Columbia Books

Professor Swainger has written an excellent book on the Canadian department of justice.

"The federal Department of Justice was established by John A. Macdonald as part of the Conservative party's program for reform of the parliamentary system following Confederation. Among other things, it was charged with establishing national institutions such as the Supreme Court and the North West Mounted Police and with centralizing the penitentiary system. In the process, the department took on a position of primary importnace in the post-Confederation politics. This was particularly so up to 1878, when the Confederation was "completed".

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. An Apolitical Advisor: The fiction of the Attorney General

3. The Department of Justice and the Business of Governance

4. Advisors to the Crown and the Prerogative of Mercy

5. Canadian Penitentiaries and the Rhetoric of Nation, Centralization, and Reform

6. The Department of Justice and Judiciary

7. Conculsion

An valuable edition to one's library

Professor Swainger has written an excellent book on the creation of the Canadian department of Justice.

"The federal Department of Justice was established by John A. Macdonald as part of the Conservative party's program for reform of the parliamentary system following Confederation. Among other things, it was charged with establishing national institutions such as the Supreme Court and the North West Mounted Police and with centralizing the penitentiary system. In the process, the department took on a position of primary importance in post-Confederation politics. This was particulary so up to 1878, when Confederation was 'completed'".

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. A Apolitcal Advisor: The Fiction of the Attorney General

3. The Department of Justice and the Business of Governance

4. Advisors to the Crown and the Prerogative of Mercy

5. Canadian Penitentaries and the Rhetoric of Nation, Centralization, and Reform

6. The Canadian Department of Justice and the Judiciary

Dr. Swainger's book is of value to those interested in Canadian politics and the administration of justice.

This is an academic book about the accumulated scientific knowledge on the large Amazon catfishes. The book ranges from highly technical notes of how populations are surveyed to a list of all the different species in the region and their characteristics.

The very interesting fact is the migratory patterns of the different species along different rivers. The general pattern is to reproduce in headwaters, then they travel to the estuary region where they grow and then migrate back to headwaters to feed, grow more (ever larger, 200 pounds or more) and finally reproduce. The study reflects part of the concern over large hydroelectric dams that could interrupt this cycle.

I recommend this book for anyone interested in the finer aspects of Amazon conservation. Though academic, it is readable for the novice as well.

This is a very slim book for the price, but it is packed with data and insight gained over years of research into the natural history of the large predatory catfish in the Amazon basin. This is frontier fisheries biology. Some of the discoveries revealed in this book say as much about the Amazon as it does about the fish themselves.

I would have preferred that they had eschewed the use of the local common names in favor of the scientific names as it can be confusing. For example when they refer to Sorubim, they don't mean Sorubim lima nor do they mean Sorubimichthys planiceps or even Hemisorubim platyrhynchus. They are referring to what American aquarists call the Tiger Shovelnose: Pseudoplatystoma fasciatum. There is a chapter covering the names and information about each fish to help out when such confusion arises. The chapter includes some great photographs of some of the largest specimens compared to the size of people, but it is unfortunate that all the photos are in black and white. It would have been particularly nice to have had color photos of the specimens of Merodontodus tigrinus and Brachyplatystoma juruense shown in the black and white photos.

One of the surprising revelations in this book is that while these catfish eat just about anything that moves, they seem to have a preference for Prochilodins. It seems that there are other very similar prey items (such as Leporinus spp.) that would serve just as well as Prochilodins.

This book would have been very helpful to me when I was majoring in fisheries biology and was primarily interested in aquaculture and viewing with disdain the put-and-take approach to fisheries required of the local government to maintain fishing sites for the "sportsmen". I'd have been much more interested in the wildlife aspect of the discipline if I'd had this book.

Overall this was an incredibly fascinating book for the little gems of knowledge that are revealed by the data that the authors collected.

Celebrate!: Connections Among Cultures by Jan Reynolds is a superbly illustrated descriptive survey of diverse cultures around the world, and the similarities many of them share. Carrying young readers ages 5 to 9 through an outstanding collection of photographs combined with a "kid friendly" text, Celebrate! offers an intriguing look into the celebrations of such different people and cultures as those of the Australian Outback, Bali, the Amazon basin of South America, the tropical islands of Indonesia in South Asia, and so many more. An important contribution to school and community library "Other Lands, Other People" reference collections for children, Celebrate! is very strongly recommended for anthropological compendium of facts for elementary school level social studies and world culture curriculum supplemental reading lists.

