Missouri Books

This book is a must-have gem. I've been acquainted with Kansas City, my mother's hometown, all my life, and never had any idea of the richness and diversity the city has to offer. This book is an extensively (one could even say obsessively) researched tool that has chapters on every conceivable topic, from the outdoors to religious organizations to fine cuisine. Volunteer opportunities and other ways to really engage in the community abound. Connect with Kansas City is a truly unique resource that will improve your experience in Kansas City whether you are a first time visitor, an infrequent visitor (like myself) or a lifetime resident. The author's insights about the value of "social capital" were clearly a guiding force in both the conception and the implementation of the book. Worth its weight in gold!

Order this book now! It is full of things to do and ways to engage in our community. Sandy James makes it easy for us to enjoy Kansas City and all our community provides. A must read for anyone new to our city but also for those of us who have been here for awhile and need some fresh ideas.

A Wonderful Book! :-) Has alot of Colorful Photo's Showing each of the Artists Wonderful Talent, Layed Out on Each Cow.

This picture book contains wonderful, colorful photographs of each & every cow on display in the Kansas City Cow Parade 2001. It's no substitute for seeing the cows in person, but it is useful as an orientation before visiting the cows, a post-visit reminder of the cows, or an opportunity for folks who can't make it to KC to see how delightful the KC Cow Parade is. The book is organized by location -- cows in the Plaza area are grouped together, cows in the Crown Center area are grouped together, cows at the KC Star building are grouped together, and so on -- so you know exactly what to expect before you venture off to see the cows.

If you've never seen a Cow Parade -- artists/sponsors are provided with a standard model bovine to decorate as they see fit. Some of the models are simply painted -- designer Michael Graves painted a "Light Blue" cow with reddish flowers with Target-logo bullseye centers; there are cows painted with large florals, there's a "Teal". Others are wonderfully ornate, like the "Moo-maid" mermaid cow in a fountain in Crown Center.

Many of the cows involve Kansas City themes -- like jazz ("Jazzy Cow", "Jazz Moosik" -- with saxophone horns, "Cownt Basie", "Charlie Parcow", "Jazzily Blue"); the Wizard of Oz ("Yellow Brick Roadie","Dorothy", "Tin Cow . . . from the Wizard of Ox", the "Cowardly Cow", and "ScareCow" -- the Cowardly Cow looks just like Bert Lahr, jowls & all). There are barbecue theme cows ("Barbecue Bull", "Mixed Plate Blue"), Liberty Memorial (the only active WWI memorial in the country) cows ("Liberty Moo-Morial Monument")and other KC-specific cows ("Shuttle Cow" -- a takeoff on the shuttlecocks sculpture on the art gallery lawn). Some are just plain fun -- like "Cow-Moo-Flage", which features a standard holdstein with a chicken cox & comb, tail , wings, & feet attached, and "Cowntertop", a cow covered in samples of laminate, with a sink in her back, "Moo-lyn Monroe", "Cowzilla", "Cowlvador Dali," "Cowculus." My personal favorite of the show -- "Buttons & Bovines", featuring a cow covered in buttons.

Kansas City hosts a wealth of creativity and artistic talent. We're home to Hallmark -- many talented Hallmark artists show their skills in the Cow Parade. Cows designed by other local artists are also wonderful & clever. This is a great book -- a book you'll want to again & again as you marvel at the cleverness of the talented designers who converted plain cow models into intriguing works of art.

I picked up "Dear Hope ... Love, Grandma" because it was so beautiful with a photo of Grandma as a child on the dust cover. I sat in the bookstore and read it cover to cover before buying it. The book is non-fiction. Grandma Hilda and Hope are real people. Each chapter is a story. I couldn't put it down.

"Dear Hope ... Love, Grandma" makes you realize the possibilities of grandmother-granddaughter relationships. Nine-year-old Hope and her grandma write from their hearts. Through their letters, Grandma tells Hope the story of her life. Grandma Hilda was the youngest of five children. Her mother was an immigrant Jewish widow who barely spoke English, yet she managed to impart to all of her children a love of family, loyalty to one another, a love of God, and a healthy dose of humor to see them through the hard times ahead.

Grandma Hilda writes affectingly. She never talks down to Hope and hence not to us either. This is a small gem from an obscure publisher that deserves our attention. It is cautionary tale as well. If we do not save our family stories, our elderly relatives will take them to their graves, and we will lose untold treasures. We doubtless already have.

