Northwestern Books

Wyoming may be the "Cowboy State", but this is not stereotypical cowboy fare. "A Taste of Wyoming" sparkles with eye-appealing sophistication. Pam Sinclair has compiled a real Wyoming treasure with a compilation of Wyoming history and regional cuisine. The book showcases Pam's meticulous research and dedication. Every recipe is a "must try". Paulette phlipot's photography is beautifully done and adds to the overall impact of this delightful cookbook.

There are a tremendous selection of different and delicious recipes from appitizers to dessert and everything in between the two. The photographs are fantistic and make you want to give each of the recipes a try. This is a cookbook not to be missed.

This ia a beautiful book. The photographs alone are worth the purchase. Pam's recipes and the comments included from other Wyoming writers make A TASTE OF WYOMING a keeper. It is so lovely, I jot the recipes down before using them, so I don't have to take the book into my often messy and always busy kitchen.

Bought two, one as a gift, and was worth the money. Great recipies, beautiful book, and very interesting!

As a cook who regularly tries variation of recipes and love to try new recipes, this cookbook is a must have in the kitchen. The book gives a wide variety of meals for everyone. It is so very nice to be able to prepare a meal from a top rated Chef. The Venison Stew is truely incredible as well as Scalloped Sweet Potatoes. Every recipe I've tried has been a big hit with my family. I can't wait for the next cookbook from Ms. Sinclair.

One could almost draw paralleles, with fate of Danilo Kis and his novel, in former Yugoslavia, with every "free thinker" troughout the known history. Nobody, especially totalitarian regime, likes "the voice that yells in the desert". So it became that this book was putted on a certain kind of "index librorum prohibitorum". What makes it tragic, is the fact that that was happening in the upper half of twentieth century.

What was so incriminating in that book, that communist party simply had to make that move? When one starts to question revollution, when one starts to question necessity of one voice-one peolpe doctrine, when one sees in "fight of the oppressed" just a certain kind of tragedy, human misery that has been manifesting repeatedly through human existene, one must become "enemy of the state". And that has not changed up until today, nor it will. But that is the story for some other place and time.

There is much of J.L. Borges influence in this work, especially in the short stoy called "Dogs and books", but you mustn't think that this is Borgesian "collection" of stories. These work are much less artistic (whatever that means) and much more they resemble reality, life itself, than Borges work does.

By telling the story of seven individuals, the lived their life in a countries rich with political struggles, Danilo Kis draws excellent portrait oh human ability to endure, and even so, to somehow fail miserably and be forever gone from this world.

Why the four stars? I was hearing so much of this book, and when I finally read it, it somehow dissapointed me, probably was expecting to much, or maybe is just that, taht I have failed to grasp entire meaning of the novel. So, better to read it again :) If you looked for great writer from, Mid-Southern Europe, Kis is the one you could deffinitely start with.

This revelation of a book gives us 7 interrelated stories on totalitarian state terror. The title story about Boris Davidovich Novsky (Baruch David Neumann in the next story, from the inquisition) is clearly following the footsteps of Koestler's hero in Darkness at Noon.
But all in all, the book is more like a GULAG Archipelago written by a latter day Borges. Kis was a Hungarian-Serbian Jew, who published this novel (?) in the 70s in Yugoslavia and had some trouble after that, though none of the stories is set in Yugoslavia. In fact, only the last story relates to Yugoslavia at all, when the emasculated poet visits Montenegro on some shady official visit in 1947.
A blurb compares the book to Orwell's 1984, but that is plain wrong. If Orwell must be in the picture, then the Orwell of Homage to Catalonia. One of the heroes is an Irishman who fights for the Republicans in Spain and gets kidnapped to Russia for a 20 years forced labor term after telling his commander that something is wrong with the use of coded messages (he is a radio operator).
The book is full of absurdities. A French politician, Edouard Herriot, visits the Soviet Union in the 30s, and the party bosses in Kiev need to demonstrate religious freedom, so they hire party members to impersonate an orthodox church service for the benefit of the state guest.
Herriot is the only historical figure in the book, all others are unhistorical, though no less real.
If you don't know Kis yet, congratulations, you have a major discovery ahead of you!

I have enjoyed this (and all other Danilo Kis's books) immensly.

This book of Kis' is a masterful work. The author said they are short stories but the publisher pushed it as a novel and in a way it is something between the two. The stories are seperate and there is not one main plot but a common theme runs through the work and occasionally characters from one story will reoccur or turn up in another story. They are connected though it seems in the sort of way as when someone might say it is a small world that we live in.
In his native land this book caused an uproar as the stories pass themselves off as fact but in Kis' style fact and fiction, history and imagination blend for a common aesthetic goal. This he picked up from Borges and his use of "document" in fiction.
All this helps the book stand out as a superior work of literature without even getting to the political theme of revolution and the role of individuals in mass movements.
This edition is perfect with the intro by Brodsky and William T. Vollmann's afterword.
A must read for anyone.

he shall live no longer in monument than the bell rings and the widow weeps. Shakespeare, Much Ado About Nothing.

