Columbia Books

Two to Tango is another hilarious book by Peter Guttridge. This series will keep you in stitches while you struggle to solve the mystery. I recommend this series for fans of British mysteries and British humor.

On the Amazon freelance journalist Nick Madrid is on assignment to follow the Rock Against Drugs tour. His friend (just friend skeptics) Bridget has accompanied him though traveling by boat is not one of her favorite transportation choices. Nick's target is a former rock superstar making a major comeback Otis Barnes.

However, Nick can't even go to the bathroom without being mugged, eluding spiders that make Daniels' Arachnophobia look a garden variety type or take a helpful dive amongst hungry piranhas. Nick's cool with that as this is the Amazon norm. Barnes is another story as he has fallen off the drug and alcohol temperance wagon in spite of touring against drugs; he is a nasty drunk and Nick is his punching bag. As they head towards Peru for the last concert, someone tries to kill Barnes. Though much of the touring members and staff have motive to harm the nasty superstar, who would murder him remains a question that Nick plans to resolve before the rocker's final curtain call.

As is the norm when Madrid is on a story, readers will finish in a one sitting six-pack as the hero provides his usual amusing asides to the audience and to the antagonists whether they be a mugger, a kidnapper, a deadly fish, or a boxing druggie rocker. The current story line is humorous as the reporter tries to prevent a culprit from killing "Bad News" Barnes (not the basketball great). Fans of the series will enjoy paddling a alongside Madrid while newcomers will want to read his humorous capers (see NO LAUGHING MATTER and A GHOST OF A CHANCE).

Harriet Klausner

I'm not certain how else to say it except directly: it seems clear that Professor Pederson, author of the editorial review, simply failed to read Disch's book. The book was conceived well before Ventura's victory and written before the election of 2000, and its greatest strength is that it takes PRECISELY the historical view that Prof. Pederson calls for. This is NOT a case study of the TCANP, but an erudite, sophisticated and always approachable study of the practice, theory, and HISTORY of the American party "system." Disch takes her analsysis back to 19th century electoral poltics to show how the practice of fusion thrived and how fusion was outlawed through political maneuvering--not by some sort of historical inevitability. Her critique of the two-party system rests on her analysis of a lengthy history of party scholarship, not a "utopian" leanings or general "dissatisfaction." Pederson's review fails to even describe fusion--the common practice in the late nineteenth century of multiple parties nominating the same candidate--even though fusion is central to Disch's argument. He also fails to mention that Disch's critique of the two-party system centers on her brilliant ability to demonstrate how arbitrary and historically produced--how very much not a "system"--is the current configuration of party politics. Instead, Pederson tells us that the two-party system is a "bedrock" of American democracy. Well, almost every page in Disch's book patiently demonstrates for its readers the falsity of that claim. This book should quite simply be required reading for students of American politics and political theory. It makes a perfect complement to an intro course in either field, while at more advanced levels it contributes to advanced party scholarship and the debates over social constructivism. Moreover, the book should be highly recommended reading not just for folks outside of those fields, but for American citizens generally.

Students of American government (especially undergraduates) usually encounter the two-party system as a given: inevitable, immutable, American-as-apple-pie. This book does an outstanding job of showing how the system we currently have is the product of a series of political choices and circumstances, even beyond the impact of single-member districts and winner-take-all elections most commonly recognized in political science. The book uses the case of electoral fusion as a central focus, but the value of the book is broader than that. It shows, in very scholarly fashion, how the rules, ideology and political culture of our current system was created, and thus destroys the illusion that what we have now is inevitable and eternal. While the book isn't exactly "light" reading (Disch's training as a political theorist is obvious, and it serves the book well), it is very well-written. It will be most accessible to those readers with a bit of political science background.

Professor Cohen (Now a vice-dean at Columbia University) presents a very easy to read and understand framework for interpreting environmental issues. To illustrate this, he applies his framework to a number of cases - toxic spills, the New York garbage crisis and more which underlines the different policy angles from which a specific environmental issue can be viewed. I highly recommend this book to any undergrad studying environmental policy and any graduate student looking to use a specific methodology for research.

College-level students of environmental science will find Understanding Environmental Policy a scholarly, detailed analysis of the structure of such policy development around the world. Cohen uses his background as a director of the Master of Public Administration program in Environmental Science to analyze not just scientific policy development, but its global political ramifications and influences, with chapters surveying policy implementation, political issues, regulation strategy approaches, and much more. Political science students - especially those working on the global scale - will also find it invaluable.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

I have read this diary and could not stop! Imagine being able to ask today's military bosses, such as Colin Powell, what they REALLY think - and get the straight answer? Of course, you would'nt be able to get it. What Gen Bandholtz writes here is how he really feels about things. No punches pulled. Readers 80 or 90 years from now will get to see how Gen Powell feels about things.
This book shows how a man, just doing his job, comes to see injustice and underhandedness from all directions. Gen Bandholtz died a few years after this, but I'll bet his experience in Budapest stuck with him every day.

