Missouri Books

I did not grow up in the 1950's (1970's/80's) nor did I grow up in Kansas City, although I lived there for two years. I randomly picked up this book and thought it was excellent. I don't think you need to have any connection to Kansas City or grow up in the time period covered to enjoy this book. I still read it every now and then; it is very good.

Once I began the book I never put it down. Bruce lived five blocks away from me in the same era. I especially remember Shortcake and Roy Beatty. They were friends of mine too. Bruce's recollection of Frank's restaurant was poignant although I didn't remember the dirt, just the heavenly(?) taste of a tenderloin sandwich. As to Old man Pierce, I too was chased from the premises, albeit not for the same reasons. My home was across from Scarrit grade school. Bruce no doubt played baseball there too. I do remember Lykins Square where we played the kids from "south of Independence Avenue" on many occasion, probably losing more than we won. This was a great step back to my own childhood. NE grad 1954.

This memoir of growing up in Kansas City in the 1950s is much more than nostalgia. It is an evocation of the importance of baseball in a young person's life, the ambitions of youth, and the impact of family, friends and neighbors. The characters are wonderful, and the whole book is beautifully written. It's a good read, humorous and poignant.

Former Wall Street Journal reporter Roy J. Harris Jr. presents Pulitzer's Gold: Behind the Prize for Public Service Journalism, an in-depth account of the ninety-year history of the Pulitzer Prize for Public Service, especially the most exalted prize of the Joseph Pulitzer Gold Medal. From accountings of the distinguished journalistic coverage that exposed sexual predators among Catholic priests, to the New York Times' role in helping the community cope after the September 11th attacks, to the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein's uncovering of the Watergate scandal, to the Boston Post's revelation of swindling schemes hatched by Charles Ponzi and much more, Pulitzer's Gold takes the reader on a one-of-a-kind historical tour. A distinguished tribute to the journalists who labored to bring the truth to light and help make America better place to live, as well as a studious history of journalism's most prestigious award.

Pure Gold---Five Shining Stars for "Pulitizer's Gold"

"river run, past Eve and Adam's," so begins Joyce's "Finnegans Wake" that boisterous tale tracing through time and space the story of Anna Livia Plurabelle, the Liffey, and her people. As we reach the sea, the last words of the last chapter, ("A way a lone a last a loved a long the") return to the first. "Pulitzer's Gold" has that grand cycling sweep. Beginning in Chapter 1 with the heart-holding, eye-catching stories of the two 2006 prizes (for coverage of Hurricane Katrina by the Sun Herald and the Times Picayune), the book's close celebrates the 200l award to the Oregonian for uncovering U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service abuses.

The 21 glorious chapters interweave three eternal golden braids, as intricate as any described by Hofstadter in Escher, Gödel, and Bach. These are (1) the story of the Pulitzer Prize itself, a story of growth, change, challenges, and evolution, (2) the individual stories of the newspapers, publishers, editors, and investigative reporters on whose walls shine the gold medals, and (3) the winning stories themselves, an archive of democracy in America, 1917 to the present.

Written tautly, wittily, masterfully, Pulitzer's Gold represents in itself a monumental investigative expedition. Archival research, yes, but also years of meetings, interviews, conversations, verifying and expanding what was being discovered. As good a read as a novel, this is equally a work of scholarship, each chapter detailing the sources, and illuminated by a comprehensive appendix of all the Pulitzer journal awards.

The bigger story is told through the individual stories, an approach that is endlessly fascinating. This is, in a way, the Vietnam Memorial Wall of courageous, high risk, public service journalism. The names and to a good extent the personalities whose best and brightest work may have gone into each Gold Medal award live again in this book. They are spoken of with the respect, honor, and appreciation that one outstanding journalist---Harris--- can give to another, a discerning, differentiating, discriminating honor someone outside of journalism probably could not fully catch with a guide such as Harris.

Equally valuable is the mother lode of information most of us may not know about the prizes: for example, that the applicants self-nominate and have to prepare portfolios showing why the story they propose should be recognized. For example, that consequences---results, impacts, actions---are one of the three criteria for the award, anticipating by many years the expectation that claims for merit have to be backed up by evidence of good effects.

