It is true that overall Bedau presents an argument in opposition to capital punishment. However, this argument is very well researched and documented. One may disagree with the conclusion, but it would be difficult to refute the evidence presented in the book. Furthermore, the very fact that the book is a collection of research may be the reason it appears one-sided. Having attempted objective research on the issue of capital punishment myself, it is often difficult to find solid research in support of capital punishment. More often support comes in the form of statements of belief or opinion. If you are looking for an equal collection of arguments for and against the death penalty in America, then this book is not for you. However, if you are looking for very solid research on the topic, presented in a logical, easy to understand format, then this is an excellent resource.

Those three words, "Compassion", "Love", and "Mercy", need to be practiced more often in our country of America. The author of this book, who I have had the honor of meeting and have also heard him speak, has compassion, love, and mercy. His courage to fight against the death penalty, an unpopular stand in our country, shows him to be a wonderful human being. He is not only a wonderful author, he also gets personally involved with ordinary citizens to help those who are trying to rid our country of an unfair and different kind of homicide called execution. This book is a great book to read, and as one other person who reviewed this book mentioned, probably only death penalty opponents will read it. I challenge those who believe in killing those who kill and sometimes killing those who are innocent of the crime of which they have been convicted, read this book even if, or especially if, you are afraid you might be converted to knowing the death penalty is wrong. If you do not have that fear, you won't have a problem reading this book. Please do! Everyone who reads this book will learn something. I've not only have purchased this book for myself, I also buy it as a gift for others. Buy it, read it, and share it! jskaggs@flash.net

If you want an indepth analysis of the death penalty, this is the book for you! Jam-packed with history, statistics, trends, and lots of vital information, this book is a must-have for any serious anti-death penalty activist.

THE BEST CAT EVER by Cleveland Amory is a bit of a sham, though certainly not one that is unattractive or was created out of malice. In the prologue, Amory writes about his deceased pet cat, Polar Bear:

"I shall dwell ... on the past and the fun we had for the fifteen years we had together."

As the reader discovers, this is just not so. As a matter of fact, most of the author's narrative is born of the time before Polar Bear came into his life. Amory remembers his first job. Amory ruefully recounts his brief stint as a Hollywood scriptwriter. Amory tells of his association with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor when he was commissioned to ghost-write the autobiography of the latter. Amory revisits his time as a reviewer for TV Guide. Or, if after, then THE BEST CAT EVER gets hardly more than honorable mention. Amory discusses arthritis and its cures. Amory revisits his alma mater, Harvard. Amory is hit by a truck.

I can't say that this short book isn't entertaining. If I had harbored, before picking it up, any interest in the author, and if the book and been entitled REMINISCENCES OF CLEVELAND (or something of the sort), then I should happily award 4, and perhaps 5, stars. Amory is indeed talented and astute, as when he states of Wallis Warfield's morganatic marriage to the abdicated King Edward VIII:

"If she settled for being a morganatic wife, not only would she not be a Queen, she would have settled for something which, to her at least, sounded all too much like being a peasant."

Amory's dry wit notwithstanding, I can only award 3 stars because Polar Bear, most of the time, just isn't there. The best chapter is certainly the last, in which Cleveland poignantly and sadly describes his beloved pet's last illness and the trauma of having him put to sleep. (I was, perhaps, reminded of the advancing age of my own cat, Trouble. While still healthy at 10 years, that heartbreaking time will certainly come for her also.)

There are better books to be savored on the relationship between a human and its feline owner. Offhand, I can name three: I & CLAUDIUS by Clare De Vries, THE CAT WHO COVERED THE WORLD by Christopher Wren, and MY CAT SPIT MCGEE by Willie Morris.

...this book says almost nothing about Cleveland Amory's cat, Polar Bear. It's a shame that it was titled in a way that would make you think it did.

Amory spends most of the book chatting about himself...I found that interesting. He was a Boston Brahmin through & through, & he did a nice job of showing the rest of us how that slice of society lives. (He also wrote the classic "Proper Bostonians.")

