George Sullivan's biography of "Abraham Lincoln" for the "In Their Own Words" series is one of the finest juvenile books on Lincoln I have read, and I have been reading a lot of them this month. Of course, as a rhetorician I would have liked to have seen even more excerpts from Lincoln's speeches: the "House Divided," "Cooper Union," and the 2nd Inaugural Address are basically boiled down to a choice sentence or two. Although "The Gettysburg Address" is presented in its ten sentence entirety. There is no mention of Lincoln's 1st Inaugural.. Still, Sullivan does make ample opportunity to use Lincoln's own words, culled from letters or public conversations, at every opportunity. He also does a nice job talking about the motivations of the younger Lincoln as he struggled to make something of his life.

The details of the Civil War are toned down to a reasonable level, since both the constant parade of generals and the unrelenting slaughter can be a bit overwhelming. If anything is given short shrift in this biography it is Lincoln's love life. Anne Rutledge receives a couple of sentences and there is nothing about his complicated courtship with Mary Todd before their marriage. Nor is there anything about her tragic fate following Lincoln's assassination. However, these seem to me quite reasonable omissions in a book aimed at this particular age group. After all, it is not like they will never find a more comprehensive biography of Lincoln down the road.

I have seen several juvenille biographies of Lincoln that are not half as good and cost three or four times as much as this fine effort. There are a couple dozen illustrations, only a handful of which are not from the 19th-century, which is pretty impressive, given the competition. George Sullivan has written a book that does not water down its subject matter for the younger audience. I find the reliance on Lincoln's own words to be particularly commendable. For upper elementary school students this would be the first volume I would recommend they read about Lincoln.

"More books have been written about Lincoln than any other American," says Sullivan in his biography of our sixteenth President. Not all of them are well done - but this one is excellent and deserves a place on the shelf next to Freedman's Caldecott award-wining Lincoln: A Photobiography (Houghton Mifflin, 1987). Sullivan defines primary and secondary sources, then describes the life and times of Lincoln with a liberal sprinkling of quotes from the President and those who knew him. Excerpts from Lincoln's speeches, letters, and other writings are included, explained, and set into context. The Gettysburg address is reproduced in its brief but effective entirety. The book also gives relates the major events of the Civil War.
The writing is simple and uncluttered, and the oversized text and well-spaced lines make for easy reading. Photos and illustrations add to the narrative without distracting. Chapters are tight and concise, and the design (a mix of contemporary borders with Lincoln's handwriting gracing new chapters) is the perfect blend of old and new.
The book meets the usual 100 page requirement for biographies for middle school reports; teachers who may be turned off by the large print and compact size will appreciate the attention to detail as well as the scholarly chronology, bibliography, further reading, photo credits, and index. Pair this fine example of citing sources, acknowledging other points of view and relaying research from primary sources with Holzer's Abraham Lincoln the Writer (Boyds Mill Press 2000).

Despite the fact that this book is in fact a compilation of essays written over a nearly forty year period, it possesses a unity and coherence that would put many other works of "scholarship' to shame. Anastaplo is an amazingly learned, thoughtful,and spiritually sensitive man. He is also that rarity, an INTELLIGENT patriot. One cannot help but think, reading his reflections on Lincoln and the founding, that he would have made a superb addition to the Supreme Court, despite the fact that he The Illinois State Bar , deeming him a 'security risk"(!!), refused to grant him permission to practice law back during the McCarthy era. He certainly understands the constitution better than several of the Justices.

This is a quick read and a good one for browsing. The information addresses all those things you've heard along the way that everyone has opinions on and gives you the facts and why. It address plants indoors and outdoors, trees, vegetables, shrubs, fruit, bulbs, soil, compost, mulch, fertlizers, etc.

This book covers everything from the basics of the threat thru the BCW regimes to what the federal government should do to prepare for a disaster of this sort. The closing chapter is what I found the most interesting because of the discussion of ways to deter the use of BCW. The various authors each explain their positions in a thought provoking way that allowed me to think about the problem and arrive at my own conclusions that can be synconized with the writers. This book is great if you want to know what the experts think about this problem and the solutions that they have arrived at.

This is the book every post-graduate ought to read during residency days in pediatric ward. It helps boost clinical acumen by making diagnosis at the bedside with a very logical approach. It is excellent while describing the diseases of kidney, heart and nervous system. After going through the chapters in detail it infuses a kind of confidence in making diagnosis; and coming to differential diagnosis for a number of presentations of various illnesses. Sometimes, i feel it is a must not only for dealing with complicated and day to day problems but for passing examinations too.

An engaging, rewarding read, much needed these days. Though they discussed the problems these three faiths have with each others claims to chosenness and truth, and hinted a few times at needing to widen the dialogue to include "other" non Abrahamic faiths, they did so in a way which indicates some lingering conceit and self righteousness. Hmm. Can't we rejoice in how our common spiritual yearnings find various expression in different cultures?

This book was great...' kept my full attention. The last book I reviewed was about the same religions, but this one was so much better. It gave me a much better understanding of the common Islamic views. You get the words straight from the discussion between the 3 faiths, not just one man's research of other men. This book is very simple for any reader to enjoy. It is always great not only to see comparative religion but to see people with entirely different views on the same subjects conversing "in a beautiful manner". They are struggling to find a way to bring their views together, and the Christian commented on how very close he was to including Muhammad as a prophet of God. Their struggles just begged one uniting cry in my mind, although they didn't know it themselves: Baha'i.

