Small and cheap, St. Joseph's Sunday Missal is the perfect tool for Small Christian Communities that focus on the Sunday Gospel readings. My group has used it for three years and love it, because we don't have the confusion of different people using different translations of the Bible, and we can all be on the same page at the same time. It is also perfect to take to Mass with you, or to read and reflect on the readings before Mass....

Includes a few prayers along with Mass readings etc. The book has helped me out a lot when I attend Mass.

Certainly, any rational thinking American is completely flabbergasted by the atrocities Stalin commited in the very long twenty-four years he reigned in the Soviet Union. And naturally any thinking person would want to know why a person would commit these atrocities.

Ulam's excellent biography puts into perspective how a seemingly under-educated person such as Stalin could fill the void left by a giant of a person like Lenin. The part of the book that is most insightful is the chapters describing the power stuggle that took place "after" V.I. Lenin's death. You really start to understand how a gifted author and orator such as Leon Trotsky lost the battle for Lenin's mantle to Stalin. A person can even begin to sypathize for Stalin, but then the author describes what happened after Stalin became the maximum leader of the USSR in 1929. Of course everyone knows what happened after 1929, collectivization, purges, show trials of Bukharin, Kamenev, and Zinoviev, and the assasination of Leon Trotsky. Ulam's book is quite lengthy, but it is well worth the read, I would recommend this book to anyone.

This is quite simply a masterful book. Ulam gives the impression of having read, pondered, and put in context everything ever written in any language by and about Stalin, the other Bolsheviks, and their close contemporaries in the USSR and Europe. And yet he is anything but tedious. He is as fine a writer as any historian around -- lucid, incisive, authoritative, serious and yet with a very witty, very dry irony. His tone is ideally suited for writing about historical figures, especially such grotesque ones as Stalin and his cohorts.

As a brutal manipulator of people, there are few historical figures that can match Joseph Stalin. However, there was a time when he was not absolute ruler of Russia. There was a key point in the early thirties when the block of remaining old Bolsheviks seemed to be coming together with some of the newer figures to mount attacks on Stalin to reduce his power or even have him removed as leader. This opposition was jelling around Sergei Kirov, the leader of the Leningrad party and a member of the ruling Politburo. In 1934, Kirov was assassinated by a dissident party member, thereby removing the focus of the anti Stalin opposition.
In this book, the author describes the events of the crime in great detail, including how, in a very short time, the witnesses also began dying, as well as those who witnessed their dying. After describing the events, Conquest goes to great lengths to present an even-handed reconstruction and finally conclude that the murder and subsequent deaths of all others involved were at the orders of Stalin himself. While you cannot help but admire his principles in avoiding any leap to the result, there is no question Stalin was the force behind the events and that conclusion can be reached well before the author does.
In criminal trials, circumstantial evidence can be very convincing and in this case it is overwhelmingly so. The pattern of deaths and forced confessions of high ranking officials is clearly one that could not have been managed by anyone not possessing power on the order of Stalin. Having Kirov murdered was the first step in his final movement to absolute power and he of course succeeded, with consequences that destroyed many people.
Stalin was responsible for the death of millions of Soviet citizens at the hands of their fellow citizens, all directly traceable to his policies. However, there is one death that stands out and made more difference than all the others. This is an account of how that death took place, and is an example of how power can be executed by a policy of execution. It is an excellent example of how the Soviet Union was governed under one of the most brutal men the human race has produced.

Stalin hatched a devious plot to assassinate his comrade in arms Sergei Kirov. The " Congress of Victors" , that is the Congress of the Communist Party which celebrated the fulfillment of the First 5-year Plan, convened and secretly voted to have Stalin replaced. This was a secret protest vote against the brutality used enforcing Stalin's 5-year plan, which involved the starvation of 7 million in the Ukraine, millions more sent to the gulag to perish in slave labor, as well as millions of deportations of peoples to remote resettlement areas. All the while the Soviet regime was exporting grain in exchange for Western industrial expertise and machinery in order to comply with Stalin's massive heavy industrial buildup. It is for these reasons that the Congress secretly voted for Sergei Kirov to replace Stalin as the leader of the Bolshevik regime. Stalin's leadership was considered disastrous. Kirov was one of the most popular Bolshevik leaders, and therefore wa! ! s the choice of the Congress. Stalin had the vote falsified, and after the Congress adjourned, plotted to avenge himself against the 1000 members of the Congress and against Kirov personally. He plotted with his secret police, and then carried out an incredibly bold assassination of Kirov. He then launched one phony investigation after another in which he blamed the act of terror on different groups. He created an hysterical witchhunt atmosphere, which he used as the basis for his purges and show-trials of the thirties. All in all, there were four different phony explanations that were carefully laid out one after the other over time to explain Kirov's assassination. But the real criminal was none other than Stalin himself. During the purges of the thirties, almost every member of the "Congress of Victors" was murdered, thus earning them the title "Congress of Victims". This book puts the issue of Stalin's guilt, long suspected, beyond doubt, and is also ! ! a fascinating crime story. Robert Conquest is one of the to! p scholars of the Stalinist tyranny. Since the book was written before the fall of communism, the newly opened secret Russian archives will supply fascinating confirmation of this book.