Especially interesting is the chapter "The Last Duchess," in which he writes of his brief career as the biographer of Wallis Warfield Simpson, the divorced woman for whom Edward the VIII abdicated the throne of England. Amory eventually gave up because she was just too awful and Edward was awful, apparently not bright, and an admirer of the Nazis. Even if you are not a fan of royalty (I usually find stories about royalty painfully dull), this chapter is fun! (It also includes a digression about how the Social Register got started.)

Mr. Amory also spun good yarns out of his refusal to donate to the Harvard alumni funds (a protest against their excessive use of laboratory animals), his very temporary role as a Hollywood scriptwriter, and public response to his reviews for the T.V. Guide.

Oh, yes, and he also had a cat!

Cleveland Amory's book 'The Best Cat Ever' is part of a series he wrote that involved his cat Polar Bear, who came into Amory's life one winter evening, and became an integral part thereafter. Amory and Polar Bear in fact are buried side by side, united once more. I can relate to this personally, as each of the cats that have come into my life have come in uninvited and unexpectedly, but very welcome and very quickly indispensable.

Now I, like many cat owners, wasn't pleased at the title of the book (as of course, my cats are the best cats ever), although I certainly understood the sentiment expressed. And Amory was prepared for this:

'First, an apology. It is presumptuous of me to title this last book about the cat who owned me what I have titled it. The reason it is presumptuous is that to people who have, or have ever been, owned by a cat, the only cat who can ever be the best cat ever is their cat.'

Amory uses the wonderful tales of his cat and their life together to also recount past glories and silly stories. One such is his time at Harvard, when he and a friend enrolled in a course entitled 'The Idea of Fate and the Gods' because they had heard it would not require much homework, and then were crestfallen to receive a poor grade. This grade was upgraded when the professor was reminded of their undergraduate status. He had a habit of declaring everything good by exclaiming 'Capital! -- a rather typically eccentric observation for Amory to make.

Under the chapter title 'My Last Duchess', he recounts the failed attempt to write the autobiography (I did not make a mistake here) of Wallis Simpson, Duchess of Windsor (making particular point to the way it rankled her to never be given the appellation of 'royal'). In very humourous and somewhat embarrassing detail, he recounts stilted conversations and dull-as-dirt dinner parties designed more for the stroking of ego and vanity of all participants than any real social purpose (although, yes, I realise that that, for some, is a, or even THE social purpose).

Amory also recounts his animal rights activist days, something that he worked hard for during much of his life, and which is carried on in his memory at the Black Beauty Ranch and through Amory's writings, which continue to touch the heart and soul of those who read them.

Amory has been privileged to lead an interesting life that connects to many other interesting people. He does not recount the stories as standard history, or as mere gossip-columnist fare, but rather looks for overall meanings and directions in what is often a difficult pattern of discernment in life. Regardless of social status, political motivation, or intellectual stature, people are people, and will do the most remarkable, selfish, selfless, silly, wonderful things. Amory's observations of this is a delight to read.

In a very moving essay Amory recounted his final days with Polar Bear, and his difficult decision to end Polar Bear's suffering. Amory talks about the grief of losing an animal (particularly hard on single people who become quite attached to their pets) in a moving way that I wish would be used as a pastoral care text.

Amory and Polar Bear are buried together at the Black Beauty Ranch, a home for thousands of abused and abandoned animals that have come to them over the years. Amory believed (as do I) that animals have souls, too, and therefore are deserving of humane treatment and (in an interesting argument) if they do not have souls, as living creatures they deserve even better treatment.

Read this book prepared to laugh and cry. Have your tissues ready for the final chapter, and read this book with a cat on your lap (which, in fact, is how wrote this review).