Indeed, this book had its beginning in a presentation given by author Roy J. Harris Jr. on the one hundredth birthday of his father, Roy J. Harris Sr, of the St. Louis Post Dispatch. In this presentation, Harris Jr. not only honored his award-winning father but also reflected on the newspaper's then unique record of receiving five Pulitzer Gold awards. "What," he asked then, "was happening in this paper, at this time, that raised the St. Louis Post Dispatch to such a level of achievement?" The St. Louis Post Dispatch was among the journalistic homes of the Pulitzer family, but there was more happening---actually, the procedures of the award intended to reduce favoritism may have acted against specific recognition. What was that "more? Harris shared with us in this presentation what he learned about the way in which courageous public service journalism is created.

Now, seven years later, we are fortunate to have a full picture, across all the winners, that offers a basis in evidence for consideration of the organizational qualities and the individual qualities encouraging the risks of public service investigations. Pulitzer's Gold is a grand panoramic picture, a grand book to study, and a grand book to read.

If there is a "but" to this marvelous book, it may be a yearning for a closing chapter tracing the meaning of the strands and putting together an initial overall answer to what makes for a great newspaper (by Pulitzer standards) and where we are today. For example, the Pulitzer strand shows many changes: are the forces that drove these needed changes still vital? What may be ahead for the Pulitzer Board (and committees) in the changing future?

In contrast, there is splendid detail about each winning story but less sense of growth and more sense of a stasis in that the stories are mostly about: corruption and catastrophes. Some hard-hitting, exceptionally courageous stories about the Ku Klux Klan helped do their good work, and the Klan has disappeared in gold award winners in the last decades. Environmental issues can be seen expanding in passion and depth. Bad government is an enduring topic. Few investigative, award-winning stories seem to honor what works. Is this apparent pattern because public service journalism as anticipated in the Freedom of Speech clauses is essential to telling truths to power, particularly its inconvenient, bad, and ugly sides? Having worked for the U.S. General Accountability Office, I fully appreciate the need for as many trust-worthy feet as possible to jump into that scale of justice, but a last chapter really getting into Harris's ideas about the grand themes would be, well, grand.

The "but" is minor relative to all that is excellent in "Pulitzer's Gold." From the
elegant, appropriate cover designed by Kristie Lee, to the beautifully typography and layout, to the superb contents, this book is highly recommended. Applause to RJH, Jr., who has continued the noble legacy of the "century of those who mined the gold" and in doing so, help us honor the courage of those who are writing next year's award winning story.

Roy Harris has done a tremendous job bringing much forgotten history alive with his eloquent book Pulitzer's Gold. In the tradition of great historical writers like Barbara Tuchman, Harris weaves together rich strands of narrative to tell the compelling stories behind the most influential journalism of our times like the publishing of the Pentagon Papers, the year-long investigation into the Watergate break-in by Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein, and the outing of the Boston Diocese's shocking cover-up of the sexual predators in its midst. These stories and others are already familiar to us but what's not familiar are the stories behind the stories, and by filling in these details, Harris does a tremendous service not only to journalists but to anyone for whom history is a dynamic, urgent teacher. In reading Harris' gripping accounts of how these stories unfolded, I was reminded how vital good historical writing is to our understanding of what's going on today. This book is sure to attract a readership outside the communities of journalists and historians for whom these stories will be engrossing; I suspect anyone with a thirst for understanding our contemporary culture will find his writing invaluable. Maybe even more importantly, they'll find the stories just a good read. After all, how many of us knew that both the New York Times and the Washington Post were almost bypassed for the Public Service gold medal by the Pulitzer committee for their respective work on the Pentagon Papers and Watergate? And for the Watergate affecianado, Harris' interviews with Bob Woodward and others provides entirely fresh accounts of those pivotal events from the people that were there.That's living history.

Want to find a great guide for an enjoyable cycling adventure on the Katy Trail across Missouri? While this "escape" is only one of many covered in Gustafson & Jarrett's "Great Escapes from St. Louis", it is worth the price of the book alone. My husband and I have enjoyed several weekend bicycle trips along the trail made more enjoyable by their recommendations for historic sites, restaurants and our favorite experience; staying in a bed & breakfast. Pick up this book if you want to plan a bike trip from beginning to end! It is enjoyable reading while you locate valuable information that takes the guess work out of your travel planning. The authors convince you to travel our part of the country and experience the fun they obviously had while researching this book.

I have lived in Kansas City area for 15 years and had no idea there was so much too see and do here. I had heard about these attractions, but the authors really captured their character and liveliness. Seeing our city through another's eyes made us realize how much we have to offer. We also went to St. Joseph and enjoyed seeing the museums described in the book. We definitely plan on using this book for more "Escapes," especially those to the east. These authors obviously put a lot of time and work into this publication.

