After seeing the new documentary on Derrida(Nov. 2002) I decided to reconnect with this thinker whose work I studied with great vigor twelve years ago. Coming back to Derrida through On Cosmopolitanism and Forgiveness was both interesting and enjoyable. In these all too brief essays Derrida addresses two concerns of human rights. The first being the ideas of hospitality and refuge in the contemporary geo-political environment. The second, being the nature, meaning, and limits of forgiveness.
In on Cosmopolitanism he extends the existing call for "cities of refuge" while examining the rights of hospitality as they are(n't) currently allowed to refugees. these movements are part of Derrida's advocating for a new consideration of cosom-politics.
When addressing forgiveness, Derrida argues against the economy of forgiveness that is created whenever forgiveness is called for, insisted upon, or deployed as a way of re-establishing normalcy. That is when the concept is used by a system of political / spiritual exchange. Derrida argues very well that the only things that can be forgiven are those considered unforgivable, and that the right to forgive is owned by specific individuals.
Back in the 1970's and 80s one of the most common attacks launched against post-structural thought in general, and deconstruction in particular was that it lacked political utility, or worse, was apolitical, or even worse, was politically regressive. Many of us at the time felt that such criticisms were both over stated and ill-informed. A book such as this leaves no doubt that post-structural thought and methods are relevant and helpful to progressive politics.
If you are new to Derrida and want to experience deconstruction this is not the book. Derrida's method here is well structured and worth examining, but, it is clearly not an example of the explorations he has undergone elsewhere to examine those elements "always already" present within philosophical texts that undermine in unusual and interesting ways both what and how we understand said texts to mean.

PUBLISHED IN JAPAN in 1978, this is the third of Yoshimura's provocative novels to appear in translation. Set over the decade following the end of WWII (and with flashbacks to the final days of the war), the novel explores themes of patriotism and war though Kiyohara Takuya, a Japanese officer on the run from occupying American forces. He is wanted as a war criminal for his role in the execution of American POWs in the waning days of the war. The story is a fairly gripping "The Fugitive"-like story, as he tries to figure out who he can trust and what part of Japanese society he can hide himself in. As he tries to survive while staying anonymous, the hardships of postwar Japan are vividly evoked, especially the specter of starvation. All the while Takuya watches the newspapers for stories on war criminals and any former comrades.

The book is apparently based on historical incidents-a number of flashback sequences detail the ordering of executions by high-ranking officers. What American readers might find unsettling however, is the rationale for the executions, that the bomber crews were deliberately targeting civilians, and thus not subject to POW rules of treatment. Indeed, while the Allied firebombing of Dresden is well known, the firebombings of Japanese cities are relatively forgotten episodes of the war which Yoshimura plainly seeks to remind the reader of. The atomic attacks on Hiroshima and Nagasaki are portrayed as massive exclamation points on the indiscriminate bombings, and it becomes disturbingly easy to understand the retaliatory executions. At times the prose gets a little wooden, especially over a few pages that list the numbers of bomber sorties and subsequent casualties, but on the whole the sparse style perfectly captures Takuya's internal terror. In the end, the true subjectivity and relativity of justice are exposed.

After reading Frederick Barthelme's comments about this title, I was certain that the "treat" in store may have been perhaps a little easier to digest. These stories are not consumed easily. At first I disregarded "Morning Glory" as something ridiculous and not worth the effort to decipher. Later, unable to fall asleep, I realized it contained something disturbing. This story gave me nightmares. As much as I would like to give this collection a thumbs down for ruining several nights sleep, I find that I cannot.

It was John Calvin who suggested that the N. T. is commentary on the Hebrew scriptures, while Karl Barth insisted on repeated and renewed exegesis. The long years of history have a tendency to develop into hardened dogma and Christianity is no exception. In the light of the above, "The Open Tomb" should be seriously considered as a candidate for exegetical debate. Also, since Christianity has its roots in the Hebrew scriptures, "The Open Tomb" could well serve as a door for ecumenical relations. Instead of trying to piece together the fractions of Christianity, it may be more appropriate and in the long run more advantageous, to begin with its roots, in Israel.

I thought this book was a good basic introduction to the field of optical properties of solids. The strong point of this book is that it is well organized and gives many examples. It starts with the basics of Maxwell's equation, then moves on to talk about luminescence, excitons, quantum wells, luminescence centers ... I enjoyed reading about the examples given. It gives many basic descriptions of how optoelectronics device work such as light emitting diodes and Ti:sapphire lasers.

This book is geared toward anybody who has taken one semester of basic quantum and one semester of electricity and magnetism. It is easy to read and contains many diagrams. Chapters end with a useful list of references that go into more details. This book is not a reference for graduate level treatment of optical properties of solids. The nonlinear optics part is short and shallow. The quantum mechanical description is basic.

Overall, I would recommend this book to anybody that is learning for the first time about optical properties of solids. Solid state physics textbooks by Ashcroft & Mermin and Kittel do not contain a useful and up-to-date section on optical properties of solids. This book fills the gap.

Excellent resource to introduce children to the instruments ofthe orchestra. Particularly valuable when used in conjunction withthe tape.

Mark Chaves book looks at the ordination of women from a different angle than other books on this topic that I have read in my 20 years as an ordained woman in a mainline denomination. He helps to clarify the confusion that some ordained women have felt after spending years in school training for ministry and then finding that congregations are hesitant to call us as pastors or downright against the idea. Chaves shows how much of the impetus for ordaining women came from outside of the church itself and originated in the surrounding culture that was moving, however slowly at times, toward equity for women. The book is well thought through and ably presented. I highly recommend it to any persons interested in the current state of leadership in the church in North America.

I have just recently come in contact with a classic AC Ace automobile. There are limited resources of information on the web and also in books, probably because there were so few of these car produced. Rinsey Mills has put together a great book with all the historical details and a bunch of the mechanical details as well. It also has a ton of great pictures, new and old. If you are own or are interested in an AC Ace or Cobra, you need this book.