The book Stalin, by Albert Marrin, told every part of Stalin's life. Overall, the book was full of information. Throughout the book, ranging from the bringing up of Joseph Stalin, to his turning Russia into a superpower, and eventually his death and how Russia changed afterward. For a biography this book was very good. It was interesting because of the fact that there were so many important historical World War II facts told. The beginning of the book gives detail on his origin and birth.
Stalin was born on December 21, 1879, in The Causcaus Mountains. Stalin's caring mother is brought into the story, and small detail is given about her. Once he becomes older, Marrin goes into description of how Stalin rose to power and killed many people. It was amazing to learn that this man killed so many, and yet it is overshadowed still by Hitler's similar acts. Toward the end of his life, the Russian Red Army built by Stalin invades Berlin and the German army is defeated. Barrin the author makes you want to keep learning about this man of great power and influence. After his death, the story continues telling how the superpower Stalin built had faded away. After de-Stalinization in the 1960's, the city, Stalingrad is renamed and all monuments of The Man of Steel are removed. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in a very vivid historical/biography.

This book talks about everything you need too know about Joseph Stalin. It speaks about his first wife, and his caring mother-Ekaterina. It also says about the negative events that transformed Joseph Djugashvili into a cold individual who went on to eliminate many people just because he wanted to have all the power, and see no one above him in the ranks. The book also has black and white pictures of his children, his Beautiful wife Ekaterina, his Mom, and the people who helped him in his Revolutionary party-Lenin, Zinoviev,and others. I recommend this book to anyone interested in knowing about Joseph Stalin-his teen years at the Tiflis Theological school, his quest to expand Communism, and have Atheist Museums. Albert Marrin does a good job as an author-everything is real clear, and direct(the reading).

McMoneagle, a former member of the U.S. government's "psychic spy" unit, and arguably the best "remote viewer" in the U.S, has written a very intimate memoir. Whether you are wondering what kind of person becomes a world class psychic, or what life path could possibly lead to his recruitment in the unit, or if you want to know what it was like on the inside, you will not be disappointed.

He begins with his childhood in "The Projects" in Miami -- a life dominated by alchoholic parents, violent streets, and the tragic loss of his twin sister, who exhibited similar native psychic abilities, to the misdiagnoses of psychiatric medicine.

Although he was accepted into a local university, McMoneagle instead joined the Army and, based on extremely high test scores, was recruited into military intelligence.

He hopscotched around the globe and eventually arrived in Southeast Asia at the height of the Vietnam war. McMoneagle's considerable psychic talents were honed further, as his intuition would alert him to impending danger. On one particularly brutal night, those inner voices kept him moving all night long, with a constant string of near-escapes. McMoneagle would not have survived otherwise, and those who fought with him learned to mimic his moves if they too wanted to remain safe.

McMoneagle repeatedly proved himself and eventually was awarded the top spot in his specialty. At the same time, his name appeared on a list of possible recruits for the psychic unit at Ft. Meade. When he was asked to volunteer for a full time place in the unit, McMoneagle walked away from his fast track, effectively ending his military career.

While the psychic unit was wildly successful, far more so than anyone anticipated, it continuously fought for funding and was mired in politics from within and without, even as every alphabet-agency in creation lined up for its services. Those who had first hand knowledge of its effectiveness have outright lied when interviewed by the press, so frightened by affiliation with such an unpopular endeavor.

Everyone will find something in this book. It's a terrific read.