Engaging overview, from a post-structuralist/postmodern vantage point, of the linkage between meat-eating and patriarchy and feminism and vegetarianism. One of the purposes of the book is to emphasize the role of the "absent referent" as an essential influence on cultural and social discourse. In doing so, Adams calls attention to the ways in which acceptable modes of thinking and behaving are structured within the cultural framework. All in all, a very readable, well-researched, and engrossing examination of the integral connections (oppression) between vegetarianism and feminism.

I was so moved by this extraordinary text. Interrogating the assumptions of white male Women beaters/meat eaters, this important work examines how the white dominating and oppressive culture dictates that the eating of meat is 'good' and even 'necessary', subject Peoples of Color to dietary regimes alien to their own subjectivities. As the writer notes, there is considerable resistance among patriarchal-dominated discourses to vegetarianism. This resistance is a form of textual rape, to be combatted by a 'taste of their own medicine': "A vegetarian writer may express feelings about textual violation by referring to images of butchered animals and raising the issue of dismemberment." A wonderful book, highly recommended.

Does eating rice bring "wholeness to our fragmented relationships"? Carol Adams believes that it can, and in this beautifully crafted work she lays out the entire argument. She does not minimize her personal revulsion toward the eating of meat, and the meat industry, but she ventures widely - from there.

This serious, disturbing, and well-researched book covers many interrelated topics, among them women, linguistics, animal rights, violence and terror, political resistance and patriarchy.

Food's meaning and importance to sustenance, spirituality, ritual and symbol and more - is undisputed. Adams' interesting, accessible, and scholarly polemic builds a solid foundation for her fervent wish that feminists embrace vegetarianism, or more accurately, veganism - the rejection of all animal-based foodstuffs.

But Hitler was a vegetarian and an animal lover; and until I got to Adams' deconstruction of that seemingly hideous contradiction, I thought, "There goes the notion of the moral weight of eating habits!" But Adams tackles the topic of Hitler's vegetarianism (for example)efficiently and convincingly, and in doing so removes him from the discussion.

This is a serious, disturbing, and well-researched book. Adams sounds a rational and convincing call for all people with control over what they may choose to consume - to live and eat deliberately and mindfully. Definitely worth reading.

To my mind, any book of P.D. James is worth reading, but UNNATURAL CAUSES is simply not one of her best. Yes, the plot is fascinating, if a bit dependent on twists and turns that mean very little, indeed, to the solution of the murders.

Most interesting, as usual with James, is her development of complex characters. Unfortunately, as another reviewer pointed out, almost every one of these characters is, at best, unpleasant and since they are all writers or are connected with professional writers in some way, it seems James has a bit of a chip on her shoulder about her colleagues.

The last 20 pages contain a transcription of a taped confession which ties up all the loose plot knots, but does not, at all, let us in on the effects this confession has on any of the characters except for James' detective, Adam Dalgliesh. This is truly disappointing, especially for a writer who so carefully peoples her novels.

A small note: I do not consider myself a prude and perhaps it is mere political correctness on my part, but I found James' characters' negative comments about homosexuals and one physically challenged character to be in poor taste.

Curious that, with such an arresting opening as this book has (a handless corpse floating off the Suffolk coast), i should find it so difficult to get involved with. I think, more than anything, i found it a little tough to tell some of the characters apart at first. Once past that point, however, this became, like just about every other James, the best one she's written. One grows to enjoy the little community she has created, the petty spites and jealousies, the sniping back and forth between these largely unsuccessful (at least in terms of importance) writers, at the death of one of them. Even Dalgliesh, in Suffolk on holiday, so the death is not his case, has trouble in his relationship with the local Inspector in charge of the case, they are overtly polite, but there is tension between them; he cannot hold himself back from doing some investigation on his own, however, and is able to show that murder has been committed, though not prevent another. The actual revelation of method and motive are interesting and unusual, in that James makes use of the murderer's confession to show how it was done. Another classic James and Dalgliesh.