Danilo Kis was born in Serbia in 1935 to a Hungarian Jewish father and Montenegrin Serbian mother. His father perished in the Holocaust. Kis died of cancer in 1990 at age 55. As noted in an excellent introduction by the writer, poet and Nobel Prize winner Joseph Brodsky, publication of A Tomb for Boris Davidovich in Yugoslavia in 1976 created a firestorm in Belgrade similar to the controversies that flared up when Solzhenitsyn's One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich was published in the USSR during Khrushchev's thaw. The book was savaged by the Yugoslav writer's union. As Brodsky notes in one memorable line, "there are several topics an author may deal with which can jeopardize his well-being, and history is one of them". The controversy, standing alone, may justify reading Tomb for Boris Davidovich. I am pleased to report that these stories are so well-constructed and laden with meaning that it would be worth reading even if its publication had been greeted with equanimity by the apparatchiks that manned the Yugoslav writers' union.

The seven stories that comprise Danilo Kis' A Tomb for Boris Davidovich have a few elements in common. Each involves a protagonist from a different country, Ireland, Hungary, Rumania, Poland, or Russia. In effect, each protagonist comes from a nation or a group that participated in the Comintern (the Soviet led Third International that coordinated the worldwide activities of various Communist organizations established by Lenin in 1919). Each gets swept up in the machinations that swirled around the Soviet Union's Great Terror of the 1930s. Each ends up either dead or in the Gulag.

With one exception each of the stories takes places in the 1930s. The one exception, "Dogs and Books" is set in 14th-century France at the time of the inquisition. Although that story seems out of place, when one compares the structure and fact-pattern of this story to the title story of the book one can only be struck by the obvious similarities between the methods and mind-set of the inquisitors and the methods and mind-sets of the interrogator in the story Tomb for Boris Davidovich.

The title story is also jarring because it contains many of the same themes set out in Arthur Koestler's Darkness at Noon. In the context of a short story, the brevity and terseness of Kis' language makes the telling of the story considerably more powerful in some respects than Koestler's novel length telling of a similar tale. Even if a reader feels that Kis' story does not quite match Koestler's, the fact that the comparison can be made with a straight face is high praise.

Last, Tomb for Boris Davidovich should be of great interest to anyone interested in the work of the great Argentine writer, Jorge Luis Borges. The structure and theme of Tomb for Boris Davidovich was intended by Kis to be part of a literary polemic between Kis and Borges, specifically concerning the title of Borge's Universal History of Infamy. Kis discusses this literary exchange in one of his essays. In it he asserted that the universal infamies related by Borges were those of gangsters, pirates and highwaymen. Kis argues that as far as infamy was concerned, "infamy is when in the name of the idea of a better world for which whole generations have perished, in the name of a humanistic idea, you build camps and destroy both people and their most intimate drams of a better world."

In many respects, Tomb for Boris Davidovich may be considered as an exquisitely crafted attempt to construct a literary monument to those who died (perhaps naively and foolishly) and for whom bells never rang and for whom the widows have long since stopped weeping.

L.Fleisig

This is as great a satire as Catch 22. As in Catch 22, underlining the satire is a passion for humanity and a merciless assault on those who abuse it and profit from preying on it. It is far superior to The King David Report which is not at all funny -- as Voltaire has shown in Candide, ridicule is the most potent weapon in social criticism.

"The Wandering Jew" is based on an old legend which narrates the tragic life of Ahasverus, condemned to an ever-lasting life of misery, until the second coming of Christ, for having refused his master Reb Joshua (Jesus) a resting place when on his way to the Golgotha. It is a personification of exile and Christian condemnation of the Jewish people. Stefan Heym has elaborated on this legend giving it a broad philosophical dimension, with deep moral passion. Ahasverus is a moral character, standing between evil and good, with a revolutionary mind and wishing to understand and improve human condition. Thre are three parallel, interlock plots, the main one taking place in Luther's Germany where the Minister Paul von Eitzen strives holiness through his ministry (disguising his ambition, greed, and sexual impulses), and at the same time fascinated by the power of evil. Although the moral issues brought up are not a novelty, S. Hyem shows courage and passion in his convictions and invites the reader to thoughtfully participate in a dramatic show of human nature. A most wonderful book!

there are only numerous books can be said that are as good as this one (one of them is also by stefan heym - king david report). layer upon layer of plots all conected and interconected. challanges the free mind as only a "prisoner" by choice in e. germany (Mr. Heym) can invent. walks on thin lines between christianity and judeism leaving no mythical stone unturned. if u were lucky enough to hear about this book, BUY IT, READ IT and tell your friends. p.s : for true lovers of literature

Based on the last words of Christ (John 21:22), this "resurrected" story is similar to Nobel laureate Par Lagerkvist's "The Death of Ahasuerus" (1958) in the sense that it is also poetic prose, and verging on its dream-like and imaginative qualities. Personally, I find Lagerkvist made a better description in his "The Sybil" (1951), but there is historical accuracy in honoring Heym and his fellow German literary figures for the most prolific treatment of the Wandering Jew in words. By the way, the address for the central character is also entirely fictious!