This book is very different from anything Joe has published to-date. It's an amazingly intimate look at the life of remote viewings' greatest living legend, Joe McMoneagle, in his own words. In "The Stargate Chronicles", Joe describes his life in detail, from his humble and rough beginnings in South Florida right up to the present. It's a fast, interesting, and easy read. I finished the book in just over two days.

Many people have wondered over the years what it could be that makes this man so unique, so different, and what gives him this amazing psychic ability? Is it just an inborn, innate talent? Is it a result of his years under fire while serving our country in Vietnam and other places all over the globe? Could it be a by-product of several near-death experiences? The reader begins to realize it is all and none of these things.

Joe lets the reader in on many unsavory details of his life and experiences and lays it all out on the table, warts and all. From a childhood overshadowed by alcoholism and poverty to the many mistakes and weaknesses which led to the breakup of several marriages, he holds back very little. Frankly, I was often taken aback and surprised at the level of honesty in this book. Couragously, Joe describes events in his life exactly as he understands them, even when they cast him in a bad light. His observations on the events of his life reveal a man that is both deeply humble and fiercely proud. One of the most important elements of the book is the way the reader can see the wisdom Joe has gained from his life by the way he views the weaknesses and mistakes of others, and more importantly, those of his own.

This book also lends a lot of understanding to the details of how the government psychic spying program originated and developed. Joe makes it clear that it was a monumental effort on the parts of many talented people that brought it into being and made it possible for it to continue for almost two decades in the face of prejudice, ignorance, ego-wars, and ridicule. The reader gains some idea of the stresses the remote viewers were under as they were tasked to gather information on many events in our national history repeatedly, day after day; only to see their information ignored or not acted upon in a proper fashion. Joe makes it clear that this was a very difficult period in his life and that all the viewers were deeply effected by these frustrations.

With many fascinating details about dozens of remote viewing and other psi-related experiments, Joe explains how he slowly switched from a paranormal agnostic to what may be the best scientifically documented remote viewer to date. He describes both his successes and his failures and suggests what may have been important contributory elements in both cases. He takes pains to explain that it's important to with hold belief in any paranormal abilities until they've been fully demonstrated and replicated by science. In doing so, Joe sets a new standard for the psychic and the psi experimental subject. It's a standard that requires intelligence, honesty, and a healthy degree of sceptiscm. Joe McMoneagle has blazed many new trails in the field of paranormal functioning, the most important of which may be that it requires a whole different way of being, a coming together of the inner and the outer facets of human nature into a whole that is at home both in the consensus reality and in the deep paranormal reaches of the mind.

This book documents the life of a most remarkable man. What Joe shows us is that it takes more than just a high degree of inborn natural talent to be a great remote viewer. It takes more than a near-death experience. It takes more than many years spent in dangerous situations. It also requires an open and searching mind that understands how to walk the centerline of belief and common sense between that which has been demonstrated and that which is only supposition. It requires years of hard work and laser-like concentration. Above all, it requires a good heart and a good soul. "The Stargate Chronicles" is another testament to the fact that Joe McMoneagle has all these qualities in spades.

Stars Look Down obviously is not the best known book by A.J.Cronin who is known for writing books mainly about miners or medicine (such as Citadel), but it's definately one of the best ones.

It's about a young man who comes from a miner family. He has lost some family members and collegues due to bad conditions in mines and he feels like there has to be something done about it, so he wins in the local election and goes to the London. He really wants to make his people life better, he wants to change the whole mining system, make reformations but in the Parliament his ardency is killed by people who are interested in nothing except for power, i.e., money and show no interest for this outstanders pains to fulfill his ideals. As he couldn't win the fight with them he had to go home and become a miner again; he had lost his wife and he had got nothing.

I personally was very touched by the story itself as well as with the way Cronin tells it. Although you know how it's going to end if you've read some other Cronin's books (the thing I really suggest to do), you are so deep in it you are not thinking about it. Stars Look Down is not the new-age kind of book-the one you take, read and put in the bookshelve and never take again, it's got the classical value-you think of it again and again and you recall it when you feel absolutely miserable about your dreams and things you're trying to do or reach.

4 stars instead of 5 cos I really hoped for a better ending, although 4,5 would fit better as it was a realistic one.

I recomend it if you're a serious reader, otherwise you'll simply be bored.

This novel was first published in the 1930s and it is a measure of the author's achievement that it still reads wonderfully today. The story has a breadth to it that amazes me, and a cast of memorable characters that linger in the memory. I love it!

