of methodically applying scripture step by step. Acknowledging the good but showing at the same time, where it departs from scripture.

Thank you.

"Redefining Christianity" may seem like a harsh title for an evaluation of The Purpose Driven Life, but Bob DeWaay makes a strong case for the book (and the ministry of Rick Warren's Saddleback Church) to have redefined and debased real Christianity.
DeWaay gives cogent examples of Rick Warren's misuse of Scripture. He also critiques Warren's ministry philosophy and redefinition of the church, showing from Scripture how they fall short of the biblical norm. De Waay points out at great length (this section is somewhat weak and tends to go a bit too far) how the "covenant" Warren requires of all church members is unbiblical in its demands, infringes excessively on Christian liberty, and makes liars out of everyone by demanding conduct that no one can perfectly keep.
Perhaps his strongest chapter is 8: The Problem with Private Confession." Someone has said, "If you want to know what Rick Warren believes, see the doctrinal statement at Saddleback Church where he preaches. "No," claims DeWaay, "If you want to know what a man really believes, don't look at official doctrinal statements (which are routinely ignored), but what he actually confesses in public and preaches from the pulpit.
There are many helpful chapters and a fine appendix in which Christ's evaluations of the seven churches of Revelation are compared to the church model espoused by Rick Warren. This is "must" reading for anyone who may be tempted to get on The Purpose Driven Life bandwagon.

Pastor Bob Dewaay is well qualified to address Rick Warren's heresy, having done his homework. You must check this out, as Dewaay's devastating critique is a warning of the dangers of seeker sensitivity for church marketing purposes. The Purpose Driven Life fad has taken over almost entire denominations including the Southern Baptist Convention and the Assemblies of God, who have shifted from fundamentalist-style roots in order to be more socially acceptable to the middle class postmodernists in society who reject absolute truth. Contemporary "churches" are now filled with people who consider themselves "spiritual" but "not religious," and the seeker movement caters to their "felt needs" while sidestepping historic Christianity's more controversial doctrines. Whether one is a Christian or not, all should agree that honesty in marketing is essential. Churches that hide or obscure their true beliefs (a literal Hell, Christ being the only way to God, that Christ's gruesome shed blood on the cross is the only way God forgives humanity for their sins that invoke His divine wrath, etc.) are deceiving "spiritual seekers" who deny such beliefs, but attend those churches anyway to meet their psychological and therapeutic needs. Such "seekers" who have no intention of becoming biblical Christians should do themselves a favor and stay home, to avoid being lied to by these market driven seeker churches that don't have the integrity to reveal to the public what they REALLY believe.

Why doesn't Rick Warren tell his secular audiences who read his "Ladies' Home Journal" column or on his Larry King Live appearances the TRUTH of what he believes in private, that non-Christians are going to burn in Hell for eternity? To you Rick Warren fans who don't really know what an Evangelical really is or detest "bigoted, intolerant" Christian fundamentalistism, Rick Warren really believes these fundamentalist Christian dogmas in private! He talks around those beliefs in public, because he doesn't want to offend you! He conveniently leaves out those hellfire-and-brimstone dogmas from his Purpose Driven materials so he and his movement can remain popular, and he can maintain his public image of being a tolerant down-to-earth guy who barbeques in his backyard like the rest of middle class Americana.

The truth is-Rick Warren is a closet fundamentalist Christian who has no private tolerance for other beliefs besides Christianity. His approach is dishonest, because his seeker friendly approach to Christianity doesn't disclose Christianity's true beliefs to unsuspecting seekers who visit his church.

Great resource in the battle against the recent church growth movement nonsense. He backs everything up with hundreds of footnotes, and scriptures. Unlike Mr Warren and the other "seeker sensitive" crowd, Pastor DeWaay rightly uses the scriptures. If your Church is thinking of going "Purpose Driven" you MUST read this book FIRST.

