This book by Brother Cook is possibly the best volume to have to get honest and compact historical background for each section of the Doctrine and Covenants. It has been well researched and thoughtfuly organized. It is a must have for scholar or hobbiest interested in the history of the Doctrine and Covenants, Joseph Smith and the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Joseph Scotchie has written an eloquent first-rate book that
very succinctly covers America's approximately 225 years of Conservative Political Thought. The author makes very clear how and why, over time, that tradition has strayed from its true roots and what implications that has for the future political establishment. All the major figures of American Conservatism throughout the nation's history are examined and how each has influenced the conservative tradition in different ways. I highly recommend this book. It makes it all very clear.

This guidebook is a great read - if you are not now planning a trip to the Boston area you will surely want to once you finish! I'd like to catch the next plane out of Honolulu & go on a tour. The author makes history come alive again. He clears up many misconceptions & tells what really happened. His style of writing is reader friendly. In addition to being a comprehensive guidebook it is also worth reading for anyone interested in Revolutionary History. Lots of pictures too.

I highly recommend this book for fans of Richard Meier's work. Like all of the books in this series, it gives great details of the floor plans and elevations. Because this series is based on a time frame and not a certain type of architecture or building material, it includes all of Meier's designs; both houses and buildings.

Joe Richey is poet who deserves a great deal more attention than he seems to be receiving. Buy the book, read and think about it, find a Richey reading, go and enjoy it. -- ptemes@snet.net

I read this book (advertised as excellent for young boys) as a young girl of probably 12 to 13, around 1948 or 1950. This series as well as the Civil War series by the same author were invitingly dusty volumes with old-fashioned type that spoke to me somehow of forgotten knowledge and great adventure. The protagonist, Henry Ware, was a character that could be described as a young Indiana Jones, Davy Crockett, Daniel Boone. The books described the great and vanished Indian tribes of the old Northwest Territory, Kentucky, Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Michigan. I have held these stories of brave young men, frontier settlers,and indigenous Indian tribes in my mind for nearly 50 years and hold them in great respect and esteem.

This is an excellent book on the very real problems involved in racial reconciliation. I recommend it for both personal reading and for academic study. Garlington is a respected black minister who has a history of working well with a variety of people, crossing racial and denominational boundaries. He gives examples of real-life problems and shares things he has learned in regard to the root problems of relationships between individuals of different ethnic groups; he also gives insight into possible solutions. His unique sense of humor comes across in his writing so that even hard topics are made more enjoyable.

Melvyn Fairclough's book 'The Ripper And The Royals' is the very best book written on the mysterious case of Jack The Ripper, next to Donald Rumbelow's 'Jack The Ripper: The Complete Casebook'.

Readers will find Fairclough's well-researched book 'The Ripper And The Royals' to be an astonishing and page-turning who-done-it! I've read this book twice and Fairclough, based on hard evidence, makes a first-rate, but often chilling case on the deep involvement of the British Royal family in the Ripper murder case. In fact, Fairclough clear's up a mystery behind a Scottish legend, that is also tied in with Jack The Ripper! Fairclough also documents that the behavior of the Royal family well into the 20th century, is based on their legacy from Jack The Ripper.

More importantly Melvyn Fairclough's 'The Ripper And The Royal's brings the reader back to 1888 London's East End, with it's gaslights, horsedrawn carriages, and cobblestone streets! The reader can join Scotland Yard's Inspector Abberline on the hunt for Jack The Ripper!

The purpose of this book is to document the growth of Swahili civilization on the eastern coast of Africa, from 100 B.C. through the European colonialism in the sixteenth century. By using archaeological, anthropological, and historical information, Dr. Kusimba endeavors to describe the origins of this unique and powerful culture, including its Islamic components, architecture, language, and trading systems. He combines the results of his own anthropological surveys and archaeological excavations, providing a comprehensive study of the origins, rise, and collapse of societies on the Swahili Coast and their broader influence on African history.

Dr. Kusimba definitely views the origins of the Swahili States as distinctly African in nature and he offers historical, anthropological and archaeological evidence in support of this idea. The underlying basis of Swahili societies were long-established populations and cultural mores of African origin. Despite other scholars suggestions supporting extensive Arab settlement and even colonization along the Swahili Coast, Dr. Kusimba maintains that Swahili culture was not simply imported or derivative, but a rich fabric of African manufacture, one woven with threads spun from local fiber as well as imported yarn. The author repeatedly emphasizes that the ancestors of modern Swahili settled in East Africa long before the ancestors of many ethnic groups. The evidence presented in this book suggests that the Coastal peoples are not biologically different from other East African groups. The cultural diversity of Coastal peoples is similar in magnitude to the general diversity one finds among African peoples. The author proclaims such diversity should be celebrated rather than demeaned by who believe that the Swahili states originated from foreign settlement.

The author maintains that the Swahili elite (during the Omani regime) wished to be associated with places from which power and authority emanated. Therefore, they emphasized traditions of blood ties to Oman and Persia while minimizing their African roots. They even claimed to be Sharifs, the reputed descendants of the prophet Mohamed. Because of this myth that Swalili states originated from Arab settlements, many modern Africans consider the story of the Coast to be outside the African experience. Thus, the descendants of that colonial heritage occupy only a marginal position in the current order of things. Anti-Swahili sentiments among post-colonial East Africans have arisen from an under-appreciation of the relevance of Swahili history and culture.

Dr. Kusimba's book is very well organized. The geography, resources, languages and peoples of the coast are described in detail. The earliest settlements and those that followed between 300-1000 are well documented and clearly described. The role of iron working, the importance of interregional trade, and the impact of Islam prior to 1500 are all discussed at length. Dr. Kusimba also examines the hierarchy of Swahili Coast society. This book not only provides for a better understanding of the complex Swahili polities between 100 B.C. and the sixteenth century, but also lends itself to an appreciation of the relevance of Swahili society and culture in East Africa today.

This was a great book and the play was even better!!!