This book is based on live dialogue between well-qualified spokesmen representing Judaism, Christianity and Islam, presented before audiences throughout the United States. It provides an excellent insight into each religious tradition, and left me with a greater appreciation for what the three faiths have in common. Worth reading by anyone who wants to better understand the relationships between the three Western religions that trace their beginnings to Abraham

Can people really be that misinformed about reality and what really matters? Why waste your time even reading these reviews. This is a Joke, nicknamed a book.

Seek the truth in all matters, not the perception of the truth...this is very likely only someone's false perception of the truth.

As a previous reviewer stated, if edited correctly, this book would have gotten the highest rating possible, and even more. The author successfully shows how GW is an oil-addicted, old-time republican, sort of a fox let loose in the chicken coop. Anyone who doubts that this administration is corrupt should this book. Anybody who does will see through the evil Bush Empire.

If you have any doubts about Bush's attitude toward the environment this book will eliminate them once and for all. It never ceases to amaze me, a book written factually with supporting evidence is always maligned as the commie, pinko, or liberal media by corportists, incidentally defined by Mussolini as fascists . I give the book five stars for anyone wanting a clue about who and what is running the country, and the ground they are running it into.

The irony of a President who believes in maintaining a healthy body but has no regard for maintaing the health of our living planet earth is beyond comprehension. We overpopulate the earth, strip and mine out the land, suck the oil up from the ground, only to spew it back into the atmosphere increasing the hole in the ozone, thereby raising the temperature of the planet. We contaminate our water supply and soil by dumping toxic chemicals and nuclear waste. Deforesting the Amazon decreases the earth's ability to produce vital oxygen we need to breathe. I don't exactly see the correlation between exercise and a healthy body as long if we continue to pollute the earth as we do.

A healthy body needs fresh clean air, water, and a proper atmosphere that will effectively filter out harmful radiation from the sun in order to live. Our planet is no different than our bodies. Global warming is akin to a human running a fever, a sign that we are not living on a healthy planet.

Money can't buy a new body anymore than it can buy a new earth to live on. It's probably time to put homo sapiens on the endangered species list. It may just be that the earth we live on will begin to consider man a virus and start fighting to eliminate the virus in order to ensure it's survival as any living organism does. Mother Nature can pack a powerful punch, something to ruminate on.

The blurbs on the back give this book away. Law teachers and lawyers think it is excellent. No historians are included in any of this praise. As an exercize in rethinking the constitution this is an enjoyable, thoughtful piece of work. But Fletcher has not read much about Abraham Lincoln's actions and ideas. He is especially off course in claiming that Lincoln ignored the constitution in the midst of war. Lincoln practiced law for a quarter of a century, gave major speeches on the meaning of the constitution, followed the constitutional requirements on suspending the privilege of the writ of habeas corpus--at least the leading constitutional lawyer in Congress, Reverdy Johnson, the patriarch of the American Bar, Horace Binney, and the profesor of constitutional law at Harvard thought. Fifty

George Fletcher presents an interesting thesis, that we have two constitutions. One created in 1787 the other in 1865. The new constitutional order was found to represent the principles of equality, nationalism, and democracy which Fletcher argues was best expressed in the Gettysburg address.

Now Fletcher makes a number of interesting points in his analysis. For example, he provides a wonderful explanation for Lincoln's extraconstitutional use of power during the Civil War; that his commitment to nationalism lead him to reject constitutional limitations when they didn't allow him to perserve the nation. Also Fletcher provides a brief discussion of the logical inconsistencies in the 10th amendment, that states created after 1787 couldn't delegate power to a federal government that essentially created them.

But the good points are overwhelmed by Fletcher's tendency towards historical simplicity. He seems to believe that the principles of his 2nd constitution sprung forth only as a result of the Civil War. But the principles of equaltiy, nationalism, and democracy existed since the begining of the republic. While these principles didn't dominate they were present and growing during the antebellum period. Particularly the principle of democracy spread rapidly during the period, this is evidenced by the fact that all white males had the right to vote by the 1820s and they voted for practically all state officials including judges. While its true that this isn't our idea of democracy and equaltiy but it is evidence of a developing trend that probably would have continued without the war. Also he ignores the instances where postbellum democratic trends were inequalitarian in nature, such as in Wyoming were women were given the right to vote in hopes that whites would be able to overpower immigrating blacks into the state.

While this is an interesting book and provokes thought and consideration it shouldn't be taken as the last word. The best aspect being that it gets people to consider the fact that the constitution is more than what is written on paper.

Fletcher makes some interesting arguments about how America is conflicted by its drive towards equality and freedom, since the two ideals cannot coexist perfectly at the same time. His suggestion that the Gettysburg Address and the Civil War resulted in a second American Constitution focused on equality is a useful way of looking at the past (despite the flaws in the argument). BUT!!! One major flaw in this book is Fletcher's endless assertion that public schools should have equal funding and that criminals should not lose their right to vote. While there may or may not be validity to these claims, Fletcher does little to support these claims (since he never addresses the opposing arguments to these stances). Still, this books was definitely worth reading... if one can ignore the annoyingly in-your-face political agenda mixed with the historical arguments.