This is well worth your time and money.

Woodrow Wilson promulgated an idealistic solution for the problems of Central Europe: the right of national self-determination. This apparently simple and self-evidently just doctrine ignored a host of psychological, historical, geographical, and above all, political complexities. Sure enough, in the Versailles peace process following WWI, the major powers and minor players pulled and twisted the doctrine to tatters in order to promote their own interests. Nowhere was the result as geographically dramatic as in the case of Hungary. Harry Hill Bandholtz, the American Allied representative in Budapest during some of the chaotic years between the armistice of 1918 and the Treaty of Trianon of 1921, witnessed the conniving, skullduggery, venality, and sometimes brutality of both his allied "bretheren" and all the local nationalities at first hand. He stood alone, at times, trying to enforce order and justice. Thanks to a stroke of luck that put him at the head of the Allied Commission in the nick of time, he single-handedly saved Budapest from a complete sacking by the Romanian forces who occupied it briefly. His diaries display a straightforward military man of honor who nonetheless relishes the ironies and absurdities of events around him as he struggles to see the right thing done. Not only is it a critical primary source for an obscure but important piece of history, but it is a moving and, at times, screamingly funny read.

If you're a woolf student this book may be useful to have a complete panorama of the critical situation on two of her major books. I used it to have a deeper insight on the two novels, especially on "The Waves" - a book on which critical judgement is not easily found - and found it perfectly responding to the needs of a higher university student.

The book presents the major critical instances on the two works in chronological order, from woolf's contemporaries up to our days. Each chapter deals with a selection of significant reviews, all of which belonging to the same period if not to the same attitude to the works. Moreover each chapter is introduced by a brief text by the curator explaining the main contents of the reviews which are going to follow and the principal critical ideas referring to a period or critical school.

In a few words: this is what you need if you want to get a deeper critical knowledge of "To the Lighthouse" and "The Waves", and to gain it in a quite short time - the book in fact is not too long, can be read quite quickly and if you're interested in getting particular pieces of information can also easily be skimmed through.

If you're a woolf student this book may be useful to have a complete panorama of the critical situation on two of her major books. I used it to have a deeper insight on the two novels, especially on "The Waves" - a book on which critical judgement is not easily found - and found it perfectly responding to the needs of a higher university student.

The book presents the major critical instances on the two works in chronological order, from woolf's contemporaries up to our days. Each chapter deals with a selection of significant reviews, all of which belonging to the same period if not to the same attitude to the works. Moreover each chapter is introduced by a brief text by the curator explaining the main contents of the reviews which are going to follow and the principal critical ideas referring to a period or critical school.

In a few words: this is what you need if you want to get a deeper critical knowledge of "To the Lighthouse" and "The Waves", and to gain it in a quite short time - the book in fact is not too long, can be read quite quickly and if you're interested in getting particular pieces of information can also easily be skimmed through.

Voices of the New Arab Public: Iraq, Al-Jazeera, and Middle East Politics Today boldly reveals that the era of monolithic Arab opinion are over. Examining how Al-Jazeera and other satellite television stations have revolutionized Arab journalism and politics by breaking state control over information, Voices of the New Arab Public particularly focuses upon the Al-Jazeera era in context of the challenges facing modern Iraq. Political science professor Marc Lynch offers a fascinating study of the history, present day, and future of new voices flourishing in the middle east.

'To see ourselves as others see us' (from Robert Burns) is not something that we are usually granted. In today's world Al-Jazeera is presenting us with that opportunity.

The Arab world is for the most part characterised by leadership that is less than ideal. In most Arab countries the news is heavily censored, controled or owned by a state that just wants its own views to be shown. These media had relatively little to tell us as they were simply parroting the governments view. ==In recent years, Al-Jazeera and other smaller satellite based news agencies have begun presenting a relatively unbiased news report that goes around the official government reporting.

This book is first a report on Al-Jazeera and the way it presents the news. Second, it offers a series of suggestions on how the United States can develop and improve its engagement with the Arab public sphere.

This is one of the few books to report on the Arab view, and further to discuss the changes in the information dissemination area. It is a book that deserves reading by anyone interested in developing a realistic view of the conflict that is emerging between the US and the Arab world.