I have lived in Kansas City area for 15 years and had no idea there was so much too see and do here. I had heard about these attractions, but the authors really captured their character and liveliness. Seeing our city through another's eyes made us realize how much we have to offer. We also went to St. Joseph and enjoyed seeing the museums described in the book. We definitely plan on using this book for more "Escapes," especially those to the east. These authors obviously put a lot of time and work into this publication.

I'm a hypnotherapist and was just reading this great book when a client told me about rushing her 46 year old husband to the emergency room -- with a heart attack! If she'd read Dr. Turneer's book beforehand, she might have saved her husband the crazed ER visit, and had a better outcome.

Dr. Turner's brain and life saving advice can help everyone!

Most deaths by heart attacks can be prevented with proper medical treatment - but all too often that treatment is not administered in time. "Recognizing and Surviving Heart Attacks and Strokes: Lifesaving Advice You Need Now" is a compilation of invaluable and vital information for those who are in serious danger of heart attack. Claiming that if one acts on the early signs of the disease, one may escape the heart attack with no long lasting damage, "Recognizing and Surviving Heart Attacks and Strokes: Lifesaving Advice You Need Now" is a must for anyone in danger and for community library health collections.

Having survived a heart attack in 1998 I must admit that had I read Recognizing and Surviving Heart Attacks and Strokes by Glen O. Turner, Tim Bade and Mark Bruce Rosin before the event I might have avoided the event altogether. As pointed out, there are significant warning signs well in advance of the attack or stroke that the informed individual can heed and avoid possible death or disability.

Recognizing and Surviving Heart Attacks is written for the layman. Organized with short chapters, the book is easily scanned for specific information. Chapters such as What is a Heart Attack; How a Heart Attack is Treated; Coronary Artery Surgery; Heart Attack Early Warning Signs, You Key to Survival; How to Recognize and Respond to the Early Warning Signs of a Stroke or "Brain Attack"; Brain Hemorrhage Strokes; and the list goes on. Many chapters are only three pages long making the information easy to get at and not overwhelming. "Doctor speak" is kept to a minimum and definitions and illustrations are provided.

If coronary artery disease runs in your family you must check this book out. Ask you library to buy it.

Peace and good luck.

Rose Wilder is the daughter of Laura Ingalles Wilder. Since of the Harsh droughts in South Dakota the family desides to move to Missouri, or the Land of the Bigh Red apples. Crossing the long and lonesome PRAIRE the make it to Missouri and face the hardships of starting a new life. Building all sorts of things this family struggles to make the best living ever. This book is a great one, and is good for everyone. Just buy all the LITTLE HOUSE series and never put one down! =)

This book was so exciting and easy to read. I loved the pictures which are done just like in Laura's books. I liked this book even better than Rose #1.

Rose and her family move to there new house. There Rose helps clean the house , get the hens in the new henhouse, put brown clay into the log house coners intill Papa says Rose is as dirty as mud fence after a rain. Then Rose gets a Rabbit for supper and then the whole family has a barn raising .

It's 1898 and Gwen Barlow's mother, Lillian, has just inherited her brother Eli Willoughby's showboat, the Jubilee Palace. Lillian, Gwen and Gwen's younger brother Preston, leave Ohio for the Mississippi River to live on and run the showboat. Once they arrive, they find out that many called it Eli's Folly. It is best described as a "wedding cake with a pilot house."

Marianne Dresden, Dickey Squires, Anabel Whitedove, Sir Clyde Peacock, and Jason DeVane live on the showboat and are in the show Belle of the Ozarks. Gwen is unsure of what role Travis Veazey plays in the workings of the showboat. His appearance shows he has an aversion to soap and barber shops. He also lives on the showboat. Phineas Johnson, his wife Peaches, and their daughter Danita also live on the showboat as the hired help. The Barlows quickly find out that no one has been paid for a couple of months.

After they arrive, they find out that the showboat is not allowed to leave Hickory Bend until Eli's murder is solved. They also find out that Eli left debts around town. Gwen and Preston begin meeting with his creditors but soon find out that Eli wasn't well liked.

Gwen begins looking into solving her uncle's murder to help get the showboat on its way and making money to begin paying everyone.

This is a terrific story. Usually I don't like stories set back in time, but this one is a great exception. The characters and setting are so well written. I found it difficult to put the book down. I wanted to find out who did it and why. It is a very well written story with enough twists and turns that you don't figure it out ahead of time.