Through photographs and well-designed text placement, Jan Reynolds demonstrates the common ways we celebrate. We gather together, we eat and drink, we play music, we dance, we use fire!

Children will recognize themselves dressed-up in Halloween costumes then admire the Inuit boy in a real wolf skin and the Sami girl in beautiful reindeer hide shoes. They will appreciate a view of a familiar birthday cake decorated with candles and then, connect the use of fire to burn a ceremonial mandala painting in a Tibetan celebration.

Reynolds examines Tibetans and Sherpas from the Himalaya, Aborigines in Australia, the Yanomami from the Amazon rain forest, the Balinese, the Tuareg of the Sahara, the Sami who live above the Artic Circle, and the Inuit! A well-designed map helps place these cultures on the globe. Her photographs are rich with color and life.

I usually do not like books that scream, "Buy me because I am multicultural!" as so often, they are preachy-teachy. Celebrate is just a terrific book and it rejoices in how similar the people of this planet are.

If you love beaches and barrier islands-this book is a must have!!! I have spent many days on the beaches of North Carolina and beaches around the world and this book was an absolute pleasure to read.

I have been in love with the North Carolina barrier islands since I was a lad and this is a dream book. Beautiful images and a truly scientifically rigorous text by Orrin Pilkey, academic doyen of beach erosion and barrier islands, makes for a wonderful read about these hauntingly beautiful features. I found the accounts of barrier islands elsewhere in the world to be even more fascinating than the ones I am familiar with on the US East coast. Mary Edna Fraser's batiks really add to the book to make this into a wonderful mix of science and art.

Celtic Myth And Arthurian Romance by Arthurian scholar Roger Loomis is a fascinating, persuasive, documented argument for the theory that the King Arthur of history was not an Englishman, but rather a Celtic warrior. Carefully annotated and researched chapters draw connections between the Camelot legend and Celtic lore, and bring to life a new side of the debate about who King Arthur truly was. An exciting and original analysis of one of history's most beloved eras and leaders, Celtic Myth And Arthurian Romance is a welcome and highly recommended addition to Arthurian studies reading lists and academic reference collections.

For anyone who's ever been fascinated by the tales of Arthur and his Knights of the Round Table, here's a book that puts it all in the fascinating context of Celtic mythology. The stock elements of Arthurian legend--the enchanted castles, the abducted princesses, the contests with mysterious knights--are revealed to have a coherent esoteric meaning.As Loomis writes, to understand the relationship between the familiar tales of Camelot and the wilder Irish myths "is to open suddenly the mountainsides into the glittering palaces of the Sidhe"--the home of the Celtic gods.

The brilliance of Roger Loomis--who wrote in the 1920s--is that while he draws the same kind of fascinating connections as Robert Graves, Loomis does so through careful argument and documentation. His work should inform any serious discussion of the origins of the Arthurian tales and the meaning of the Holy Grail.

This book is simply outstanding, the most perceptive analysis I have read to date concerning the significance of Central Asia to geopolitical games in the 21st Century. It's not cheap. (I had my university library buy a copy so that I could read it.) It's not a fast read, there's a lot of detail on each of the 370 pages. But don't worry, you certainly get what you pay for. It is quite simply the best survey of contemporary Central Asian political dynamics that I have read to date. Müllerson's goes inside the Central Asian mind and soul, as well as outside to the explore the motivations of various state and non-state actors in the drama surrounding what Mackinder called the "pivot point" of the Eurasian landmass.

Unlike some commentators who may indulge in emotionalism, name-calling, or blame-gaming, Mullerson takes a cool, calm and penetrating look at the ways Central Asians view their role in world affairs, and how other countries treat Central Asia. This book is deeply personal, filled with anecdotes and humane observations based on personal experience. No doubt his biography has made Müllerson uniquely qualified as a political analyst. Today, he is Professor and Chair of International Law at King's College, London (where he directs the MA Programme on International Peace and Security). Yet this is a book with heart. Müllerson understands the difficulties former Soviet republics have faced in adapting to change following the collapse of Communism. In 1991-92, he was First Deputy Foreign Minister of Estonia. And before that, Müllerson was Head of the International Law Department of the Institute of State and Law of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR and Adviser to President Gorbachev. No wonder he appears to know the Russian mentality more clearly than any American author I have read. (He may also understand the Chinese, as the first review I found on Google of this book was by Sienho Yee, in The Chinese Journal of International Law). Finally, he understands the concerns of the international community and NGOs. For, Müllerson spent 2004 as UN Regional Adviser for Central Asia, and his published works include International Law: Rights and Politics (Routledge, 1994); Human Rights Diplomacy (Routledge, 1997) and Ordering Anarchy: International Law in International Society (Kluwer Law International, 2000). Quite simply, there is no better guide to explore this landscape with than Müllerson.