This is my absolute favorite of the Dalgliesh novels. The balance between exploring characters and expounding plot is just about perfect. The reader really feels for Dalgliesh as he struggles to decide about marrying Deborah Riscoe, and the murder than intrudes on his vacation is both horrible and intruiging. Finally, as an added bonus, in this book we at last get to read a bit of Dalgliesh's poetry: ten beautifully intricate lines addressed to Deborah. If you like and are interested in the character of Dalgliesh, you must own this book, because you will want to read it again and again.

the reason most black men don't go to church is because it's a white man's religion and most black men instinctively know that it is wrong to pray to a man and be in the religion of their ancestor's oppressors

In this book, Jawanza Kunjufu endeavors to discern why black men are not in church and how the church might bring them back. After giving some anecdotal evidence of the problem, statistical evidence of the plight of the black male in society, and a discussion of the success of black Islam, Kunjufu gets to the heart of the book. In chapter 5, Kunjufu reveals 21 reasons black men do not attend church based on a survey and interviews he performed. In chapter 6, he posits solutions to the 21 problems that keep black men out of the church. Finally, Kunjufu surveys some models of ministries to black men.

Kunjufu never details exactly how he performed his survey--how he distributed the surveys in a balanced way, how many surveys he distributed, what kind of return he got, and so forth--and this might call his results into question. Nevertheless, the answers Kunjufu's respondents provide resonate strongly with the common sense of any churchgoer, especially to a man. The 21 reasons he cites as to why men do not attend church are themselves worth the price of the book. Most of these reasons cut across racial and socioeconomic lines as well. Kunjufu's list is indispensible for anyone doing evangelism among men of any color.

Nevertheless, this golden core is barnacled by much worthless dross. Most of the solutions Kunjufu gives to the 21 problems are superficial. Many of them are apologetic arguments for church practices that the unchurched men deplore, but these arguments will not bring these men into the church.

Further, the book is very sloppily edited, if edited at all. Kunjufu claims that the book was written in five days, and it shows. The organization is not tight, the formatting is not always consistent, there are numerous mechanical errors, and Kunjufu routinely gets carried off in a torrent of rhetorical questions that lead nowhere.

Ultimately, this book is worth its low price for the responses of the men Kunjufu interviewed. But the same goal could have been accomplished with the edited publication of chapter 5 in a widely read magazine.

This book opened my eyes as to why there are so few African-American men under the age of 50 in many inner city churches. It also gives some insights on how Orthodox Islam and The Nation of Islam are making inroads among young African-American Men. This book clearly shows that a African-American male can be Christ centered and Afro-centric at the same time.

This is mostly a list of why people can't create. The book provides few techniques to boost creativity. However, the blocking mechanisms are clearly explained. Identifying the problems is the path to a solution....
I will look around to find books that describe some methodology to create more effectively.

According to my experiences and learnings of many expressions in books, my individual opinion is, that those expressions are depending very closely on what has been harnessed in their 'brain neurons' while that makes ones peception of what has been unfolded by the author's intelectual and perceptual recorded facts of experiences. The sensitivity of receiving information through 'objective' and 'subjective' dimensions are obviously supported when persons don't have negative stress that could interfere in the 'inner management of thoughts'. I'm a lecturer for the Indonesian territory of 'Psychorientology', since 20 years, named popular 'The Silva Mind Control Method'. I'm very convinced about what has been unfolded through his coursework 'Basic Lecture Series' and the 'Ultra Mind ESP'. It's a system that indeed changes behaviour and attitudes into high morality and ethics, as results of scientific research of nearly 56 years, that now a days are declining very fast in this world because of 'Stress' as the main reason which could ampel be solved by the lack of 'Mind Control'. If every human being, naturally uses the right and left brain hemispheres at a balanced way, the world would be a planit of peace and harmony throughout all the phases of human evolution. It's worse to try and not to critisize without having a thorough inside on what the exact meaning and results are of a certain system that has been developed through scientific research without any 'modifications' of other systems. This is my contribution of thoughts coming from a 'subconscious management'. Regards and Success.