I highly recommend this book and look forward to more in this series!

Stagestruck is a clever turn-of-the-century cozy mystery. Readers will enjoy details of life aboard a showboat. There are enough quirky characters among the actors and musicians to keep the reader guessing, and a second murder which was a complete surprise. I hope this continues as a series. The heroine, Gwen, is bright and practical, a woman who must step out of typical Victorian morals to get the job done and solve the crime.

In 1898 Apple Creek, Ohio, Lillian Barlow learns that her brother Eli died in a freak accident on his showboat, the Jubilee Palace. Eli's lawyer informs Lillian that she inherited the showboat. The showboat is deep in debt. Still Lillian persuades her reluctant adult children, college librarian Gwen Barlow and hard good store worker Preston, that they need to move to Hickory Bend, Missouri to manage the boat.

In Hickory Bend, Gwen ends up taking charge of the showboat as her mother cannot handle anything negative and her brother is Stagestruck with one of the performers. Gwen quickly realizes that several people had the motive to murder Eli as she agrees with the constable that a homicide occurred. Gwen wonders if one of the performers, the workers, the townsfolk, or the handsome captain she just hired to run "Eli's Folly" killed her uncle.

Readers will enjoy this engaging historical amateur sleuth tale that emphasizes the Mississippi River at the end of the nineteenth century. The who-done-it is cleverly worked to the pleasure of mystery readers. The strong characters whether the troupe or the townsfolk are a delight especially the embattled Gwen. However, STAGESTRUCK is a winner due to Cynthia Thomason making 1898 Missouri seems vividly alive.

Harriet Klausner

I was first introduced to the 1960's version in a local flora class as a major requirement. Used as the 'bible' in our plant class, we learned how to key any native plant in the state of Missouri. As soon as I learned that the book was being reissued in two volumes, I immediately went out and bought the first volume. I'm anxiously awaiting the second to be released so I can add that to my collection as well. This a must have book for anyone who is interested in the plants of this area or students of botany.

I was first introduced to the 1960's version in a local flora class as a major requirement. Used as the 'bible' in our plant class, we learned how to key any native plant in the state of Missouri. As soon as I learned that the book was being reissued in two volumes, I immediately went out and bought the first volume. I'm anxiously awaiting the second to be released so I can add that to my collection as well. This a must have book for anyone who is interested in the plants of this area or students of botany.

Volume One covers ferns, fern allies, conifers and the monocots; that is grasses, sedges, rushes, lilies, orchids, spiderworts, yuccas, irises and the like. This text is the first in a series of what will likely be the most comprehensive treatment of a flora in the Central United States. This first volume boasts 194 full-page plates of brand-new black and white illustrations for nearly all the species. There are distribution maps along with the text. One major improvement is that the family and genus descriptions are longer and more detailed than in Julian A. Steyermark's original flora. Introductory chapters provide in-depth, well-researched information on the history of floristic botany, geography, geology, climate and vegetation of Missouri. If you are a naturalist and you frequent Missouri or any of the eight states touching its borders you will find this large, inexpensive volume a MUST for your explorations.

Harte's book has a unique structure for a cookbook: The collected columns take up the front half of the book and the recipes are then found in the back half. Each column ends by refering to one or more recipes by name and page number, and the columns are so inviting that each time I finished one I immediately flipped to the associated recipes (even the twinkie recipes, and I hate twinkies).

Lots of the recipes are very appealing, and they'll probably pull you toward the kitchen whether you're an experienced cook or not. Want to know how to make a REAL Danish? Harte will tell you how -- and then will offer a much easier version, in case you want a dessert with a lot of the same appeal but aren't feeling ambitious enough to tackle the real thing. (I've GOT to try the cheese blinz casserole at the earliest opportunity! And I'm definitely going to make his sushi salad, which is much less intimidating than trying to make actual sushi.) It's clear where Harte's own preferences lie: there are a few recipes for soups, for example, a few more for salads -- and a LOT for desserts! His story about judging a pie eating contest made me laugh out loud.

It's obvious that plenty of research has gone into each column -- the author clearly has a taste for history (and a certain low talent for punning is also evident). This book reminds me of "The Man Who Ate Everything," by Jeffrey Steingarten, only the essays are shorter and there are a whole lot more recipes.

