Back then, at the birth of the American Empire, Samuel Clemens ('Mark Twain') risked his reputation, his career, and his fortune taking an uncompromising public stand against the war in the Philippines. No pacifist, Twain nevertheless refused to allow jingoists, imperialists, and flag-wavers to define America's proper role in the world. 'I am opposed to having the eagle put its talons on any other land,' he wrote.

Twain's anti-war essays had never been collected in one place before this book, and many of the writings here were never published at all. Twain takes the reader's breath away with his bold and uncompromising resistance to empire. 'The War Prayer' (1905) should be required reading in Congress and on talk radio, while 'Roosevelt, the American Gentleman' (1906) should be engraved on TR's tombstone.

And then there's 'patriotism.' In 'Monarchical and Republican Patriotism' (1908), Twain defines the former as the government telling the people what is and is not 'respectable' patriotism. 'In the other, neither the government nor the entire nation is privileged to dictate to any individual what the form of his patriotism shall be.'

He continues: 'We have adopted [monarchical patriotism] with all its servility, with an unimportant change in wording: "Our country, right or wrong!" We have thrown away the most valuable asset we had: the individual's right to oppose both flag and country when he (just *he*, by himself) believed them to be in the wrong. We have thrown it away; and with it, all that was really respectable about that grotesque and laughable word, Patriotism.'

Powerful, bracing stuff -- especially today. Very highly recommended.

Bascom Wallis retired from a career as a professor of English in 1989. Since then he has undertaken post-graduate work in theology and biblical studies at the University of California in Berkeley and the Fuller Theological Seminary. He holds a Ph.D. in American Literature from the University of Kansas.

Dr. Marvin Baker has provided an important contribution to the Kingdom and to the spiritual growth of young adults by the publication of his book, Mark's Story. Baker combines sound scholarship and a conversational style to present Mark's portrayal of Jesus in a format designed for pre-teens. For example, chapter 1 begins, "In the Old Jewish Bible, a man named Isaiah wrote that God would send someone to help people get ready to welcome His son who would be coming to earth. John the Baptist was the man God sent to do this."

Baker, of course, desires that young adults study the Scriptures. But Mark's Story gives a delightful and accessible introduction to the gospel message. Prisons have requested copies for inmates. The book will be a valuable resource for Sunday Schools or Vacation Bible School. It will also have an enthusiastic third-world audience.

All commentators on Mark end up dealing, in one way or another, with the fact that there exists two distinct types of literature within the narrative. The first kind, largely toward the beginning, consists of success stories in which Jesus works miracles, casts out demons, heals the sick, forecasts the future, draws large crowds to himself and so on. These characteristics were highly estimated in the first century Greco-Roman world. The second kind of literature, largely towards the end of the Gospel, consists of Jesus' passion in which he is betrayed, forsaken, denied, and ultimately crucified. Such characteristics would bring shame upon a person.

Gundry goes to painstaking detail to show how Mark appeals to the various success stories in Jesus' life to immerse a shameful death, a death by crucifixion, in a sea of glory. Jesus' death on a cross then turns out not to be a thing of shame, but instead, the opposite turns out to be the case. According to Gundry, the Gospel of Mark presents, however paradoxical, a cruciform shaped theology of glory.

Two concerns a potential buyer may have: 1.)This commentary assumes some knowledge of Greek and technical terminology in exegesis from the reader and, 2.) the author's Pre-Millenial interpretation of the Olivet Discourse may seem strained to those whose interests fall outside the well worn millennial arguments.

This is a substantial work that simply must be consulted for any academic study in the Second Gospel and which should also prove a valuable tool for most who are interested in a detailed understanding of Mark.