I came to this book after reading The King David Report, and found it stylistically similar but considerably more subtle in its subject matter. Through three interconnected narratives Heym poses a number of questions, chief among them being in what way and to what extent an individual is responsible for their own actions. The characterisation is beautifully observed; his Jesus is indecisive and pathetic, his Lucifer intelligent, sympathetic, generous and even moral. As with The King David Report, his ability to highlight human weaknesses is employed to great effect. Few writers place you so effectively inside the minds of their anti-heroes. It is a wonderful book, by virtue both of the story itself and of the ideas that underlie it.

Since the moment I read the first words of this captivating novel I found myself having a hard time putting it down. "Bernardo and the Virgin" tells the story of the political struggle of Nicaragua as well as the Virgin's appearances in Cuapa in such a unique way that engages you all throughout the book. Chapter by chapter, each story tells a tale of friendship, romance, faith, and struggle, all coming together for a powerful and heart-warming ending. This novel is very dear to my heart, and would highly recommend it as a must read.

While reading Bernardo and the Virgin, I was carried through a series of different stories that deal not only with the religious beliefs characteristic of the Latino population, but with the political and social reality of Nicaragua at the time. Dr. Sirias' was able to intertwine both fiction and fact to bring this novel to life! I really enjoyed reading it, and I would recommend it to anyone interested in Latino literature and its diversified culture.

Here is the story of how I came to read Bernardo & the Virgin. My story is true, I don't care if you don't believe me. My brother Brian, bartender at the Hoboken Elks, got an 8 cent fare to Nicaragua from Spirit Air. They had a special promotion; the fare was 8 cents, but the taxes made it over $86.

In September he flew to Nicaragua. In October when the NY Mets blew their chances of getting in the World Series, Brian wrote to me that he was not coming home because of the Mets' implosion. He was traveling all over Nicaragua, having a blast. In November I thought to send him a Christmas present. Based on Joshua Berman's review on his Nicaragua travel web site I bought Bernardo and the Virgin. Berman is the co-author of the Moon Guide to Nicaragua.

So I mailed Bernardo and the Virgin to Brian c/o Jimmy Three Fingers in Granada. Brian swore via email I didn't need any more address than that. Well, each time I emailed him I asked if he got my Christmas present, and it never arrived. Then for a while I didn't hear from my brother. I emailed Jimmy Three Fingers in Spanish and English, never got a reply. Jan 1, 2008 I flew down to visit my brother. When I got to Granada he was right where he said he'd be, at the bar at Jimmy Three Fingers drinking a cerveza.

He was happy to see me and I spent a great week seeing the country. We took a three day trek in the highlands of Jinotega coffee country. But, back to the book. Before I left to come home he asked me to take back some stuff to lighten his load. He handed me the book, Bernardo and the Virgin. Seems it had been behind the bar. The barmaid had watched Brian open it, and he told me she seemed very disappointed to find the gift was a book. She asked if he liked to read.

Brian told me I could take it home as it is a heavy book and he honestly wasn't going to read it just then. He had a book already, Jimmy Buffett's Tales from Margaritaville. So I flew home with Bernardo and the Virgin. Started reading it in the airport in Managua, I enjoyed it very much. There is one chapter so remarkable I would match it up with some of the finest short stories I have ever read. I recommend this book highly. I felt good after reading it.

What about my brother? Well, Brian was in the Zoom Bar in Granada during the Superbowl. He bet on the underdogs, the NY Giants, who miraculously won and Brian won his plane fare home. I am going to see him Tuesday and give him the book again. I think he will like it.

I am from Nicaragua, but I have been living in the States since the age of 15 when my family fled the country during the political problems of the early 1980's. I have to say that "Bernardo and the Virgin" perfectly captures the Nicaragua I remember. The characters are authentic "Nicas" in the way they act, think, and speak. I had often heard other Nicaraguans talk about the Virgin's appearance in Cuapa, and now it is wonderful to have this story told so beautifully. Of all the novels about Nicaragua I have read, this one is the best. "Bernardo and the Virgin" is a must read for anyone interested in Latin American politics and religion.