Rachel

A delightful collection of curious food facts and history backed by delicious recipes from a first-class chef. The short stories contain fascinating facts about the origins of many foods and their historical presence, peppered by Harte's spontaneous humor and many personal experiences. Each narrative is brought to life by one or more heavenly recipes created or adapted (and some even beautifully photographed) by the author. Even if you don't get to replicate his delicious dishes anytime soon (real hard to resist, though), the culinary facts he researched and compiled will make you look at some foods in a different way and keep you entertained for long, satisfying hours.

I thoroughly enjoyed this wonderful collection of articles, recipes, and photographs. An entertaining book to read as well as an indispensable source of unique recipes that will surely become family traditions.

Rose O'Neill writes with the flourish and flurry of a legion of Kewpies in full cute mode, but there is charm and a wealth of information to be found in this delightful little book that opens a window onto the world of one of America's most underated artists, creator of a cultural icon, and an icon herself, the fabled Rose of Washington Square! While men still grumble that "Women can't draw comics", Rose O'Neill was beating the boys at their own game with her unique mixture of beauty, grace, wit, unbelievable raw talent and an abundance of charm matched only by her personal generosity. I came away from this book with the feeling that I had met someone I genuinely liked, aware of her own beauty (but not even remotely vain because there doesn't appear to have been an overassesment of her looks. She was a stunner.) Her tales of life in the Ozarks are particularly interesting and the only thing regrettable about this book is that it was too short. I would have relished more details about her marriage to pioneer filmaker Gray Latham and it could have used an afterword that gave more detail about the end of her life. Highly recommended for those seeking a glimpse into the rarely seen life of women cartoonists, artists, and the Belle Epoque.

While this book is not a great literary work, it is a wonderful resource for the Rose O'Neill enthusiast. I found it to be the most comprehensive record of Rose O'Neill's life I have read to date. In her own words, Rose describes her upbringing in an extremely unconventional household by a mother and father, both well-read and educated, with a mutual interest in the arts. Her father wanted to make an "experiment" of her regarding her education and along with reading classic literature, listening to Irish stories of fairies and little people, he always provided her with sharp pencils and plenty of paper on which to draw.

Extensive information is provided on Rose's life including her first trip from New York to the family's new home at Bonniebrook, in the Ozark Mountains of Missouri, her marriages and her struggles to make the first Kewpie dolls.

After reading this book it is easy to understand why Rose became the woman and artist that she was. It covers her formative years, beginning her career as an illustrator at a very early age, to her novels, poetry, sculpture, and serious art.

Rose O'Neill was a household name in her long lasting hey-day, yet somehow managed to die in an obscure part of the Ozarks,alone and forgotten. A brilliant draughtsman,portraitist and humorist ,it was O'Neill's sad paradoxical fate to be known for her Kewpie creations as well as condemned to try and repeat their success over and over. Dr.Brunell's sensitive presentation of O'Neill's own words beautifully reveal the vibrant personality who enchanted the world with her unique personality as well as her artistic gifts.

Since the fall of communism and the iron curtain, the European left wing has had to fall back and regroup. The communist parties in places like France and Italy which had a significant percentage of the vote in years past has fallen to almost negligible levels.

The left wing individuals still, however, feel some obligation to hold beliefs counter to those of the mainstream of their societies. This Mr. Gottfried says that the modern trend in the European left came from picking up the beliefs of the American left. That is, the new European left now supports femenists, multi ethnicity, homosexual rights, all the items viewed here as being politically correct.

There is likewise a strange love/hate relationship between the European left and America. When Bill Clinton was in office, and making war in the Balkans we were held with affection. It isn't the same with Bush and the war in Iraq.

This is an interesting book. You can be sure that the European left would be highly adverse to admitting that any of their philosophy came from across the Atlantic. But birds of a feather....

If you are like me and had enough of the PC police state, in your face alternative `life-styles', suicidal immigration policies, and enforced multiculturalism then this book is for you. It's a jewel.

Paul Edward Gottfried gets down to the essentials and stays there. Exposing throughout the book the amazing nonsense and word juggling of the Frankfurt School, the pathetic twists and turns of post WWII communist parties as they try to stay in the saddle, and the rest of the social catastrophe we call the 21st century.

Read together with Kevin McDonald's Culture of Critique, you'll have a pretty accurate picture of what's going on in your own backyard.

