The pragmatic Richard Fentnor Harrowby, wealthy manufacturer of Harrowby's Creme Cleopatre and No. 7 Dental Delight, discussed the life and work of the author Felix Kennason who rose to fame with the publication of "Men Who Loved Alison." Harrowby's evaluation of Kennason: "At all events, I never quite liked Felix Kennason--not even after I came to understand that the man I knew in the flesh was a very ill-drawn likeness of Felix Kennason. After all, that is the whole sardonic point of his story--and, indeed, of every human story--that the person you or I find in the mirror is condemned eternally to misrepresent us in the eyes of our fellows. but even with comprehension, I never cordially liked the man; and so, it may well be that his story is set down not all in sympathy." The book begins in Storisende. Count Emmerick had planned a wedding feast for La Beale Ettarre, his youngest sister, engaged to marry Guiron des Rocques. Horvendile, a servant of Ettarre, also loved her, and attempted to sabotage the wedding. He failed, and had to leave Storisende. Before he departed, Ettarre took the Sigil of Scoteia which hung around her neck, broke it in half and gave him one of its halves to him and said, "You will not always abide in your own country, Horvendile. Some day you will return to us at Storisende. The sign of the dark Goddess will prove your safe-conduct then if Guiron and I be yet alive." After he had completed writing his book, Kennason took a twilight walk in the garden of Alcluid, his estate. He spied a shining bit of metal along the pathway and picked it up and put it in his pocket. The metal was a half of a disk which was three inches in diameter with tiny characters inscribed upon its surface. That disk enabled Kennason, in his dreams, to be transformed into Horvendile and transported to many different times and places in which he met Ettarre, but every time he tried to touch her "the universe seemed to fold about him, just as a hand closes." Kennason sought Harrowby's expertise in explaining the occult aspects of his dreams with ironic results.

To understand why the U.S. government works, and works relatively well, a bridge of understanding is needed between the principles of the founding fathers and the massive bureaucratic machine that is the modern United States. Richard Stillman's "Creating the American State: the Moral Reformers and the Modern Administrative World They Made" provides such a bridge. Stillman builds a cogent case that seven "founders" of the modern administrative state shared and applied common Protestant values of work, duty, and idealism. These founders -- little known public officials -- essentially provided functional amendments to the theoretical skeleton of the Constitution. George William Curtis influences the adoption of a merit system over patronage. Charles Francis Adams (of the other Adams family) pioneers the sunshine commission. Jane Addams parlays her Protestant beliefs into social reforms that are ultimately rewarded with the 1931 Nobel Peace Prize. And, Frederick W. Taylor pioneers a system of scientific management that is still sending shock waves through government and industry. (Think TQM and Deming.) Combining biography and political science, Professor Stillwell provides a fascinating portrait of the emerging U.S. administrative state. Taken as a whole, his book provides an insight into why a complex bureaucracy is a necessary component of a successful modern society. This review provided by Dr. R. Kirk Jonas, who uses "Creating the American State" in his University of Richmond class "Reinventing Government, Again." Comments to rkjona@aol.com

I read this book after starting my new job as a debt collector and it helped me to triple the amount i was collecting the month after I read it. I only read the areas that directly affected my specific job, so I can only speak for some of the book, but what i did read was well written and very informative. A definite for anyone collecting or dealing with credit collectors.

Creole New Orleans is an excellent account of the shaping of the city of New Orleans, from its early days as a colonial city of the French and Spanish, through the modern city. The book focuses on the gradual americanization of the city and the implications this had for its residents, using the unique race relations in New Orleans as measuring stick.

The editors and co-authors Arnold Hirsch and Joseph Logsdon compiled a series of six essays, broken into three sections of the book. The first section focuses on colonial New Orleans, and the development of the French assimilationist ethos in the policies of French and Spanish Louisiana, especially with regards to slaves, free people of color, and native americans. Part Two deals with The American period. It traces the slow Americanization process of the city. It also explains how different groups, like the Foreign French helped, to stave off the rising tide of Americanization. And finally, Part Three focuses on New Orleans' black community. Attention is given to the rifts developing between Afro-Creoles and Afro-Americans and their struggles over Reconstruction. And it ends with New Orleans in the twentieth century. They explain how the Creole protest tradition in New Orleans was continued in the modern political and social arenas.

This book was extremely informative and thoroughly researched. It did a marvelous job of explaining why New Orleans, often thought to be an exotic and un-American city, is in fact, extremely American. The authors are able to give a convincing account about how the city of New Orleans, through its unique development, has maintained its heritage while adapting to the ways of the rest of the United States. I highly recommend this book to anyone with an interest in American History, Black History, or Louisiana History.

With all of the problems that Orleans and Jefferson Parish Public school systems face and have faced, it is of utmost importance that we understand how things have gotten this way in order to have any real understanding of how to improve the situation. With this in mind, this book should be required reading for administrators, anyone who teaches or aspires to teach in the Orleans or Jefferson Parish Public School System. The authors take the reader on a historical tour from the establishment of the first Orleans Parish public schools in 1841 to the present conditions of schools in the 1990's. In between are issues dealing with the Civil War, integration in the late nineteenth century, segregation, the inequities between black and white schools, the ordeal of desegregation, and the effects having an abundance of parochial schools. I hope this "look back" will help us to understand what we need to do to improve the future of schools in the New Orleans area.

The book brings out a very important balance to the context of history of mathematics. Most of us have no idea that Mayan civilizations could have had developed mathematics. This book will change our view. Even in the context of Indian mathematics, the book draws attention to the context of Kerala mathemtics, to show the continuity of Indian mathematics in 13-14 th centurary. Best part I liked about `quipu'. It is a mop which consists of a collection of knots, often dyed in one or more colours. He discusses how `quipu' of Inca tribes are actually mathematical records, a hard disk of their time. The book is written in a lively form. As a information, The title ` Crest of peacock' means mathematics as as the head of all knowledge.(

Review: 1997 - I have used this book with students, teachers, and grandparents in teaching the basics of cribbage. Children - ages 8-12 become very focused with "Uncle Joe" and other characters of the text. The book allows for the combining of a wooden cribbage board, a deck of playing cards, and the principles of 360 year old cribbage - hands on or 'experiential learning theory' approach! Karl W. Grube, Ph.D., Editor of educational games.

I read this book about 6 years ago when I was still in college. I bought it for a quarter at a fund raising book sale the english dept had put together. Always interested in history, particularly WWII, I found I couldn't put this book down. Written in a style which can be enjoyed by academics and casual readers both, the book gives insight into the little known capitalistic aspects of the holocaust. I, for one, was well read on WWII but knew nothing of the gross injustices of the private sector in regards to the Holocaust. Especially, surprising was learning that some concertration camps were built and run not by Nazis but by a privately owned corporation.
Truly an intense and eye-opening read.

Decades after its first edition, this is still considered the best work on interrogating a criminal suspect. The authors walk you through every step, towards the goal of clearing the innocent and eliciting confessions from the guilty. No detail or nuance is left unexplored, not only of the suspect's behavior, but of your own as well. This book is a must read for anyone involved in criminal justice.

As a physician, I've used this textbook and I believe this is a "must have" book for all physicians dedicated to Critical Care Medicine. Extensive and detailed review of all items. I advice you to buy the "Current Therapy in Critical Care Medicine" book (written by Dr.Joseph Parrillo) as a complement from this excellent textbook. I hope a new edition will be planned (and I hope somebody tells me about it!!!)