This book offer you a real cutoof for type your technical documents, and stimulate you to study in depth TeX. No more excuse for type my document with a professional style. . . This a serious book with a good, but no tedious, technical support and can be the fastest reference guide

Having read this book, one finds it was written more as a history book than a fact book. It was an excellent book, mostly for those students of Texas history. It gives details as if you were living in that time frame. Kinda like a time machine back to the 1835-36 period. I would recommend this book only to the serious in mind of Texas history. Otherwise you might find it pretty boring.

Tired of trying to keep up with the pace in public policy research? Ta-da! Theories of the Policy Process offers some nice introductory essays on current public policy research, with a focus on (guess what...) theoretical developments. Each major theory is given a chapter of its own, written by distinguished scholars, often the actual parents of the theories. Among the theories covered are Institutional Rational Choice (by Ostrom), Multiple Streams and Garbage Can (by Zahariadis - not Kingdon), Advocacy Coalitions (by Sabatier and Jenkins-Smith) and Punctuated Equilibrium (by True, Baumgartner and Jones). The collection ends with a very good synthesizing chapter by Schlager, where the theories are compared and essential diffrences are higlighted.

This collection is extremely useful to get updated on the latest developments in Public Policy. Lots of good, fresh references, and very accessible and authoritative introductions to the field. Yet, since the collection does not offer anything substantially new, a fifth star is not motivated. Still a very good buy.

I would not recommend it for use in introductory public policy-courses, though. Too abstract and theoretical for that. This is for people already familiar with the field.

Johnson's exploration of the theory of western architecture is meticulously organized and incredibly concise. Drawing from a wide collection of sources, "The Theory of Architecture" is a perfect beginning to understanding the paradigms that have shaped western architectural heritage--this book does not pretend to be something it is not. It is an honest, functional, and explicit work that should not be overlooked.

Paul Gilroy's 'There Ain't No Black in the Union Jack' offers an intriguing examination of race relations in Britain in the 1980s. Gilroy, unlike numerous other theorists, sees the interconnectedness between those discourses around race, class, and gender, and its impact on the black British community. Furthermore, Gilory advances the notion that "materialist theory of culture has much to contribute to 'race relations' analysis" (16). I highly recommend Gilroy's other works in addition to this one. His writing is clear and his dexterity with the topic of race in Britain is unsurpassed.

I came upon this book while searching for soemthing to read for the period at school. I found my slef entranced in teh book and checked it and finsihed it that nite. This is truly a great book which opened my eyes up to a side of war I never really thought about. Pst war after all is said and doen the different thigns which men go through. I reccomend this book for anyone Intrested in the grunt life of a Marine in Vietnam and also the psychological effects of The Vietnam War. Excuse my typing. Mike Norman Thank You for writing a great book. Tim

With all the furor concerning "Hitler's Pope" by Cornwell, I wondered how he had obtained access to the expurgated-by-Jebbie files on Pius XII? With some difficulty, Amazon located an out-of-print copy of Cornwell's earlier debunking of the conspiracy theories surrounding the Year of Three Popes, when Papa Luciani, John Paul I, died after a pontificate of only thirty-three days. When I received my virgin copy of "Thief" still sealed in clear plastic, I knew I was in for a treat: The front and back cover blurbs waxed enthusiastic with atta-boys from Graham Greene "The Power and the Glory," Andrew Greeley "The Tablet," and Malachi Martin "The Jesuits." I was not disappointed: Cornwell weaves a tale worthy of G.K. Chesterton "Father Brown." Cornwell's forensic investigation is more compelling than that of Tad Szulc's work of fiction which is also "based on real events, facts, and persons: the attempt to assassinate John Paul II on May 13, 1981, its aftermath, and the secret investigation conducted subsequently at the behest of the Holy See." ["To Kill the Pope" was released in 2000, "Thief in the Night" in 1989.]