I never knew much about Nicaragua, but after reading Bernardo and the Virgin I now feel that I have been there. I've read many books by Latino writers, and Sirias' is one of the best. Bernardo and the Virgin contains many beautiful stories. The spiritual dimensions of this novel remind me of Bless Me, Ultima, but it's the political aspect, the wringer Bernardo is put through after the Virgin appears to him, that propels the story. The novel also stands as a loving tribute to the people of Nicaragua. I will definitely recommend that my Latino literature professor put this book on her reading list. And to anyone who enjoys the magic of Latin American literature, I absolutely recommend it.

I have read both of Timuel Black's books and recommend both highly. Black is the right person for this job, having a nearly perfect memory for a past that includes important work as an activist, educator and scholar. He knows what his subjects are getting at and knows how to tweek the most out of them. Timuel Black's memories intertwine with the memories of his subjects and create a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. It is truly living history

This is a book that everyone should read but can particularly important to young people, black and white, who don't quite understand that they are standing on the shoulders of giants.

I loved Bridges of Memory Volume 1... and this book doesn't dissapoint either. I love his interviewing style and the variety of people he has choosen to interview about their personal Chicago experiences. This is a well written book and I am looking forward to reading the next volume when it is released.

Here's my bias. I like history. I like to hear people talk about their lives. I like intelligent, articulate, effective language. And I loved this book. The people interviewed are fascinating, and Timuel Black helps them tell their stories in an unpretentious but by no means diffident way. I learned a great deal and enjoyed myself for many evenings.

What a gift this collection is!

In 1988, Timuel Black began to record and preserve the recollections of people who had lived in Chicago a long time, particularly the first generation of the Great Migration. When he wrote the introduction to this book, he had recorded over 125 conversations and still had "many , many more people with whom I would like to speak." Thirty-six of those conversations are presented here, with two more volumes planned to follow.

The interviews are conducted using the "participant observer" technique, and since Dr. Black - a long time resident himself - is an "insider" these interviews are essentially honest, intimate conversations among old friends, many of whom have now passed. As Dr. Black makes clear, this book is not intended to be a history of Black Chicago and its institutions, but rather a collection of oral memories from people who participated in shaping those institutions. But his field work provides invaluable data for future researchers attempting to compile that history.

If this book contained nothing more than the biographical information about each of the 40 participants (some are joint interviews), it would make fascinating reading. But the interviews bring each vividly to life. We meet people from all walks, including civil servants, educators, politicians, jazz musicians, railroad workers, business people, even two generations of South Side Chicago represented by mother and daughter Mildred Bowden and Hermene Hartman. Some, like George Johnson, tell a story of "from rags to riches." Others fall into a category of "just keep on keepin' on."

But all are riveting. I look forward to the next two volumes!

The strength of this book is in its informality. Mr. Black is friends with nearly all of his interviewees (he has known several of them for over 40 years), and the sessions read as a conversation rather than an interview. This book is especially useful for one looking for supplimental material about the neighborhood of Bronzeville in Chicago, segregation (from an individual perspective rather than scholarly leaning), and smaller aspects of city history and social change that are often forgotten. Some of his interviewees include a man that owned a company that distributed hair straightener around the U.S., a man that started what would become the Illinois state lottery, well respected teachers, and military servicemen.

There is a great deal of repetition that could have been eliminated regarding DuSable High School, locations of buildings, boundaries of the neighborhood, and references to people that are not elaborated upon; it is possible that Black chose not to edit this out to keep the interviews intact. It would have been extremely helpful for maps of Bronzeville throughout the past 80 years were inserted among the small selection of pictures that are included, in order to help those unfamiliar with the neighborhood navigate through some of the interviewees' memories of businesses, theaters, and homes.

I love to dine at Cafe Flora in Seattle so I was excited to see they had a cookbook. I was not disappointed with this cookbook. It is excellent. Wonderful recipes. I bought two and gave one as a gift and they loved it. A great gift for any vegetarian or actually just about anyone.

The recipes in the book are really something of a revelation to me. I live in Seattle and have dined at Café Flora dozens of times. Still I didn't really expect what I found in the cookbook. In addition to signature recipes the book presents a very well thought out structured approach to vegetarian gourmet cooking. So not only do you have recipes, but you are given a pretty good idea of what sorts of things you should make in batches on weekends and save. That for me was really the key to being able to make something other than bland vegetarian fare.
I've not generally been fond of the Moosewood or Laurel's Kitchen sort of recipes. They generally seem unelegant, a bit off, and mostly dull. The recipes in this book are in fact quite elegant, well honed, and exciting. Combinations like balsamic-fig reduction and gorgonzola will have you planning week of dining around the book.

So far I have made three recipes from this cookbook and they all turned out great. Most of the recipes seem very simple, no unusual ingredients which helps since I am living in Alaska. I see this becoming a staple of my everyday cooking.