It is set in an English mining town over a number of years before and after the First World War. It follows the fortunes (and misfortunes) of several families, from the wealthy mineowner's, to a humble family where the father and three sons are all miners. There are some wonderfully drawn characters, some doses of realism that shock the reader, and some moving passages which bring tears to your eyes. But there's nothing cliched or sentimental about the book, so if you like television mini-series or the kind of 'feel good' romantic stories that Hollywood specialises in, this is not for you.

But if you want a taste of real life from nearly a 100 years ago, written by an author who was there (he was a doctor in a mining village for a time and many of his books come from out of his medical background) then this is the book for you. Get Amazon to find you a copy!

I sum up this novel to friends by saying it is so great an achievement that I feel it could only have been written by God. I'm probably the only person who thinks so, but perhaps it really is the greatest novel of the 20th Century.

Fr. Champlin has taken an innovation by Pope John Paul II and made it accessible to the devotion of those who walk the Way of The Cross in Lent. Basing each Station of The Cross on the passage from Scripture that covers the entire Passion and not just beginning at the condemnation and ending at the entombment this work takes on the character of "Lectio Divina". We are called to enter into the Scriptural passage and meditate on its implications for us.

The Stations of the Cross with Pope John Paul II is a version that uses the modern Biblical stations with a 15th station, the resurrection. My personal bias is that the 15th station in inappropriate during Lent, that the resurrection should not be celebrated until the Triduum Easter vigil.

This version in terms of gesture and music is one of the more traditional versions. It assumes a communal celebration with Leader, Reader and "All". Each station begins with a short responsory and genuflection, the reader proclaims a scriptural passage related to the station, all kneel and the leader reads a short meditation applying the suffering of Christ at the station to our lives, the people respond with a short psalm excerpt, all stand and sing a verse of the Stabat Mater. Each station is accompanied by a line drawing.

While emphasizing pattern histories more than actual technique, this is nevertheless one of my favorite books. As a tyer, I benefit from the extensive pattern lists and learn a little about each one in terms of where it came from. The book doesn't have as much material covering how to fish streamers, but there's enough for the beginner to learn and more advanced anglers will enjoy the book anyway. Highly recommended.

J.D. Bates delivers exactly what this title indicates. Reflections of big fish taken, and the flies he used to take them. Written in the language of a by-gone generation, this book is easy to read and enjoy. Mr. Bates writes with the colorful appeal and common sense approach of Joe Brooks coupled with the technical efficiency of Mr. Art Lee. A most dangerous com- bination to all fish holding water! 500 streamer and bucktail dressings, 164 of these on 12 full color plates with historical accounts of their origins. A must read for anyone who fishes with the fly.

Pierre Curie developed the idea of symmetry in 1894. He later won the Nobel Prize with his wife Marie for their studies of radioactivity. But Pierre Curie's greatest legacy may end up being his work on symmetry, which forms a rare link between science and art. But symmetry is a complex subject for general readers, as illustrated by the following concise definition of it: Physical processes require environmental dissymmetry, and although the symmetry of a product can exceed that of its cause, any dissymmetry of a product must have existed in its cause. The value of Rosen's book Symmetry Discovered is its success in reducing the complexity of the subject. Cambridge University Press originally published the book, and this edition is a reprint with a new preface and supplemental references including an English-language treatise from the Moscow University symmetry school, world center for this topic. Symmetry Discovered is an easily understood beginner's manual.

When it was first published in 1975, this book filled a gap in the literature. It still does. Simple and unassuming, it is the best introduction to symmetry that I ever read. A perfect introduction to the two subsequent books by Rosen himself, and to more advanced treatises, like Weyl's.

This book is really unparalleled in terms of documentation and comprehension. Bermudez neatly addresses the subject by covering DPRK activities by country, rather than by method (bombings, kidnappings, assassinations, etc.) This makes the book coherent and easy to read. It is also good for students who need to do a last-minute term paper on the subject. (I recommend such students go back and read the book cover to cover, however.)

The book suffers from rather poor editing, however, as another reviewer has already stated. But that is forgivable. Bermudez is the unofficial encyclopedia of North Korea's military and security forces. His writing for Jane's Intelligence and his other published books make him a scholar with value.

I recommend this book to anyone interested in the DPRK.

...This book is one of the most important works available to help one understand north Korea and their military capabilities.