Perhaps more for the layman than the professional scholar, this book can help you to see why you keep coming up short in finding answers to the recurrent problems that plague you. I have bought at least ten copies since it's first publication because when I loan it out, I seldom get it back.

It was amazing to read this book and find numerous mentions of "In this paper" and so on. The book covers some interesting titles but gives very little technical or business applications. The editing is of course horrible. After some research on the authors, it was intersting to find some of their students research papers resembling the text from the chapters...Shame on them.

Well-written, concise, comprehensive. I like the integrated mullti-disciplinary approach

I am enjoying reading this book. The authors have done an excellent job in bringing together three diverse areas that are all so important for electronic commerce. As electronic commerce is being adopted rapidly across industry sectors, government, and education, a deep understanding of the main issues of electronic commerce is a must and also something that many people are looking for.

This book is an excellent attempt at viewing electronic commerce in the light of its technological, business, and policy-oriented issues. I also enjoyed having a comprehensive reference of the literature in this field.

If you are looking for a particular aspect of electronic commerce, for example, web technology, you will probably find other books that have dedicated discussions on that topic. In fact there is no shortage of books that address specific technical aspects of electronic commerce. However, they might not provide you with a general understanding of the wholistic picture that this book provides. I look forward to seeing another edition of this book.

There are a zillion Egypt travel guides, and I've at least flipped through most of them. The Let's Go is the best, most up-to-date, and most practical. I have also found the sections on Jordan and Syria, though fairly small, to be more useful than whole other guides devoted to those countries. The Lebanon section is rife with errors, probably because it is new. I expect it will get better over time.

My biggest complaint about this series is the sometimes inappropriate use of humor. Humor is welcome, of course, but the 1992 edition led a (admittedly somewhat gullible) friend of mine to the remote fishing village of Abu Qir in search of the International House of Pancakes Let's Go said was there. Many people seem to memorize the Cairo drivers' "honking dictionary" that appeared in the 1998 edition, when this was either a joke or the product of a serious lack of understanding on the part of the authors.

All in all, though, a very good book and the one to buy if you're coming to the region.

The Let's Go books tend to improve every year, so it's not surprising that some things in this version are out of date. If you are planning a trip to the Middle East, buy a more up-to-date version of the book!

That said, I used this book in 1998 to travel around Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, and I found it useful, insightful, and (yes) funny too. The Let's Go authors share more interesting observations, pay closer attention to detail, and express themselves more clearly than the authors of most other travel guides I've used (and I have used many).

The maps in the book were definitely a weak point. I suggest taking along a supplemental map or two, especially if visiting the big cities.

The Let's Go books tend to improve every year, so it's not surprising that some things in this version are out of date. If you are planning a trip to the Middle East, buy a more up-to-date version of the book!

That said, I used this book in 1998 to travel around Egypt, Israel, and Jordan, and I found it useful, insightful, and (yes) funny too. The Let's Go authors share more interesting observations, pay closer attention to detail, and express themselves more clearly than the authors of most other travel guides I've used (and I have used many).

The maps in the book were definitely a weak point. I suggest taking along a supplemental map or two, especially if visiting the big cities.

These are stories built around an idea, nothing more. There is no sense of Lincoln apart from his height. I also found the subject matter of the stories and the dialogue to be too anachronistic to be credible. And the writing never goes beyond serviceable. A major disappointment.

Yes, this has it flaws, but it is still a remarkable read. I am surprised to see what the negative reviews here on Amazon are saying, especially those who seem to be disapointed that is fiction. It is fiction, and has all the chracteristics of literary contemporary fiction (and that of course is where its beauty lies in its lyrical prose, anachronistic settings, and postmodern tone). Anybody who is looking to learn more about Lincoln should pick up any of the hundreds of wonderful biographies about the 16th president. But readers who want a book that explores the complex world of emotional resonance should read "Mr. Lincoln's Wars."