This is truly "an exhaustive and impressive study" as Cornwell narrows in on what really happened to the author of "Letters to Pinnochio," which I found most revealing of the Patriarch of Milan. Cornwell gives a most telling picture of Archbishop Paul Casmir "Chink" Marcinkus, the Walter Jenkins/Bebe Rebozo "bagman" of the Vatican Bank, who was able to provide $250 million from the Vatican pension funds to reimburse the machinations of the Calvi/Banco Ambrosiano debacle. Cornwell's in depth portrayals of Papa Luciani's two secretaries, Bishop John Magee and Don Diego Lorenzi and what they did when they found Luciani dead and unattended validates Garry Wills' "Papal Lies" thesis: functionaries in the Vatican lie from force of habit, rather than from malice or personal gain.

Yet there is malice afoot: "[Cardinal/secretary of state Jean] Villot's miscalculation of [Luciani]'s administrative capacities, his poor state of health, was disasterous and surely culpable." Luciani insisted that "he had usurped the papal chair he sat in. 'The Foreign Pope [John Paul II] is coming to take my place.' " And Karol Wojtyla sat opposite Luciani in the Conclave that selected Luciani to follow Montini.

To tell more, would destroy the suspence of Cornwell's story, yet one can say that Luciani was not poisoned, despite centuries of papal murders, that Luciani did not committ suicide, although he certainly lost his will to live, and welcomed death. Whether Luciani abandoned the medicines that would have prolonged his life seems still open.

Based on this "marvelous and compelling investigation" one understands why John Paul II has nothing to fear from the publication of "Hitler's Pope." John Paul II personally made "Thief in the Night" possible, and opened up for Cornwell, the Pandora's box of Pacelli's racism and probable anti-Semitism. John Paul II is to be commended in following John XXIII's dictat: to "open the windows of the Vatican" and let sunlight cleanse Rome of its "Papal Lies" by the Curia-crats who know better how to be a Pope than Pacelli, Roncalli, Montini, Luciani, or Wojtyla, e.g. Tisserant, Ottavani, Villot and Ratzinger.

Those who have appreciated Ricouer's hermeneutics over the last few decades, whether they tend to agree or disagree with him, will rejoice that a sampling of biblical exegesis from Ricouer has finally appeared in this volume. Further, Ricouer has found a powerful dialogue partner in the well-know biblical scholar Adnre Lacocque. Ricouer's correlational approach comes through nicely in his discussion of selected biblical texts. The opening discussion of Genesis 2-3 is particlarly poignant. The books strengths also produce its weaknesses. There is only a sampling of texts here. How would Ricouer apprach the understanding of an entire biblical book? We still do not know. The inclusion of Lacocque's work is quite welcome, but it means that only half the book is Ricouer. One of the hermeneutical giants of the last half of the twentieth century appears to be nearing the end of his career. One can only hope that more application of his method to the Bible is forthcoming, but at least we have this one volume.

I bought this book almost immediately after reading Paul Cook's THE ENGINES OF DAWN. Science fiction is more to my taste, but I really liked THINKING OF YOU. It has all of Cook's plotting genius, plus several of his more interesting characters. The Moon Man is simply the best. But Cook has really pegged the California lifestyle. The story concerns a woman, a psychologist, who learns, through her clients and her own experience, that there may be a group of people in her town who are engineering the lives of everyone else in town. Why becomes the mystery. And the ending ... well, Cook is the master of the switcheroo. Witness the end to THE ENGINES OF DAWN. It's here that THINKING OF YOU _almost_ become science fiction. For sure it would make one hell of a good movie. The one problem I had was with its cover. It looks like a romance, but it isn't.

i originally ordered this book as a mistake, but I am glad that I decided to read it anyway. It presents all Political perspectives, analyzing each in an organized, yet intresting manner. She also presents ideas on Liberty, freedom and justice in America. Read this book, if you are trying to figure out who you are politically.