For almost 15 years, the most popular dish I've served to friends and taken to potlucks has been one cut from a magazine and attributed to Cafe Flora. Knowing this dish appealed to both vegetarians and non, I would periodically check to see if there was an entire Cafe Flora cookbook "out there". Then, just before a spate of seasonal visitors were scheduled to descend, I googled up what is now my most used and reliable partner in terms of taste, nutrition and dependable results. I ended up amazoning another one to a vegetarian family member who, like me, is always trying to bridge the tastebuds of meateaters and veggers. And, the recipes are FUN to make.

Chiming in to agree that this is terrific modern, gourmet food. Well flavored but not fussy. Everything I've made so far has come out perfectly. I've learned new flavor combinations that work well together, and I feel like I can put that information to use when I cook other things.

There are plenty of vegan choices, and these recipes are all marked in the table of contents. There are no dessert recipes. Sections are starters, soups, salads, dinners/suppers, pizza, sandwiches, brunch, beverages, side dishes, sauces/spreads. They list sources for some ingredients (like arame, miso or fenugreek) and often give you an easier to locate alternative.

For recipes that require a number of steps, they've been extremely organized about breaking it down into manageable sections. There are number of fairly involved recipes mixed in with easier things like pizzas (their herb pizza dough is spot on), but the results of the more time consuming recipes are well worth it. Besides, I have enough of those "veg. meals in minutes" type books for quickie meals. Cafe Flora is something else altogether - elegant and original vegetarian recipes that have broadened my cooking horizons.

The main problem with this work is the confusing nature of the storyline. Weil clearly has the grandest of ambitions, and it is obvious that he is a capable, strong writer. The ideas for a remarkable story are certainly there, as is the character development - from the Jewish families, Nazi officials, and Czech citizens. The subtle nuances of each individual struggling to survive in Nazi-occupied Prague bring striking humanity to the most inhuman times; Weil manages to portray each individual character as complex, driven by myriad desires and emotions.

There are heavy allusions made towards certain members of the Nazi party - clearly Speer and Heydrich play substantial roles, though they are never really mentioned by name, only by behaviors, physical descriptions, and commentary on their positions in the Czechoslovakian Protectorate. The Czech characters are human, and trying to bump along and maintain their livelihood in light of the occupation.

In many ways, the complexities of the characters is reflective of contemporary postmodern literature. For a subject matter that is frequently a magnet for absolutist thought and behavior (one side being "all bad," the other side being "all good"), Weil deals thoughtfully and provocatively with the two 'sides' to the Nazi occupation. Neither side is portrayed absolutely: there are moments of kindness on both sides of the conflict. The complexity, however, can become an overriding theme in character development - a behavior not uncommon in 'Mendelssohn is on the Roof' - and prevents true character depth from developing throughout the story.

Some of my favorite writing of the book is included when one of the Nazi leaders (presumed, and heavily implied to be, Reinhardt Heydrich) thinks about the importation of German cultural behavior to Prague. The juxtaposition of his thoughts on Beethoven during the purges of the Nazi party members are remarkable, despite being basically absurd.

Weil's poetic descriptions of the beautiful city (which I have loved so well) are fitting and appropriate: they avoid heavy handedness, while still grasping at the deeply emotional connection many feel with the beauty, and cultural traditions of, Prague.

'Mendelssohn is on the Roof' becomes frustrating because clearly Weil has an excellent story idea. The Nazi occupation of Prague is not nearly as frequently discussed or explored through literature and history as many other aspects of World War II, so Weil successfully avoids cliche and triteness; he is able to bring a fresh outlook to a subject that has been, to some extent, overplayed and wrought with rigid intellectual and emotional behavior.

Weil is obviously confident in his ability to create a remarkable foundation for a story (he is extremely successful), but doesn't excercise control over how, precisely, to incorporate underlying themes and character leitmotifs to effectivelly *tell* the story.

Throughout the novel, it's evident that the author is straddling the line between trying to create a magical realist story (a la M. Kundera's tradition) and telling a linear, simple story of survival amongst Prague's residents. Either methodology would have worked equally well, but the indecision about literary methodology - which carries through to the end of the book - sporadically outshines the story's incredible potential as a masterpiece.

Overall, the work is quite excellent, but not without its flaws. Much like the characters of 'Mendelssohn is on the Roof,' the storytelling itself is courageously ambitious. However, Weil's storytelling wavers without a decisive literary behavior

This book is amazing in its realism and emotion. The symbolism takes time to understand but when you do the book takes you to another level. The courage of the Jews and Czech people is heartening and brings another diminsion to what is commonly thought about when you think of WW2. An excellent book that I encourage everyone to read.