"Mr. Lincoln's Wars" is one of the most moving books I have read to date. It shows Lincoln and the world around him in its most metaphorical sense -- a world haunted by sadness, confusion, and the human will to persevere. The stories revolving around Lincoln are often sadly poignant, showing the president at his most introspective. The book is also complemented by stories that show ordinary people and thier relationships to the "idea" of Lincoln. These stories make for a stark contrast to the world of Lincoln that is presented to us -- showing us the humanity in all people. I suspect that detractors may be missing the point: "Mr. Lincoln's Wars" is not a book for "learning" something new about Abraham Lincoln, instead it is about seeing the humanity of the confusing world that we still live in.

Like many of her fellow "Progressives," Jane Addams was born in the midwest and received an exceptional scholastic and religious education. She was strongly devoted to her father and shared with him a reverence for Abraham Lincoln not just as a man, but as a living ideal against which all men should measure their ideas and actions. Typical of many reformers of her era, Addams was not attracted to evangelical duty. Missionary work left her with a sense of futile detachment from the wretched social conditions she witnessed in East London. After visiting Toynbee Hall, Addams decided to establish a similar settlement house in the rapidly-growing city of Chicago, where "the evil and vices of American life seemed to be exaggerated." Her experiences at this settlement house are the subject of this book.

Although, on the one hand, Addams seemed the typical Progressive; on the other hand she did not follow many of the ideas of the more radical reformers. She was very practical and refused to be swayed by the claims of certain social movements and untried panaceas. she did not become a socialist. Although she greatly admired Tolstoy, she found his message "confused and contradictory" and doubted its suitability to the situation in Chicago. She deplored any violent tactics associated with socialist and anarchist groups despite their "noble motives." Addams demostrated an understanding of the ways in which strikes had a detrimental effect on people outside the labor movement (her dying sister was unable to see her family because the transportation system was blocked due to the Pullman strike. Unlike most reformers, she also had respect for the immigrant cultures represented at Hull House. A labor museum put native sewing machines and other instruments and crafts on display for all to enjoy.

One observation made by this reader was the animosity on the part of European reformers toward the work of the settlement residents. Tolstoy offered petty criticisms and one English visitor concluded that reformers in America were indifferent to the plight of the poor because they could not recite the "cubic feet of air required for each occupant of a tenement bedroom." Such remarks smack of a "caring competition." Addams, however, was well aware that the settlement house experiment was far from complete. Jane Addams' honest and humble account--albeit long and sometimes rambling (don't let the skinny paperback fool you)--demonstrated her unwavering commitment to achieving the improvement and unity of humanity.

Although, I did find this book to be hard to read at times, I did find it very interesting. It was an inspiring book, showing what a group of dedicated ladies can do when they set their minds to something. Jane Addams is quite the heroine along with the many other ladies that helped her run Hull-House. A very inspiring story. We should all be as dedicated to doing good in the world.

Most of the people who reviewed this book were forced to read it in college, admittedly. A couple of them openly confessed to having given up part-way through. My question: Why are you reviewing the book you haven't even read? Granted, it's not a Hollywood film, but it is perhaps one of the greatest works of the 20th century, written by an author who stands on par with Gandhi or Mother Teresa in her committment to social justice. Think about it this way: Addams' settlement house (or Hull House, as it was called) was like an ashram built in the middle of Chicago's dirtiest late 19th century slum. She was doing social work of a kind that had never been done before - working with immigrants, single mothers, orphins, troubled youth and the unemployed. The scope of her sociological experience has never been matched. Politically, Addams was an advocate for the abolition of war, and these views not only secured her the Nobel Prize, but also a black-listing with the House of Un-American Activities. I don't see what is not to like about this book. It is autobiographical in the strict sense of the term, but Addams was larger than life. If you are even vaguely interested in ethics, social work, sociology, social justice, or democracy, Addams' story will inspire and amaze you. Her life was a paradigmn of exellence. It was a life that will inspire you to achieve greatness yourself. I cannot over-recommend familiarizing yourself with this figure, and 20 Years at Hull House is the best place to start.