There is much to be learned from this beautiful volume. I highly recommend it to grandchildren and grandparents alike. What a treasure for you to share together.

This is one of the most moving books I have ever read ... because it's true. Grandma Hilda is the grandmother we all wish we had had. She's warm, she's loving, she's kind, she's funny, she's generous, and above all, she's real.

Through her letters to her granddaughter Hope, Grandma Hilda tells the story of her life. Born in 1902 in the Jewish ghetto of St. Louis, Hilda was the youngest of 5 surviving children. Her father died when she was 2. She was raised by her mother who barely spoke Engish, and yet her mother managed to convey to her children her values of love of family, love of God, honesty, loyalty, devotion, and a liberal dose of humor to wash it all down.

Above all, this book is a cautionary tale to save our family stories before it's too late. If Hope had not cared enough to write to her Grandma, these wonderful stories would have gone with Grandma Hilda to her grave. How many family stories could be saved if we all took the time to do what little 7-year-old Hope did? After I read this book, I followed Hope's example. Now my own mother is dead and just like Hope, I have her stories.

Bravo DEAR HOPE ... LOVE, GRANDMA! Everyone needs to read this book.

.......WE BOUGHT THE BOOK FOR OUR DAUGHTER WHO IS STUDYING..... ...LAW.....AND SHE FOUND IT ...WELL MARKED...AND INDEX ....SHE WAS VERY HAPPY...........WE RECEIVE IT ON TIME FOR REPORT SHE IS SUPPOST TO GIVE ON THE 14 OF MARCH.....THANK YOU TO THE SELLER......

Excellent text. Should be required reading of all law students. Packed with insightful essays from prominent scholars and practicioners in the field of dispute resolution. One of the most painless law books I have read so far.

I'm a huge admirer of Jean Carnahan. What a woman! She stepped out of the "shadows" into the light at the worst time of her life and we are all the richer for it. She states immediately that this book isn't a sad one. No, it isn't, but that doesn't mean that I didn't shed a few tears while reading it. She has a wonderful gift for storytelling and I found myself laughing out loud many, many times. Most of all, I'm uplifted by her strength and courage. Her life is proof that, no matter your age, life can begin again after devastating tragedies and triumph. You go, girl! I highly recommend this book.

outstanding book by a phenomenal writer and storyteller. recommended to anyone looking for inspiration by someone who has overcome the most terrible tragedy.

EAST OF THE ARCH is the third installment in the Joe Keough detective series from master story teller Robert J Randisi. Considering moving on in his career, Joe's mind is changed when he is loaned out by his boss, the mayor of St. Louis, to investigate a serial killing spree that is occuring there. Keough has assigned to him a "task force" consisting of a young Mark Twain quoting dective, Marc Jeter( who I would like to see teamed up with Keough again) and their "girl Friday" Jenny Sykes. The three begin the investigation of a serial killer who is killing pregnant women. Also showing up from Joe's past is Valerie Speck and the boy Brady who were involve in Keough's first case in St. Louis and the IA detectives Mason & Gail who are still out to get Keough any way they can. Add a seperate murder to the mix and once again Randisi weaves a first rate mystery. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND EAST OF THE ARCH and hope there are many more Randisi Joe Keough books coming out.

Detective Joe Keough is a St. Louis Detective who is the mayor's "top cop" which means he is little more than a bodyguard. He misses working in the field. Joe is actually thinking of leaving and moving on to someplace where he can do some actual police work when the mayor of East St. Louis in Illinois asks the mayor of St. Louis to loan him a police officer who has had experience in apprehending serial killers.

Joe is the logical choice and he jumps at the chance to find out who is killing pregnant women and ripping out their fetuses. When Joe sets up his new office there are two such killings and he knows it is only a matter of time before there is a third. He is paired off with police officer Marc Jeeter, an idealistic man who badly wants catch this maniac and put him and put him in a cage but that won't be an easy take because there are political forces at work with a different agenda.

Robert J. Randisi is an author who knows how to write an excellent police procedural. He shows a step-by-step investigation in progress and the reader gets so caught up in it that he can't put the book down until he learns how it all turns out. Part of the book is told by the viewpoint of the villain. This is exciting and horrifying at the same time. EAST OF THE ARCH is a fantastic installment in this long running series.