_The Strange Death of Marxism: The European Left in the New Millennium_ by Paul Gottfried is an account of the rise of a new European politically correct left from the ashes of Marxism. Unlike the Marxism of the past, which focused primarily on history as the culmination of a dialectical process and emphasized the struggle of the working class proletariat against the capitalist class bourgeoisie, modern day politically correct leftism has turned towards the cultural elite as the dynamo for revolution. Indeed, as Gottfried notes, the original Marxists did not advocate "alternative lifestyles", feminism, homosexual liberation, or rail against the family as oppressive in the same manner as their modern day leftist usurpers do. Gottfried argues that many of these ideas are not fundamentally European in nature but have been exported from America where they originated. This is contrary to the thesis advanced by others such as Alan Bloom in _The Closing of the American Mind_ that political correctness represents a Germanification of American universities. Against such Germanophobic tendencies of both the post-Marxist left and the neoconservative right, Gottfried maintains that political correctness is an import to Europe and began at the time of the Allied defeat of the Axis powers. In particular, Gottfried traces the rise of the Frankfurt School to the development of the therapeutic state, in which all dissenters are labeled as "potential fascists" and assigned to re-education. Echoing conservative critic Patrick Buchanan, whose book _The Decline of the West_ showed the perils of both unrestricted immigration and cultural Marxism, Gottfried shows how individuals such as Theodore Adorno and Max Horkheimer constructed an "authoritarian personality" type as an explicit rejection of traditional bourgeois Christian values. Others such as Herbert Marcuse and Eric Fromm contributed similar studies rejecting those deemed "regressive" or "insufficiently progressive" as potential fascists. Much of this research was motivated primarily by Jewish intellectuals under the auspices of the American Jewish Committee. Gottfried contrasts this modern cultural Marxism with the more orthodox materialist Marxism in which the working class dynamo is considered as the prime historical motivation. In particular, individuals such as Louis Althusser, although equally motivated by the philosophy of Spinoza, sought a return to this form of Marxist materialism. Gottfried argues that while the post-Marxist left rails against American imperialism and actively supports the Palestinians in the Middle East, that they are fundamentally in favor of an American hegemony provided that it is sufficiently tolerant. In particular, for many on both the left and the right, American democracy is seen as the primary motivating good to be exported to the entire world. Such a belief in American power had its origin in the Allied defeat of the Germans following World War II. In fact, following the Second World War, Germans were assigned to de-nazification camps. Many of those who had been conservative monarchists or nationalists yet opponents of the Nazis were regarded as insufficiently democratic and therefore consigned to the outer darkness of being "potential fascists". This was particularly ironic notes Gottfried because many of those who did the consigning were supporters of a far worse totalitarian regime which had an even greater death toll in the East or were even former fascists themselves. In addition, those who pointed out the many horrors of Allied occupation and the atrocities committed by the Allies during the war, such as the bombing of Dresden or the rape of German women by Soviet soldiers, were equally regarded as pro-fascist. Indeed, in the modern day political debate, any party that is deemed "reactionary" or "fascist" is instantly stifled by the far left. In Europe, many rightist parties have been suppressed or banned because of supposed sympathy for the fascists. While Gottfried admits that many of these parties may have unsavory elements within them, they do represent a part of the political process that involves the questioning of accepted wisdom and the desire to see a revived nationalism. It is disturbing to note the lust of the far left for censorship, particularly as it applies to Europe. However, Gottfried makes the point that America is equally slipping towards the left despite the apparent tendency to turn right following the so-called Reagan revolution. Indeed, Gottfried argues that the "Reagan revolution" was nothing of the sort and that Americans continue to drift in a sea of immorality and nihilism propped up by the far left. Gottfried also considers Italian communists such as Antonio Gramsci, who may have first originated the idea of the culture clash. In addition, Gottfried discusses the exploits of Jurgen Habermas, a profoundly anti-German German communist sympathizer, who has argued for banning other historians including Ernst Nolte. Indeed, those who bring up the atrocities of the communists under Stalin and others are regarded as being potential fascist sympathizers by much of the far left. This was particularly the case regarding the recent publication of the book _The Black Book of Communism_ which showed the terrors inflicted upon the world by this horrendous ideology. Gottfried considers it useful to regard the modern day post-Marxist left as a form of political religion, echoing the categories of conservative philosopher Eric Voegelin. Voegelin believed that many political philosophies constituted resuscitations of earlier Christian Gnostic heresies. Oddly, perhaps the last hope of the cultural conservatives in the coming era is turning towards the working class as a source for traditional values. As others such as Christopher Lasch have shown, the working class may frequently support socialist economics, however they are fundamentally culturally conservative. This may offer a useful opportunity for the right in regaining ground stolen from it by the pernicious influence of a post-Marxist left guiding a managerial therapeutic state actively persecuting all dissenters.