Central Asia-A Chessboard and Player in the New Great Game is written in deeply personal tone, sometimes reading like diary entries, sometimes like an academic monograph, sometimes like a legal brief. His goal is to contextualize developments by providing explanatory background. Mullerson tries to describe, rather than prescribe. He relates Central Asian reality to the wider context of world politics. In this way, he tries to present alternative perspectives on such issues as:Difficulties of democratization of Central Asian societies;The role and place of religion, especially Islam, in Central Asia;Threats of religiously based or motivated terrorism;American-Russian, American-Chinese and Chinese-Russian rivalries and cooperation in the region.

Müllerson takes Central Asia as a microcosm of post-Soviet international relations, explicating tendencies that have to date stood in the way of the peaceful and harmonious world predicted by pundits such as Francis Fukuyama or Thomas Friedman. Lord Curzon once famously recommended that one should be neither a Russophile nor a Russophobe, but a realist about Russia. One might say that in this book, Müllerson has taken Curzon's advice to heart and presented a realistic and heartfelt guide to the issues at stake today along the Great Silk Road.

This book is a must-read for anyone who thinks seriously about Central Asia. Ask your library to buy a copy today...

This book gives great overview and knowledge about the political and economics relations in Central Asia and help understand how far/close the religion is to governments decisions. Book introduced history of the area and legacies of several different political structures. I learnt that author approach is eclectic , functional and accuracy is noteworthy. It is a good reading for people who interesting in economic, politic , terrorism , human rights and even philosophy.

This edited book is an excellent addition to any collection of works concerning cities in the electronic age. Each chapter covers topics that provide insight and new ways of examining our ever changing urban environment. The references cited also provide a springboard for further readings on each topic.

This book is excellent reading for both the layperson and the academician.

I have not finished this book quite yet but felt it deserved a quick note to give everyone a "head-up"! If you read any one book today for an insight into where technology is taking us - THIS IS THE ONE! It ties the internet and telecom together and explains in very studied ways where we were 10 or 15 years ago, where we are today, and where we are headed. Technology changes daily, so this book may become somewhat dated quickly, but it will be easy to update.

This is a very readable and extensively researched look at the trees of Washington D.C. It's an excellent field guide for identifying trees, but the thing I like most about it is that it tells the fascinating stories behind so many of the trees planted in D.C. If you live near D.C. and have even a mild interest in its history, I strongly recommend this book!

I originally bought Melanie Choukas-Bradley's CITY OF TREES in its hardcover coffee-table edition and have followed its evolution since. As a Washingtonian of some thirty years' standing, I was originally unaware that this beautiful city was ever known as the City of Trees, but now that I've read Melanie's book, I've looked at the city through different eyes. Though the cherry blossoms are the best-known trees of the city, there's so much more, from the sights in every neighborhood through the rich diversity of our parks. DC is a beautiful city, and there's not nearly enough in print to show and share that beauty. Get this book.

These were perfect in every way for touring Wash DC. Gave all info for everything & how to get there anyway

These cards provide an excellent way to get out and explore the nation's capital city. Having studied DC's architecture and as a resident of DC (going on my fifth year in the city), I must say these cards are a great way to learn more about the city and its neighborhoods. I have used these cards to take students on a architectural tour of the capital and found them to be well-done, convenient and pretty comprehensive. Definitely a way to make a tourist's self-guided tour more interesting (and prevent them from getting lost, too).

If you are interested in the environment which generated the powerful West Coast Native art, the artist, Emily Carr, conjures it up in this original book. Her travels to their coastal villages are translated into these atmospheric essays.

this book by Emily Carr gives a very wonderful and descriptive account of the Pacific Northwest along British Columbia's shores. Emily Carr was a very unique woman who defied her times in her interactions with Native Peoples and her adventurous independance. This book details her explorations among the Queen Charlotte Islands. It is so descriptive it makes one feel that they are actually on the west coast.