I will not pretend to add to the voluminous reviews in agreement with this book other than to say that if you become confronted with Rick Warren's "Purpose Driven Life" movement, you should read this book and "Who's Driving the Purpose Driven Church?" by James Sundquist before you agree to anything. The deception is so insidious that those Christians who spend more time watching 'American Idol' than reading their Bible will easily fall into the trap of the 'seeker sensitive' church of Purpose. To those who have already joined the Purpose Driven Church, take the time to read this book and judge for yourself if what you see is true or false. As a Christian you should not be afraid of the truth and you should be able to discern it.

Even though I viewed this product on line before ordering, it was not what I wanted. The 1994 edition I have of this book includes journaling space each day following the day's scriptures. I didn't realize this was not included until the books came. In giving this to members of my mission team, I wanted them to journal their praises to God for the 31 days. I think the journaling space makes the book so much more effective as a tool with which to praise God. The book is still very good . . . just not what I really wanted the way I wanted to use it.

This book was a gift from a friend. It is one of the best gifts I've ever received and I will read it over and over again through the years. Great spiritual insight. This is a good devotional for someone who is grieving the loss of a spouse too.

I have used this book for quiet times for years and I recently purchased another one to use because my old one wore out. It really helped me apply how important praise to God is to spiritual growth.

I am not one given to tossing superlatives about or embellishing my correspondence with capitals. For this book, I gladly will make an exception. This is, by far, the BEST devotional book that I have EVER read. I received it as a gift a few years ago. I've used it almost continuously since and bought several copies to give to friends, who have, likewise, praised it with as much warmth.

It puts the Christian squarely in the right place, praising God and recognizing his sovereignty in every situation and over every person. Each day's devotional is in the form of a prayer, obviously drawn directly from scripture, and includes scripture references (in order) for each paragraph. Every few days there is a supplemental reading that enhances the truths given over the past few days.

Whatever my situation, circumstance or emotion, this book has never failed to provide me with the proper perspective. It provides comfort when I'm afraid, hope when I despair, confirmation when I rejoice, deepening my love and trust in my wonderful Lord, focusing my attention and love on Him and assuring me of His love for me.

It's compact size makes it completely portable; it fits in my purse or my desk drawer. Yet, the print is not cramped; there is no eyestrain.

A wonderful book.

I received this wonderful book as a gift. It's a treasure of truth from God's Word. It has not only been instructive and stimulating, but very touching as it sensitively probes the importance of praise and how it affects our lives. A must read for all who seek to deepen their relationship with God.

Warren Ellis' (Transmetropolitan, Thunderbolts, Desolation Jones, Astonishing X-Men, this list can go on and on...) brilliant crime fiction saga Fell is something you have to read to believe. Revolving around the incredibly skilled Detective Richard Fell, who has been transfered to Snowtown: a crime-ridden wasteland from which there may be no escape. As the area around him decays with every passing minute, Fell makes a number of encounters (most frequently with an eccentric bar-maid) with the townspeople, and comes to one conclusion in the end about them all: everybody is hiding something, including himself. Peppered with fantastic dialogue, Ellis manages to make Fell one of his most intriguing works of crime fiction, with Fell himself being one of his most interesting character creations. Ben Templesmith (30 Days of Night) provides his typical dark and moody artwork, and it more than suits the atmosphere of the universe that Ellis crafts here. All in all, the first volume of Fell is a brilliant piece of crime fiction from one of the true modern day comic book masters, and it more than deserves your attention.

Oh boy! Good doesn't even begin to describe it. Warren Ellis does noir and sets a different standard for everybody else. His inner cityscape is gritty, convincing and creepy. And I am not easily spooked. Richard Fell is beautifully characterized as the detective dedicated to his craft and every bit human and vulnerable. And Snowtown is the ultimate urban nightmare - a town that the rest of the world gave up on and only exists in the shadows of human society - inhabited by the true scum of the earth.