Jiri Weil has here a masterpiece, a series of events involving a host of characters. Children hiding in a closet, German soldiers of high and low rank, elderly Jewish council members and scholars. What really chills me was my visit to the Holocaust museum days after finishing this book. The identification papers you draw upon entering that I received were for a man in the exact region of my Slovak grandparents. Before leaving much later that day, I viewed newsreels in the library. They provided actual background for the description of Reinhard Heydrich's assassination, told in detail in Weil's book. I highly recommend this excellent book.

There isn't a "plot" per se. The book is a series of scenes involving a host of Jews, Czechs and Nazis in the Czech Republic during WW@ as the Nazis empty Prague of the Jews. The book is both darkly comic and deeply tragic. It is the best book about the holocaust I've read since it covers the sort of day-to-day lives of the Jews before the camps and also the very effortless translation. It is a quick and easy read but filled with a lot of poignant moments. In particualr what it does well is puts the reader into the mind and thought process of Jews who were victimized by the Nazis not just as victims but also as accomplices.

If there is a short coming, it is that Weil uses a lot of the Nazi nomenclature for places and groups and titles for people so readers without a strong knowledge of the Holocaust might be confused by the byzantine number of Nazi offices and organizations (this BTW is a real stregnth of the book for those familar with the system since it highlights how fragmented and fuedal the Nazi state was).

In short vignettes, the author explores the difficult choices faced by the people of World War II Prague, from Reinhard Heydrich (never named by name) to individual soldiers, civil servants and Czechs and Jews of all stripes. Some episodes are absurd and full of humor, particularly the moment when the workers try to identify which statue on the roof is actually Mendelssohn's (they choose the one with the largest nose and are about to make the maximum possible error when they are stopped in the nick of time). Others are almost painful to read, such as the choices of a Jewish scholar hired to work on the museum built to illustrate the lives of his people; he realizes the purpose is to describe a people who are to be eliminated from the face of the earth.

Unlike many Holocaust novels, this book presents its points in a subtle and wonderful manner. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

Pike Place Market is one of my favorite places to visit. I was excited to get the cookbook and the recipes do sound yummy. However, they also require a lot of work & ingredients that I don't have time to shop for. Maybe someday when I have a lot of time on my hands....

I purchased this book because it was listed as a favorite by a rheumatologist who wrote an article on "painfree life". I would not be without this book and use it several times a week. I didn't know there were so many delicious and very simple ways to cook fish, shrimp, muscles, and other seafood. I give this book my highest recommendation. Try it, you will love it!

The Pike Place Market is a destination point for anyone visiting Seattle. The market is a vibrant maze of fish stalls, vegetable vendors, meat purveyors, etc. To local foodies, the market is shopping central, especially for seafood. Tourists love the sense of history, plus the entertaining fishmongers singing and acrobatically tossing whole fish across the counter.

Braiden Rex-Johnson, an expert on the Pike Place Market, captures the essense of the market in this gift-size cookbook. The stunning photographs bring alive the color and commotion of the market, and the exceptional recipes reflect the diversity of Northwest cuisine. Don't miss trying the recipe for Baked Whole Salmon with Vietnamese Dipping Sauce. I made it for a dinner party and it was a dramatic presentation. The Fried Oyster Caesar Salad was another winner, along with the Shellfish Risotto. I'm looking forward to trying many more, whether I'm cooking for the family or entertaining friends.

Having been to Pike Place Public Market and a huge fan of Pacific Northwest seafood, this was a no-brainer. The recipes are organized in sections. The first describes a history of the market. The next section is about fin fish, then shell fish, and then the odd kettle section talks about tuna, squid, and seafood combination dishes, to name a few. The recipes are easy to follow and the results are worth the effort and turn out extremely well. I bought this book along with Ray's Boathouse: Seafood Secrets of the Pacific Northwest and Pure Flavor: 125 Fresh All-American Recipes from the Pacific Northwest. So when all three arrived, I was in my glory--three Pacific Northwest cookbooks to complement my Wildwood Wildwood: Cooking from the Source in the Pacific Northwest cookbook. I did a tasting and made seven of the recipes the weekend after receiving the books. Everything was great, and I felt like I was in the Pacific Northwest again -- not in Jersey...well...

I was given this book as a gift and I'm delighted with it. It's sized smaller, like a gift book--so portable and easy to use. I appreciate Rex-Johnson's introduction that focuses and guides consumers on ocean and fish sustainability. This is befitting any bonafide cook from the Northwest (or anywhere!). Besides great recipes, she includes a helpful Appendix of techniques, everything from making bread crumbs to a chiffonade. The book seems basic enough, and sophisticated enough, for a broad range of cooking skills. And the photos and presentation are beautiful, interwoven with historial trivia related to fishing. There's a lot in this little gem.