This ia a truly masterful work on a person British Columbians recently selected as their person of the century.

Mitchell has done a top notch job in recounting the life and times of W.A.C., using the medium of a biography to relate the growth and development of a region. This is even more remarkable given the disfavour that biographies of white, male politicians have fallen into in the past few decades as a historical means of recounting the past.

Mitchell relies heavily on personal interviews he conducted with Bennett in the last years of his life, along with those of the many individuals involved with this first Socred regime. The only fault I can personally site with this book is that it might be too sympathetic, a point Mitchell even alludes too!

There is not much that this book misses out on. It starts literally at the beginning with W.A.C.'s start in New Brunswick, the move to Alberta and the starting of the first hradware strore, and then the final move to the Okanagan where Bennett was to become involved in politics, leading a rather obscure existence (with a few failures along the way) before he finally bolted from the coalition government to start Social Credit in the early 1950s - a move which was decidely different than the grassroots movement of Social Credit in Alberta. Social Credit in B.C. would always be a top-down movement.

Regardless, this is an excellent piece of work and does much to shed some light on the political history of a province whose historiography has been woefully inadaquete in this area.

With the ascention of the technocrat Bill Bennett to the premier's office, one may indeed wonder if the age of populism in B.C. and across Canada is over. David Mitchell provides a masterful picture of one of Canada's great politicans; a man in the exclusive company of past politicans like Bill Aberhart, Diefenbaker, Mitch Hepburn, and Joey Smallwood. The difference between Bennett and these others is the amount of success in their political careers. Mitchell also guides readers through the time of expansion, "The Rise of BC," accomplishments that were largly due to the efforts of it's premier. Mitchell states that when Bennett finally passed away in 1978, BC was, for the first time in a quarter of a century, on it's own. He's right. BC has always lacked strong premiers to lead the province since Bennett. The book is a beautiful journey through Bennett's life, his times, and the province he moulded in his image. Anyone wishing to understand BC politics and BC in general need to first understand the man who defined both, and Mitchell does an exceptionally good job of doing so.

Dr Ziegler is the best Professor at Western Washington University bar none. He made Political Science come alive in his class.. His book was also required reading and I can't think of one student who did not read it from cover to cover. After I graduated from Western, I gave the book to my dad to read because of Zieglers great insight. I took two classes from Dr Ziegler even though my major only required one.

Ziegler's book is a very readable, balanced overview of what most people see as the key question in national security -- how to prevent war. I have personally read 3 different editions of this book over the years, because I find it useful to think again about the issue. The primary approach of the book is two-fold. First there are some historical examples of times of crisis in war and peace. Then, using those examples (for which Ziegler can now have confidence in at least part of what the reader knows about them), a wide variety of appraoches to preventing war (military strength, arms control, diplomacy, world government, etc.) are considered in individual chapters. The conclusion I draw from reading this book is that there is no clear way to prevent war, but that there are lots of tools we can bring to bear in ensuring that, if war comes, it was not caused by regretable error (a la the Guns of August). As you can see, I recommend it as both a good read and a comprehensive (if introductory) discussion of the topic.

I used this map recently on a week-long trip to Washington, and I found it to be incredibly helpful. Being able to see nearby restaurants and shops right on the map without having to pull out a guidebook was so convenient. Short of a handheld, interactive GPS with Internet access, this is the most helpful pocket-sized resource for sightseeing and navigating around I have ever used. And it's made of a rip-resistant thick paper, so it'll stand up to multiple trips. Highly recommended!

MapEasy Guides are wonderful whether you are traveling to Washington, D.C. or living there. From the best known attractions to delightfully obscure places this map guide gives all users the best there is to offer of the area. Even as a many-year resident of the area MapEasy has guided me, my family and friends to new and interesting places!

We visited Washington DC a few years back and found it rather complicated getting to all the places we wished to see. I am looking forward to another trip with this book in hand to navigate the sights as well as restaurants as it seems to be very straight forward and easy to understand.

Simple, easy reading! If we wanted information about something/anything in the area, it was so easy to find. More than enough information was given in a way that was easy to understand, but yet very informative. I think the authors must enjoy most of the things we like, because their comments and thoughts on places that we went to, were exactly what we thought too. Once we realized that they thought the same way we did, it was easier to decide whether to visit or eat at the places that they suggested.
I would recommend buying this book if you are going to Washington D.C. - it really will make your stay a LOT easy because there is so much to see and you can not see it all. I am positive that it helped us have a fun trip. Thanks again!
Washington D.C. and Northern Virginia: Great Destinations: A Complete Guide (Great Destinations)