Harriet Klausner

I have not yet read this book. However, Dr. Petrakis is a professor of mine. Based upon his keen intellect, wit, and encyclopedic knowledge, I predict this to be an excellent book.

"Voegelin's lifelong meditation on transcendence...led him to search repeatedly and consistently for appropriate symbolizations that provide an understanding of the ground of being without resorting to rigid and dangerous concretizations...We have called that a search for foundations without foundationalism." What this means is that the influential mid 20th-century philosopher Eric Voegelin searched for ways to stay in touch with the spiritual, historical, and existential fundamentals giving life substance, meaning, and direction without resorting to the extremes of dogma or totalitarianism. By his own experiences as an emigre from Europe threatened by Nazism and his philosophical interests growing out of them, he had a unique, and fertile, understanding of modernism's yearning for new, enriching dimensions of spirituality and for reliable, meaningful stability behind the era's new forms of politics such as Nazism and Communism and the delusions and conceits of modern individuals. Voegelin makes trenchant criticisms of these and other radical, misguided modernist creeds and styles. Gnosticism as arising in the modern era is one aberrant attempt to gain heightened spirituality he criticized especially. A philosopher, not a political scientist or social critic, Voegelin only rarely refers directly to specific errors and evils of modern culture. But one familiar with the contests of the modern world continuing into this day understands those which his work grapples with. The editors, both with Louisiana universities, collect five articles relating Voegelin's voluminous writings with other major late 19th-century and 20th-century philosophers and thinkers. The names Nietzsche, Ricoeur, Deleuze, and Husserl crop up in different essays. Classical sources of Voegelin's extensive works based on a few simple precepts are also discussed. The essays are rounded out with introductory and closing sections by the editors which provide biographical information on Voegelin and put the project of the book into perspective. The collected academic philosophical articles demonstrate the continuing relevance of Voegelin's thinking on the main, though often elusive, issues of modern culture, politics, and individual lives while also serving as an introduction to this philosopher whose influence continues to grow.

James Gaither truly has "gifted" readers by presenting some of Charles Fillmore's collected writings. A true mystic, Charles Fillmore wrote from his own experiences, which gives powerful effect to his words. Some of his ideas are beyond current scientific discoveries. But he believed in the unity of science and the spiritual. Some of his personal practices may not be what readers accept for themselves, but Fillmore did not judge others.

As to Fillmore's teachings on Jesus' true continuing purposes and on the indwelling Holy Spirit, those teachings make tremendous sense to me. Read the book and be amazed. One of Fillmore's major resources was his dreams:

" . . I watched my dreams closely and found that there was a wider intelligence manifesting in my sleep than I seemed to possess in the waking state, and it flashed over me one day that this was the mode of communication that had been established in response to my desire from Headquarters. This has been kept up ever since with growing interest on my part, and I could fill a large book with my [dream] experiences." (p. 37)Living Dreams, Living Life

This book is inspirational in that you learn / understand that one's own destiny (the kingdom of heaven) lies within and not without. It is an excellent overview of the major topics that Fillmore wrote in his time and his philosophy can be used today. The writings, although based on metaphysics, is based greatly on the Bible, and particularly the Christian religion. In his writings, you will find that it is so easy to get what you need out of this physical life by concentrating on the spiritual life.

The book can be used for a beginner seeking to understand Unity (which is why I bought it), but also as a tool for teaching students, and as a reference book or guide to every day living or personal development.

If you want a new indepth understanding of Divine Mind that will give you peace and happiness, properity and abudance, and good health - you should read this book.

If you're interested in the future of journalism, as a reader or writer, this is a book you will want to own. A broad overview of how the power and appeal of human stories, the impact of historical events, and online media are molding America's new front page. Backed by impeccable research and compelling examples, this book is guaranteed to stimulate conversation, provoke new ideas, and change how you look at the news.

This book is highly thoughtful and extremely well written. It is unusual for an academic book to be so interesting and thought-provoking. The argument is true and provides a keen observation into the narrative that is the modern media. Buy this book!

This book is wonderful! It's a must for any bookshelf of any merit!

This book was so incredibly well written. I would reccomend it to anybody and everybody. BUY THIS BOOK!!!!