This as well as the lot of Martin Luther's works are a good motivational and inspirational tool. Since I started getting Martin Luther with the movie Luther, I have lost 180 pounds. I can burn 205 calories in 10 minutes! Unlike ghetto online "covens," Lutheran churches are a good way to get to know people and know a pastor as a personal friend and spritual mentor. I have been baptized Lutheran and am one session away from completing adult confirmation, and am in monthly attendance at my local church. While the Church of Satan promotes a fat and unhealthy lifestyle at a mere 300 members, there are 9 million every year in Pilgrim Lutheran alone and promotes a healthy and safe lifestyle change. I "eat" one energy drink now called a diety supplement for breakfast daily and don't pig out on meals. Gluttony is a sin, sinner! Luther recommends the Lord's Prayer, 10 Commandments and Apostles Creed as well as fasting between meals. Amen!

This is a beautiful and thoughtful gift - for yourself or a friend. Whether new Christian or seasoned believer, many of us find ourselves wondering, "how should I pray?" or "how might my prayer life be better?"

Originally a response to his barber's honest question, Martin Luther's answers are still as rich and relevant as when they were first penned.
This book is not as intense as most of Luther's writings, so it's an easy read and encouraging reference.

Rather than a checklist or scripted answer, Luther guides us into scripture and a personal time of intercession. With beautiful and practical ideas from Luther's own experience, it offers a welcome rest from the many "how to" books on prayer.

This writing predates the immense divisions of the modern church's denominations, and it will be appreciated by nearly anyone.

This is a very small book containing Martin Luther's response to his barber's questions about prayer. This is a book that can be read within the confines of an hour, but reveals both thoughts and techniques about prayer that the serious minded Christian will want to take with them and apply for a lifetime.

When it comes to the subject of prayer, there is no shortage of books and other materials that are available for Christians to peruse. But this little book by Luther is quite substantive not only in its approach to prayer, but also in its attitude of total reverence. In many ways, the book is a recital of a number of Luther's actual prayers and this provides an extremely insightful look not only into the prayer life of Martin Luther but also about the scope of prayer that Luther adopted. I suspect many modern readers will be extremely impressed and even marvel at the depths to which Luther made prayer the centerpiece of his Christian walk, and how such devotion to prayer seems so beyond what many of us contemporary Christians tend to practice in our quiet time with God.

There are two main strengths in this book that can transform a person's prayer life. First are the words of Luther himself in his prayers. The reader gets the sense of Luther's crystal clear understanding of the eternal immensity of the power of God and the utter helplessness of man absent God. Gaining a proper perspective in prayer means understanding who it is we are praying to, and understanding why we pray. I happen to think that a widespread return to Luther's perspective in these areas would revolutionize the universal Church through much more effective prayer that comes with having a Biblical understanding of the sovereignty of God and why we need Him.

Second, Luther's technique toward prayer in this book is hugely important. In particular, his fourfold partition in prayer of instruction, thanksgiving, confession/repentance, and request after meditating on a Scripture passage is outstanding. Luther properly puts the emphasis on Bible reading as a key way to ready the heart for sincere and meaningful prayer. Further, he stresses the need for the Christian to follow the guidings of the Holy Spirit in prayer so as to have a dynamic and heart-filled prayer life rather than a prayer life of mind numbing ritualism or legalism.

In summary, this is great instruction from a giant of the Christian faith that we as Christians should strongly consider in our attitudes towards prayer.

A Simple Way to Pray is an excellent resource for all Christians. I highly recommend it. But I wouldn't by the book. It is a little book (3 inches by 5 inches I would guess) with only 70 pages or so. Of that only 45 are actually Luther's writing. The material is free domain, so if you do an internet search for "Luther simple way to pray" you'll get access to all the text easily. I copied that to Word and put the font to Times New Roman 12-point and it is only 13 pages long. That's a much cheaper option than the $10 or $12 plus shipping for this little book and you get the same blessings from reading the text.

Summary - great read, but get it cheaper.

Martin Luther's barber once asked him to instruct him regarding prayer. This little 62-page book is Luther's reply. He lovingly, warmly writes his thoughts on regularly praying the Lord's Prayer, the Ten Commandments, and the Apostle's Creed. And Luther does not simply call for a thoughtless, legalistic recitation. Rather, he advocates pouring ourselves and everything we have into these prayers, fully involving our minds and hearts. Read this book, be blessed in your prayers, and learn what it means to pray to "Our Father."

"A little leaven leaveneth the whole lump"

This is required reading for all Lutherans, or any professed Christian. The book provides a comparison between the conservative Lutheran position and the moderate or liberal Lutheran position. There is a "new thinking", a divide, an apostasy that is taking place in the church. Christians have a duty to distinguish between the orthodox and the heterodox.