This is intense, gritty detective crime fiction that everyone who has any interest in the genre should not pass up. I'm not familiar with much of Warren Ellis's other work but he has brought a completely fresh new twist to your classic detective story. Its hard to believe that each issue is only 16 pages and is still more intruging than books that go a full 24-32 pages. Its hard to put down. My only gripe would be for a mature themed book the language is a bit too toned down for my taste, lets face it in a knife fight with a deadly criminal one would really call the other a "living fart" as he bashes his face in? But this is just a minor annoyance compared to the rest of a unbelievably great graphic novel.

Warren Ellis and Ben Templesmith have been around awhile. Warren is famous for his over the top horror and thriller type comics and Ben got famous for his incredible art with the original 30 Days of Night. And while this book has no vampires it has everything you would come to expect from these two masters. Warren delivers a great tale or I should say tales of Detective Fell and Ben creates his world with incredible art. When you have two master come together like this it's amazing what happens. I won't spoil the story lines I'm sure someone else will do that or has done that. If you enjoy Stephen King, Dean Koontz, or Chuck Palanuik you will most definately enjoy this graphic novel. Engrossing and at time nauseating you won't be disappointed.

With all the other praises to look at, I can't add anything new or of additional value. All I can say; This is a perfect comic book. Highly recommended.

SC

As an avid reader of dozens of value investing books, from Benjamin Graham's "Security Analysis" to Marry Buffett's "Buffettology", and Phil Town's "Rule #1", I have to say that I wish I read "Getting Started in Value Investing" first. Each of the aforementioned texts where valuable, but Mizrahi's book does the best job describing value investing soup to nuts. Beginning investors who are serious about pursuing a path to financial freedom by managing your own investments and attaining above-average market returns would be well suited to begin with this book, as part of a broader self-education program. What is Buffett's secret that Mizrahi so succinctly describes? Buy long-term positions in excellent companies with durable competitive advantages that you understand WITH A MARGIN OF SAFETY. It sounds simple, and it is. But simplicity does not mean that it does not takes some hard work, and tremendous patience to succeed in value investing. Read this book, it is a great first step.

Even after reading dozen's of investing books, this is still the one I grab for the 20-minute recap before making large investment decisions.

This is a good introduction to Value Investing. However, I have deducted one star in its rating mainly because the valuation chapter is weak. The author should rewrite that chapter and focus on Graham's simple formula as well as a true Discounted Cash Flow model instead of the P/E and EPS based valuation.

Furthermore, the glossary and index should also be significantly expanded, for instance, Shareholder's Equity does not appear in the glossary, nor in the index, yet it is an important concept to understand. The same goes for other important concepts. The author is also too repetitive and has a tendency to mix the explanation of different things instead of properly separating them. This is confusing sometimes.

But these things aside, and considering the general lack of outstanding texts in this field, I would still recommend this book to someone wanting to gain an understanding of what Value Investing is all about. If the author were to fix the things I mention above I would not hesitate to give the book a top rating.

This is probably the best book for any level of investor who in interested in learning more about value investing. I have recommended this book to a number of my friends and gave a copy to my sister in law. Mr Mizrahi writes in a easy to read style which will allow any reader to understand exactly what he is saying. One of the best ways to describe this book is as a condensed version of Graham and Dodd's "Security Analysis." After reading this book, much of what Graham and Dodd said became much clearer. This book provides the perfect blueprint for investing in stocks and making it though tough times like these. One of the best features of this book is how Mizrahi lays out exactly how to read and analyze a balance sheet. Someone need not be an accountant to be able to translate a balance sheet into a meaningful document. The chart provided in the book makes the process of reading a balance sheet even easier. By reading "Getting Started in Value Investing" along with Jim Cramer's "Sane investing in an insane world" you will receive two distinct and important views about investing. Neither of these books offer "stock tips"; rather they force an individual to do their own research and homework about the stocks they are interested in. By reading these books will become a more informed investor, and you will be able to avoid many of the pitfalls investors make.

I was almost saddened when I finally ended reading the last chapter of this work, because it was so interesting and, as one reviewer put it, "a deceptively simple book".

This is a really entertaining book that starts with demolishing some usual misconseptions about value investing and the (in)famous Efficient Market Theory. Then it explains to reader why most of the hot money in Wall Street is almost incapable to find bargain price stocks and finally Mr. Mizrahi tells reader how to find bargain priced treasures himself. The examples Mr. Mizrahi uses are so simple and novise-friendly, that you can read them without any prior knowledge about the subject and still understand them quite well.

"It is not risky to buy securities at a fraction of what they are worth.", said Warren Buffett once. This book is so valuable that it will propably sell at a fraction of what it is really worth too.

You will either get Charles Mizrahi's book in the first 10 minutes or you won't get it. This is a book for those rare stock market investors who invest based on rationality and by first figuring out what an investment is worth and then trying to buy it at a discount to its value. Although titled Getting Started in Value Investing, don't let it fool you because it is also for the very seasoned value investor. Charles is a masterful communicator sprinkling many stories and anecdotes throughout each chapter. One of the best things about this book is it is easy to read and understand, which is the best compliment an author can get, particularly when explaining complicated investment ideas. All true value investors should make this book part of their library and place it in-between Benjamin Graham's The Intelligent Investor and Phil Fisher's Common Stocks and Uncommon Profits.
- Robert P. Miles, author, The Warren Buffett CEO

President Ford has not been the most prolific writer as far as Ex-Presidents go. This unique insight into one of the most important events in the last 50 years is an American treasure. Ford has forever been reluctant to discuss this topic, and used this unique forum to give what will likely be his "final" views on the topic. A must read for those interested in history. If you are a book collector you will be extremely impressed with the quality of this volume. The quality and workmanship should redefine what we come to expect in a leatherbound book.

First off, I am of an "age" where this Kennedy controversy was nothing but something folk argued about over the years. I was an infant when the assassination took place, so I have no emotional involvement in either side of the story. That having been said, let me say about this book:

From the "outside", this volume "oozes" quality, elegance and opulence.

On the inside, the "old" story of the Warren Commission, which I admittedly never really believed, is told again with additions that augment the original report. I have seen other documentaries, and one or two I saw "proved" to me beyond a shadow of a doubt that these folk from the 1960s knew what they were talking about.

To have such an elegant edition of a book, signed by the only surviving member of the Warren Commission, is a must-have for any collector, whether you "believe" what it says or not.

A wonderful book full of new thoughts on the assasination of JFK and even hand-signed by President Gerald Ford. A beautiful piece of art that has a living soul that you can not find in a book any more. This book is worth every penny that is spent and will only go up in value from here. I am glad I have been lucky enough to have come across this book before the big bang happens and prices skyrocket. I recommend this book for any collector. A truly great piece of American history!!!

It's often true that form is indeed content. This handsome leather volume is uniquely produced and the fact that it is signed by President Ford further enhances its desirability. This important publishing event is a credit to The Flatsigned Press. The new foreword by President Gerald Ford offers new material published here for the very first time. Wonderful. We're happy to have it in our collection.

I straddle the fence on whether I believe the lone gunman theory that was the conclusion of the Warren Commission, but there's no equivocation about my admiration for this beautiful leatherbound, gilt-edged edition which includes a new Foreword by President Gerald Ford. Also, while I disagree with Ford's pardoning of Nixon, there's no denying the historical importance of the work he did on the Warren Commission, and it's safe to assume that his new material in this edition will represent his final public thoughts on the JFK assassination.

This book's focus fills a hole in the literature on leadership. Bestselling authors Noel M. Tichy and Warren G. Bennis concentrate on a key issue that is central to leadership: how leaders make judgment calls, and how you should make, execute and evaluate them. They provide a good, useful framework to guide your decision-making process. They offer intriguing tools, such as using a storyline to spur people to help implement your judgments. The book does have weaknesses, however, and those are due to the authors' definitions of two key terms: "results" and "long-term." While their case studies examine judgment calls they find successful, they define success as meeting "the espoused goals of the institution. Period." This assumes that the institution's goals are already examined and valid, when in many cases they are not. Their definition of "long-term" may strike some as only moderate in duration, or even as short-term. Nonetheless, their work is clearly written and rich in examples. getAbstract recommends it to anyone who is seriously interested in leadership, execution, and organizational strategy and culture.