The authors point out that the book "is a reflection of the struggle of the layperson to understand, and of the pastor-theologian to explain, the great theological changes taking place in most of Christendom". The authors started this book because there were no others to be found that were intended for The layperson. The preface gives us a good outline of the book:

"The book is divided into three sections, with each chapter building upon those that precede it. Section I compares the historic Lutheran faith with the new thinking, identifies and explains the nature of the controversy, and thoroughly documents both positions. Section II points out the great strengths of historic Lutheranism and explains the fundamental differences between Roman Catholics, Lutherans, and other protestants. This comparison illustrates how the great strengths of Lutheranism distinguish it from all other denominations. Section III describes American Lutheranism's drift into the new thinking through doctrinal compromise and indifference and explains the error of today's ecumenical movement."

Over time disunity and division are growing; universalism is slowly aligning to form "a new world church". The authors defend themselves by quoting from the "new teaching" by theologians and pastors of the incorporated Lutheran churches. They touch upon other faiths and religions and also the course history has taken protestantism. The division starts when we make the mistake of using reason to explain the bible. "Truthful separation is far better than dishonest union."

A great percentage of us (the laity) are ignorant to doctrines and teachings. We love one another by showing them how they stray from scripture and the truth; liberalism shows no love. The church should be willing to permit itself to be judged according to scripture.

"a little yeast works through the whole batch of dough"-------Gal. 5:9

Wish you well
Scott

Does a good job of showing the problems, i.e. not trusting in God's Word alone, grace alone, faith alone, but something else needs to be added: marketing, psychology, historical critical expertise, etc.

Shows not only the demise of discernment in ELCA, but also that it's crept in the my own LCMS as well as in WELS as by brethren there sadly inform.

Gives some history to the controversies, and gives a nice appendix for the lay person, a series of doctrinal questions to ask one's pastor. Look out when you ask some!

I refer my members to this to see what's been going on in Lutheranism, even though a little outdated, valuable read and library keeper.

This is an excellent book for the Lutheran church in particular, but also Christianity as a whole since it addresses the problems and "modern" teachings in today's church. This book does a very good job highlighting the differences between the various Lutherans. The one weakness is that it does not show Scriptural support for either positions. Hence, I have developed a Scriptural handbook for use in the classroom or for further study.

Written in three sections, this book definitively explains 1) the differences between historic Lutheran doctrine and the "new thinking" doctrines; 2) the great strengths of Lutheran teachings; and 3) how the various Lutheran synods developed, and what each one teaches. I found this book to be clear, authoritative, and historically accurate. The authors do not subject the reader to their opinions, but rather they cite the original writings of the various theologians and church leaders to precisely articulate the various doctrines and errors espoused throughout church history.

It was truly a revelation to learn that all interpretations of Scripture vary based on the role "reason" plays in the process. Luther, Calvin, Armenius, Wesley, Zwingley, and the Roman Catholic Church are examined in detail as to their approach to Scripture and how the resulting doctrines and errors flow from each different approach.

This book should be read by anyone from any denomination that is searching for answers as to why their church teaches the way they do. It is a MUST READ for serious Lutherans.

This book is an excellent gathering of sources to study the problem of liberalism as it is expressing itself in the Lutheran Churches in America; but also reflects liberalism in Christianity at large. It documents the beginnings and progression of liberalism within the Lutheran church, and gives ample documentation of the frightening abandonment of historic Christian teaching by the liberals. The first portion of the book is the most eye opening, and enumerates the key doctrines that have been abandoned by liberals, from the incarnation, resurrection (really all miracles and the supernatural), to the Trinity, Atonement, the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture, and countless other points. The extensive treatment of historical criticism is well done, as well as discussions of the 'new morality'. This first section focuses mainly on the writings and statements of the theologians and church leaders of the various bodies that formed the ELCA. Throughout this section the conservative position is outlined at each point along with the liberal position.

The second portion gives a nice treatment of the strenghts of Lutheran theology, and shows the various 'non-liberal' dangers to Lutheran theology. These are the influence on the one hand of Roman Catholic interpretation of Scripture, and on the other, the Reformed interpretation. The pitfall of the former being the addition of tradition and ecclesiastical interpretation OVER the Scriptures and the pitfall of the latter being the use of reason majesterially (as a judge) over Scripture. It also discusses the problem of Pietism, which essentially first flowered in Lutheranism, and has now spread to many other denominations.

The last section is a very interesting historical account of the various Lutheran church bodies in America, and the myriads of mergers and splits and associations that took place leading up till today. It also shows how the theological positions of each church body led it into the unions or splits of its history. One of the lessons I think that can be learned from the history in this book is the tendency of moderates to continually slide to the left. Wherever compromise is allowed in matters of faith, it almost always ends in error. Toleration of error and doctrinal indifference open the door to greater and greater acceptance of false teaching, and abandonment of historic Christianity.

All of this should be a wake up call to Christians to stand firm in the faith and be on the watch for wolves in sheeps clothing, that would depart from the sound words of our Lord Jesus Christ. Let us cling to Him and His Word; for He will preserve His church from all attacks within and without!