I very much recommend this book to anyone who faces the challenge of making judgment calls--which, as this book points out, is everyone. This book is inspiring, to the point, and well organized. However, it's most attractive feature is that the methods it suggests are proven through many examples. I think the other reviewers have said it best: this is simply the best framework for decision making on the market.

I throughly enjoyed reading this book. I have studied Warren Bennis extensively within my Doctorate program in Organization Development. Tichy and Bennis are throughly enjoyable to read.

The audio book CD version of "Judgment" is excellent. Tichey & Bennis offer a thorough and practical framework- framing & naming the issue, making the call, and execution- for considering and making business judgments. Tichey is highly regarded in the field and provided many useful examples from his tenure running GE's famed Crotonville Leadership Center. Unlike some other business books, Tichey & Bennis were not afraid to say when bad judgments and mistakes were made, such as HP's Board's hiring Carly Fiorina along with numerous bad judgments made during Fiorina's tenure as CEO. It's an excellent guide to the judgment process.

If you are a manager who wants to develop the skills of executive management, this book is for you. The authors provide a methodology that is not simple, but still quite understandable. It would be ideal for a course of MBA or Executive MBA students wanting to get a framework for decision making.

The book has 13 chapters and then a handbook. The handbook is designed to help you take the material learned in the book and apply it to your personal situation. The chapters start by showing you the connection between judgment and leadership. They then provide a framework (a matrix) for "leadership judgment". This process is used heavily throughout the book, so pay attention to this chapter.

Chapters 3 through 6 are key to understanding the personal aspect to leadership and judgment. The authors want you to have a story line that you can not only communicate, but teach to others and in that way lead. The connection between character and courage is explored including where courage becomes foolhardy and takes you off the rails. The two chapters on the importance of people judgment are very important and you should pay close attention to them.

Chapters 7 and 8 focus on judgments regarding strategy while chapters 9 and 10 deal with judgments in times of crisis (and how to prepare for it and how to prevent most of it). Chapter 11 shows the connection between good judgment and continuous learning and chapter 12 talks about teaching leadership. I wasn't particularly wowed by this material.

The concluding chapter is a two page summary of the book and notes that the dimensions in which the complex process of judgment unfolds are time, domain (people, strategy, crisis), and constituencies (being aware of your audience, who is and needs to be involved, and how to interact effectively). Tichy and Bennis also reiterate the four types of knowledge a leader must have to make good judgments: Self-knlowedge. Social Network Knowledge, Organizational Knowledge, and Contextual Knowledge.

The book is full of great examples from real companies and real people. They illustrate the points of the text quite aptly. However, they are the one bone I would pick with the authors. It is easy to intentionally or unintentionally mislead readers with stories of success and say that these successes were the results of this method or demonstrate that our principles work because they worked in these instances. However, the positive connection to them is not proven beyond the sheer number of them. But leaders with good judgment also fail at times because a certain amount of randomness is built into the system.

Jack Welch is quoted as saying that he gets his people decisions right about 80% of the time. OK, I don't want to argue with him about his perceptions, but what exactly does "getting it right" mean? Jeff Immelt is heralded in the book, but recent events show him able to make huge mistakes as well. Does this mean he wasn't prepared to lead? Or that he turned stupid? Or is it that sometimes reality overtakes even the best preparations and plans? You can make your own judgments. However, I would love to see the book where the authors look at current events at the time they are writing the book and make strong and precise PREDICTIONS as the do in analysis of past events. If they can get those right, I will trust their analyses more.

Still, quite a good and useful book.

Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI