This book is well written, although the footnotes frequently break the flow. HOWEVER, the book is wretchedly biased against George W. Bush. It starts out describing George's feelings about grade school and high school without a scintilla of authenticity. This book is loaded with footnotes, but when it comes to telling George W.'s thoughts and motives, the author takes great liberties, again without any footnotes to support them. If you want to learn about George W. Bush,Jr. don't stop at this book.

This book is about a man who was born to privilege and extreme affluence. Who has been cushioned from the struggles of austerity and poverty. Yet he beleives himself a excellent candidate for not just the presidency but also denial of abortion rights to the raped and poverty stricken members of the female underclass. To which he has never belonged and would never want to meet.

What does George Bush junior care about ? Well not women's rights that's for sure.. Mr Bush is exposed here as being an incompetent business man. Not one of his worst failings as far as I am concerned by far his greatest error of judgement is to believe that every one who refuses to "accept Jesus as his(her)savior will go to hell"

Having George Bush Junior with his scant intellectual abilities and his reinforcment of the exploitation of natural resources for profit would be the real hell... This is a man without a shred of compassion who deserves to be exposed.

I really enjoyed this book. The research is thorough and the stories are well-documented. I will recommend this book to anyone looking for unbiased information about George W. Bush.

This is not a grimoire of interesting spells. Rather it comprises Waite's Book of Black Magic and various other essays on the history of magick. If you're looking for a reference guide, this is an interesting book, and I think that any magician would do well to own a copy, but it's really not that practical. Get something by Crowley instead.

Waite never meant to make this book practical in any sense; instead, he sought to create a reference book. For those interested in Magickal Grimoires, but without the intent to practice from them, this book is a great souce-book. It includes snippets of (and commentary on) various medieval Grimoires, for the edification of the curious.

Though at times, rather harsh in his judgments of Magick in general, and the Golden Dawn system specifically, he does provide a good deal of information in one package.

A.E. Waite (1857-1942) was one of the most important and influential figures in Western occultism. Perhaps best known as the creator of the enormously popular Rider-Waite tarot deck, he was a prolific author and had a leadership role in several occult groups (including the Golden Dawn), some of which he founded.

His Book of Ceremonial Magic (first published in London, 1911?) is a revision of his Book of Black Magic and Pacts (Edinburgh, 1898) It contains a treasurehouse of drawings and quotes from rare handbooks of magic, but it does have some shortcomings. Excerpts often are quoted out of context, without representing any one system intact. Translations are not always reliable and mistakes are surprisingly frequent.

Although Waite himself practised ritual magic, his treatment of the literature here represented is highly critical. I suspect that Waite deliberately chose passages from the most corrupt manuscripts possible to strengthen his invective. For example, he bases his extracts from the Lemegeton on Sl.2731 which is one of the least accurate manuscripts of that text. Also he uses a text titled True Black Magic (La Vraie Magie Noire) to exemplify techniques from the Key of Solomon method, when other versions are clearly more accurate.

This book also suffers from a lack of any form of critical apparatus, bibliography, and index.

Waite did us a service by assembling excerpts from a wide selection of magical texts, giving us a fairly good flavor for the genre, but I advise serious researchers and would-be practitioners of ceremonial magic to use it with caution. Those looking for a much more thorough survey of magical literature would do well to consult E.M. Butler's Ritual Magic, and Lynn Thorndike's History of Magic and Experimental Science.

"The Bone is Pointed"introduces readers to one of the most fascinating detective characters in fiction today. Set in 1940's Australia, Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte presents an interesting and challenging character. The son of a white man and an aboriginal woman,"Bony"brings characteristics of both cultures to his detecting. The story begins when Jeffrey Anderson mysteriously disappears into the bush while out inspecting his employer's cattle station one April morning. Anderson was known around the area as a cruel man with a bad temper, thus his absence is not really mourned. However, a search is begun but yields no results. Five months later Bony is called in to solve this seemingly unsolvable mystery. Using both modern detecting skills and aboriginal intuition and dealing with both English feelings of colonialism and Aboriginal rights, Bony solves the puzzle while narrowly avoiding death himself.
On a deeper level, Upfield presents a political and social critique of the English treatment of Aboriginals in the first half of the 20th century. For the 1940's, Upfield even broaching this topic was radical. Detective fiction provided a way to support civil and social rights for aboriginals in a time when such acts were not accepted. Bony presents a character who combines seemingly "the best of both worlds": a civilized, intelligent, and humorous man who understands the reasons behind both the English treatment of the Aboriginals and the Aboriginals resulting feelings. This book is not only an excellent mystery but also a wonderful look at an often ignored group of people.

Arthur Upfield clearly has a grasp of what is required to create a solid piece of detective fiction, and yet, though all the necessaries of the genre are represented (murder mystery, self-assured detective, etc.) it seems there is still something missing. Though this book failed to grab my attention as a modern detective novel, it did serve as a poignant introduction to the not-so-underlying politics of Australia. Upfield's well-intentioned detective, Napoleon Bonaparte, known to readers as Bony, is infinitely aware of his part aboriginal, part white background, and this awareness is fundamental to all other action. As Bony attempts to solve the disappearance of the drunken Jeffrey Anderson he embraces aspects from all areas of his background, employing his ancestral history to reach a conclusion about the disappearance and death of Anderson. Bony's lineage means more to this tale than its ability to help him solve the mystery of the moment however. It is a stunning commentary about the nature of race and cultural relations in Australia. Upfield has written a book that serves as an indictment of the cultural politics of Australia, painting a picture that is a means by which he may critique the behavior of the very people most likely to seek out his tales. As a result, he is able to deliver a message that would otherwise fall on deaf ears. His is a tale is a condemnation of the inequality that has embraced Australia for more than a century.

Arthur W. Upfield's beautifully crafted protagonist, Detective Inspector Napoleon Bonaparte unravels another mystery, this time exploring the Australian outback. Bony, (as his friends call him, and he hopes you are his friend) is half-aboriginal and half-white. The powers of reason he has cultivated in white schools and the sixth sense of the outback ingrained from his aboriginal side have made him into a sort of Australian Sherlock Holmes. Enchantingly arrogant, and outrageously tenacious, Bony is ready to solve the disappearance of an abusive drunk that has been missing for five months and no one seems eager to find. Upfield masterfully keeps the reader's attention, casting suspicions as fast as Bony's mind can create them. As new clues are discovered, new suspects are created and the old discarded, only to be brought in again. What Bony finds leads him and the reader into a struggle to create an Australian identity in the vast and desolate landscape; a struggle between an aboriginal identity and white. As Bony skates the race line, the tension between the white world and the black becomes greater, and the aborigines "point the bone" at him, a sort of death curse. Racing against his weakening body, Bony struggles to find a culprit, or to discover that whether there is a culprit at all. In a superb finale to a gripping read, Upfield both reaffirms the affable side to Bony"s otherwise obstinate character and comments on the racial divide in Australia.

I'm not a web developer or designer by any stretch of the imagination, but I do a lot of HTML page development and maintenance, with some light javascript programming thrown in on my own web site. I started in January 2000 with an account for a personal page, Notepad.exe and a quick reference card. I learned basic HTML in the process, but also created an eyesore. As my technical skills evolved the ugliness of my creation remained the same. I swallowed my pride and got this book. It was one of the best purchases I ever made.

For a total beginner this is a good first book because it steps you through creating your first page, then adding features and using advanced HTML as you progress. For someone who is already proficient with HTML and has developed a few pages, you may find something useful in the advanced techniques and will certainly receive an education in good web page design. Some of the highlights of the authors' approach to design are in the examples. The accompanying CD ROM has every example in HTML format so you can see how they will display in your particular browser brand and version, and you can look at the code and play with it to see how your changes will display. This alone is a real time saver, and it makes this book all the more useful.

If you are a technical writer the examples for web pages that provide how-to procedures, troubleshooting procedures, on-line lessons and survey forms reflect good page design and the example files on the CD ROM can be immediately used as templates.

The only thing that detracts from this book is that it's woefully out of date. Some of the tools provided on the CD ROM are ancient, as are the discussions on various desktop operating systems. For example, Windows 95 was not even on the market when this book went to press and the authors' discussion on network issues were educated guesses. Now the network facilities built into desktop operating systems are so transparent that this section of the book can be safely ignored. However, we also live in a world where HTML has evolved to version 4, cascading style sheets are used on many sites (not to mention Macromedia Flash, Active Server Pages, more sophisticated java and javascript, etc.), rendering a lot of the technical aspects of this book quaint. On the other hand, that might not be such a bad thing since the best web pages are simple and more focused on design instead of a bunch of technical razzle-dazzle. But, I would love to see this book updated to reflect contemporary tools and techniques for web page design because I like the way the authors' impart their knowledge. This book would make an excellent text for a web design 101 class, and is one of the best for those of us who play around with this stuff. I'm subtracting a star because the book sorely needs to be updated, but am still giving it my highest recommendation.

Everyone who seems to just put their foot on the waters of WEB PAGE CREATION BEWARE! It actually can kill your reputation!
This book teaches you all the basic [to tables and frames] and how to avoid all these web page traps! Much less FLAMES!!
THIS PAGE SERVES AS A REFERENCE FOR NON-BEGINNERS, Esp when U found out no-one wanna go to your site!
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I love my computer! My eight to twelve hour working day is spent in front of it. Much of my home time is too. But when I read a book I don"t want it to be about computers. Thats why "The Web Page Design Cookbook" really filled the bill for me.

My web page has been under construction for more months than I care to mention. Too busy to learn html, too mind boggled to read a technical book, my page was a constant reminder of my procrastination. This book and the CD that comes with it provided the incentive. Want music, animation, video on your web page - its all here. With easy to use templates and examples its a cinch. This one is a winner!

How can anyone find this confusing? This is a pretty simple work, and I find it difficult to believe that anyone can be confused as to what it's about. And why would you need Cliff Notes for this?

In any event, my problem with this play is that its just too simple: not enough meat and the characters aren't all that interesting. Yes, it shows us how narrow-minded the Puritans were. It's also an allegory for McCarthyism, for those of you who don't know. But do we really need this play to point out what it tells us about human nature? I personally find it overly long and overly dull for what it's trying to convey.

i was required to read this book for an english class, and am glad i did, because it really made one think about how narrow minded the puritans were and how that really brought on the hangings of the so called witches. this is definately a book to read.

this is a great piece of art by arthur miller. he catches your attention with the lies and injustices of the 1600's. this is a good book because of it's content. the speech is, as it was in that time. it tells a tale of a little girl who gets caught being "naughty" and blames it on the circumstances of those she doesn't like or has problems with. this book teaches that to lie about something that could have been small makes it much larger and much more complicated to deal with. the girl in this this book is in witchcraft and is caught dancing naked in the woods by her uncle who is the reverend. with her are two other girls, a servant, and a cousin. the town is brought down to a level where every one is accusing every one else for past happeneings. farmowners are accusing neighbors of it so that the land is auctioned off at low prices so that they can increase the quality of their own land. it becomes a big issue when it could have been solved completely with a simple confession. the subject is blown out of proportion and it destryos a lot of lives and families. the truth is finally found after nine-teen people are hanged for the crime of witchcraft. i reccomend this book to anyone who enjoys "a good book".

A very gentle, caring book for children of about age 8, who can expect to start going through puberty. Covers issues of: why puberty happens, how the appearance of bodies change, hormones, breast development, erections, menstruation, deepening of voice, pimples, masturbation, body hair, wet dreams, and circumcision. This book follows on from, and is in the same style as "Where Did I Come From?". Extremely popular, all children should have easy access to this volume from age 8 onwards.

This is a great book about puberty which is perfect for showing to your child. I will do it when I have some. It goes into good detail and doesn't talk any nonsense. It's very upfront. I mean, it's not like "Oh, your period feels good." It talks about how women might get depressed or groggy, which I think is important for them to know. it talks about erections, masturbation, periods, and even curcumcism (sp?). It also talks about wet dreams and the feelings you may get towards other girls. A great and useful guide.

I am a child therapist. I have used this book with my own children and with clients. It is both factual and humorous (riotous drawings!), allowing a bit of levity for parents and children discussing a delicate subject. Highly recommended.

I was very disappointed with this book. I, too, noticed that Cai's green eyes had made a sudden shift to blue, but since his eyes are only mentioned once, this is easy to miss. At one point in the book, Lawhead states that Arthur's warriors "plight their troth" to Arthur. Well, Lawhead should look this up in the dictionary--the way he used it is very confusing, because to "plight one's troth" has the primary meaning of getting engaged to someone in order to marry them. Not until I got to the third meaning in my dictionary did it state "to swear an oath of allegiance". Gwenhyvar never had a chance, I guess--Arthur had married his generals. :)

The legend that concerns Twrch Trwyth is actually the story of Culhwch and Olwen. Culhwch wants to marry Olwen, but before he can do so, he must fulfill a series of quests put upon him by Olwen's father. One is to kill the boar Twrch Trwyth (whose name I was unable to find a meaning for) and get the comb and razor from between the great boar's ears. This boar just so happens to be a king who ticked off God and, Quite literally, was turned into a boar, and all of his household and followers were turned into piglets. Arthur is not the main character in this story, he has sort of been just stuck in, because all he really does is assist Culhwch in his various tasks (along with another character, Mabon, who happens to be a Celtic god). The chase of the hunt for Twrch Trwyth starts in Ireland, but ends up in South Wales and Cornwall--not Scotland. Arthur does not get so severely injured that he needs to be healed with the Grail, either--in fact, this tale is an oddity in the Arthurian mythos because it has absolutely nothing to do with the Grail, or any of the other stories in the Arthurian legend.

Lawhead also employs a very odd narrative technique here, one that ended up irritating rather than helping. In the middle of the battle, Merlin suddenly goes racing off, and of course the reader is forced to follow him because he's the narrator. This was very annoying, because then the reader is left wondering what is happening with the battle while Merlin goes off investigating the plague. It would have been far better to have someone else narrating this part of the book, like Bedwyr or Cai, so that Merlin's racing off doesn't produce such a weird break in the action, and when he came back he could tell them all about the plague. Even though Merlin does eventually return, and finds out nothing has happened since he was gone (?!), this has still got to be one of the worst ways to write a book.

Oddly enough, the plague is supposed to be this big huge menace, but it gets very short shrift in this book. I suppose the reason for this is that the plague problem will be dealt with in Grail.

Gwenhyvar--well, we get more background on her, but still no explanation of why she's got a Welsh name and she's Irish. In the original Arthurian myths, she is Welsh, so the name makes sense there, but not in Lawhead's book.

I am still completely mystified as to why Charis is called The Lady of the Lake. At least we get to see now the connection between Avallach and the Grail, and that "The Fisher King" is not just a title, but that he really does have a connection to the Grail like the Arthurian Fisher King did.

Llenlleawg--it should have been pointed out earlier that he was supposed to be Lancelot. All through Arthur I thought Lot was Lancelot, because Lancelot is the only knight who falls out of Arthur's favor. While it was briefly mentioned in this book, it still should have been done earlier.

Also, after swearing off fighting because of the loss of Ganieda, why does Merlin pick up a sword again? In Merlin he is committed to helping the Summer Kingdom come to fruitition, but not through fighting! Suddenly he picks up a sword again, forgetting all about his lost love and his unborn child that was killed, and goes off fighting again! His vision is restored fairly quickly after he lost it--how is it that Aneirin, the narrator in the last section of Arthur, still thought he was blind? This section picks up many years after Pendragon--something like 5-10 at least, maybe even more than that.

There are a lot of mistakes and inconsistencies in this book. I really dislike this kind of sloppy writing, and "rewriting because I feel like it" is not a good enough reason to me to be severely altering the Arthurian stories, which are good enough in their own right.

First of all, one should notice that in the 3 first books, there is an evolution in the world created by Lawhead (in religion especially, and in culture too) that makes place for new things to happen. Pendragon is barely a remixt of the past two books, with the difference that the foe, instead of being plenty (Saecsens, picts, irish, scots...), are only two, the Vandali and the plague, but they are more powerful. Also, as noted in a previous review, it includes a bunch of contradictions. I believe Merlin finally discovered for sure that Arthur was the King three or four times in the book! For readers of the original trilogy, I remind that it is Avallach who identified Arthur as the King. You may read the book, but don't set your hopes too high, or you'll be deceived.

Fans of the first three volumes of Lawhead's "Pendragon Cycle" need to be forewarned about two things before they commence this fourth volume of the series.

Firstly, "Pendragon" is not a continuation of the story that ended in volume 3. "Taliesin", "Merlin" and "Arthur" complete Lawhead's retelling of the Arthurian legends, and form a complete and independent story in themselves. In "Pendragon", Lawhead expands on a part of the story about king Arthur that he has already described by recounting one of the struggles that the king Arthur faced in the early days of his kingship.

Secondly, "Pendragon" does not match the high standards of the three volumes that preceded it. Readers familiar with the first three volumes will find that Lawhead recounts much of Arthur's life that they are already familiar with. In fact, the description of Arthur's king-making is nearly identical word for word to the description of this same event found in "Arthur", the only difference being that "Pendragon" recounts the event from the perspective of Merlin. But the initial drama and sense of passion and glory is gone, because we have been here before. Even though events such as Arthur's youth are described in more detail here than in "Arthur", the fact remains that we already know the basic plot, and this detracts from the amount of enjoyment you can expect.

Yet with this warning in mind, "Pendragon" is still a worthwhile read. Lawhead focuses on one aspect of Arthur's reign, namely his conflict against the barbarian Vandals and against a pestilent plague. Don't be confused: this is not an enemy described in "Arthur", hence its ascription as "The Forgotten War" (Chronologically both "Pendragon" - aside from the first part - and "Grail" both fit between books 2 & 3 of "Arthur")

In this great conflict, the human element strongly comes into the foreground, especially the twin roles of the bard Merlin, and the king Arthur. The first point of view heightens the readers understanding of Merlin's role in this conflict. Lawhead's treatment of Merlin is profound, and particularly outstanding in my mind is one passage where Merlin comes to realize that "in order to welcome redemption, one must first embrace the utter hopelessness of failure. For how can a man look for rescue unless he knows he is truly lost?" (p.69) - a wonderful metaphor of salvation for lost sinners. Equally outstanding is Merlin's journey to the other-world, where Lawhead uses a profound sequence of events to bring Merlin to understand his role in the great conflict over against evil.

Also profound is Lawhead's treatment of Arthur. The last third of the book in my view is a climactic masterpiece, and after being entranced by the last section of the novel, Lawhead's weaknesses in the first half of the book were quickly forgiven and forgotten. Arthur's role in the struggle against the enemies of the people is central: as leader and king he must fight on behalf of his people. In an absolutely unforgettable climax, the whole weight of his people's hopes depend on him, as Arthur himself must single-handedly take on the leader of the barbarians in a battle to the death. The imagery will not be lost on you, as Arthur makes a distinctly Messianic figure, bruised for his people, a Christ-like king giving his everything for his people at the risk of his own life.

Yes, "Pendragon" has weaknesses. Does this make "Pendragon" a failure? If you were not forewarned, you would likely be disappointed. Even if you are forewarned, you may still be disappointed with the first half of the book because it lacks Lawhead's typical depth and drama. But in the last half of the book Lawhead more than redeems himself with a captivating narrative that you won't be able to put down, and will in the end leave you breathless at its sparkling imagery and depth, and eagerly grabbing the next volume in the series.

Arthur Miller is a Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at London's University College. Equal parts biography and art-science history, his interesting book follows the parallel lives of physicist Albert Einstein (1879-1955) and painter Pablo Picasso (1881-1973) into the 20th Century. Although the two lives never actually intersected, Miller demonstrates that as a result of the intellectual atmosphere of 1905, Einstein and Picasso "began exploring new notions of space and time almost coincidentally" (p. 4). "I wrote EINSTEIN, PICASSO," Miller tells us, "for lovers of art and science practiced at their most fundamental and exciting level, for aficionados of thinking across disciplines and generally for readers interested in the drama of high creativity. We wonder about the moment when everything comes together to produce incredible insights. How does this happen? How do thoughts emerge that go beyond the information at hand?" (p. 8).

While it does not ultimately succeed as a biography in bringing either Einstein or Picasso to life in its 357 pages, Miller's book shows that his subjects were able to achieve "enormous successes under conditions that would have defeated most people" (p. 266), and to this limited extent, Miller gives us insight into what made both men tick. However, Miller's real strength is in exploring how Einstein and Picasso "processed information in order to make their momentous breakthroughs" (p. 245) resulting in Einstein's 1905 theory of relativity, and the cubism of Picasso's 1907 painting, "Les Desmoiselles d'Avignon." The theory of relativity, like cubism, Miller shows, represents "a profound response to changes in the philosophical and scientific climate as well as to dramatic technological innovations" (p. 174). While his book demonstrates time and again how Einstein and Picasso were equally fond of work and women, it only really soars when it reveals how these two men were able to simultaneously move the world into modernity through science and art.

G. Merritt

The idea that there may be a connection between the appearance of relativity and cubism at the beginning of the twentieth century is not a new one. Though it has been shown quite convincingly that Picasso was not aware of Einstein's work when he and Braque invented cubism, it is still possible to say that BOTH Einstein and Picasso were influenced by some common elements that had appeared in western culture at that time. This, in itself, would be unremarkable; Both Einstein and Picasso lived in the same continent at the same time, it would be very surprising if they did NOT have some common influences. But professor Miller tries to stretch this comparison to the breaking point and well beyond. The result is a book in which excellent summaries of their early life and careers are marred by clichéd and overblown psychobabble and cultural theorizing.
The book is still interesting because it deals in detail with the lives of two such gifted and unique individuals. But the comparisons are frequently forced, and the author seems to have failed to take the advice of either of the masters. Picasso was dismissive of most attempts to retrospectively slot his art into some art historian's version of "influences and phases" and he would certainly have resisted any attempt to "explain" his genius in this manner. Einstein, too, was willing to leave the mystery of creativity unsolved. Mr. Miller would have done well to present us with two separate books about Einstein and Picasso, or one bigger book on the cultural ferment of the early nineteen hundreds. This attempt to find "the secret of creativity" fails to rise above the level of the self-help manuals that crowd our bookshops. Einstein loved music, so music is listed as one of the routes to creative "non-verbal" thought. But the fact that Picasso was never interested in music does not constitute a counter-example for Mr. Miller. Meanwhile, Picasso smoked hashish and took opium with great regularity through this period, but while the slightest hint that he might have heard of geometry is inflated beyond belief, this significant aspect of his life gets only two lines in the book.
Last, but not the least, while science and art are both human products, their natures are very different. Much of Modern art has moved beyond mere representation and become more like music (an esthetic experience which may or may not represent a particular "story") but science is nothing if it's not a coherent story. Einstein rebuilt the foundations of modern science by systematically and LOGICALLY questioning the basic assumptions of Newtonian physics and the discoveries of electro-magnetism. This achievement may have involved intuition and unconscious influences, but it would be useless if scientists could not eventually understand and agree on its meaning. Modern art may well deal with matters even more important than the physical structure of the universe (love, sex, death, loss, meaning, values, rebellion, rage...) but it would not be art if all artists were to agree on its significance and meaning.

What factors can be motivations of a genius's reformative work? Is it possible that the same notions affect geniuses in science and art? What is the daily life of geniuses? What processes are going on when a genius does a monumental work? We often have such questions as above. Arthur I. Miller, Professor of History and Philosophy of Science at University College London, wrote a wonderful book to answer all of those questions and to tell us more about creative activity by the example of the two giants of the twentieth century, Albert Einstein and Pablo Picasso.

This dual biography centers on the special relativity theory discovered by Einstein in 1905 and the Cubism painting "Les Demoiselles d'Avignon" produced by Picasso in 1907. In the first chapter, the author mentions that Poincare's book "La Science et l'hypothese" gave a spur to both of the two geniuses and led them to explore new notions of space and time. Tracing their respective lives in later chapters, the author clarifies how both men sought representations of nature that transcend those of classical thought and reach beyond appearances. The reader would be convinced of the fact that the effect of Poincare's book is not a superficial similarity between the works of Einstein and Picasso but a common denominator deeply rooted in the culture and science of the early twentieth century.

In the last chapter the author insists that at the creative moment boundaries between disciplines dissolve. Namely, aesthetics becomes paramount also in science; on the other hand, artists solve problems just like scientists. So, if you are a scientist, you would find direct interest in the chapters on Einstein and also find it profitable to read the chapters on Picasso; and if you are an artist, the reverse would be true. Laypersons would also get a lot of stimuli to a productive life from this book.

When I was a child, the luster had not quite left the Kennedy administration as a historical era and this book was believed to be the definative history on the subject. While Camelot continues to maintain some of its swankness as soap opera (as indicated by the success of the Jackie Kennedy dress collection museum exhibit), no one with a brain can read this book without laughing.

Schlesinger was Kennedy's historian in residence and his job was to one day produce the official record of the administration. This he did with all the flair of the Vice President of a local Elk's chapter delivering the annual financial report. It is pretty amazing that anyone would or could read this book in which nearly every act is conceived from some sort of high minded purpose. This may be a staple on the television show "The West Wing," but that is not the way things work in real life. Does every aspect of the New Frontier really require the level of attention that Schlesinger provides. Do we really need lengthy chapters on "The Alliance for Progess," a failed initiative? I do not think so.

Schlesinger clearly is too close to his subject to render an unbiased historical account of these events. I cannot understand why this book is still in print. Perhaps photogenic pictures of JFK will continue to push sales forward. However charismatic Kennedy may have been it is never a good idea to judge a book by its cover.

Before I type anything else, I will dispense with the obvious: this book is so pro- Kennedy that it makes people angry. The author hero worshipped the Kennedys, a fact that is not well hidden in any of his books. He also does quite a bit of name dropping, and he overplays his own importance in key events. No one denies this. In some of the reviews of this book, one can almost feel the flecks of spit coming from the mouths of the reviewer. I mean no offense with that remark, but I find it humorous that people can get so worked up about the Camelot myth.
Despite the bias, A Thousand Days is a valuable insight into the Kennedy administration. As one critic said: "the president walks through the pages, from first to last, alert, alive, amused and amusing." The way the members of the administration come alive in this book has been unequaled in any other book on the Kennedys. On top of that, it is incredibly well written, and very detailed. It is not the only book one should read on the Kennedys, but it should not be overlooked either.

This book has won a Pullitzer and National Book Award for good reason. Unlike most political biographers, Schlesinger provides a detailed and interesting analysis of his subject's policy decisions. We don't get a detailed accounting of what Kennedy has for breakfast, but we do get an understanding of Kennedy's decision making process and how it related to the numerous issues with which he was confronted.

Many of the customer reviewers criticized Schlesinger for his bias in Thousand Days. It is true that nothing that Kennedy does in Thousand Days is wrong, and nothing that Eisenhower did was right. In the 1030 pages of Thousand Days, the reader is hardpressed to find a single critical comment about Kennedy. There are certainly plenty of excuses, as well as repetitive references to the "seeds" of legislative programs sown by Kennedy that would inevitably (as implied by Schlesinger) revolutionized the US. However, Schlesinger did not attempt to hide this bias -- he was obviously star struck by the Kennedys and did not purport to give the Republican perspective on the Kennedy administration. In essence, the "bias" is so obvious it is easy to single it out and focus on what Schlesinger has to offer -- a studied and very inspiring first hand account of a presidential term from one of this country's leading historians.

I have read several dozen presidential biographies and can say that none have provided so much insight into presidential decision making. In a word, this book is "dense", full of ideas, theories and speculation about the workings of the executive branch when confronted with some of the greatest challenges of our time -- including the cold war, the Cuban missile crises, Bay of Pigs, civil rights and Vietnam. What's more, it was an absorbing and thought provoking read. A little more critical analysis of Kennedy may have been more illuminating, but this type of analysis may well have robbed Thousand Days of the passion that makes it so interesting and inspiring. Kennedy, after all, was an interesting and inspiring president. Perhaps the most effective way to portray the man, therefore, is with a biography that is interesting and inspiring.

Thomas Dixon, Jr.'s "The Clansman" is best known as the prime source for D. W. Griffith's "Birth of a Nation." A bestseller in its own right, "The Clansman" presents a vision of a South overrun with lascivious black men out to rape white women unless the KKK can intercede. As a novel it is maudlin, melodramatic, and unconvincing; as a history textbook, it is damnable.

Some reviewers for the hardcover edition of this book would have you believe that, because Woodrow Wilson approved of both Dixon's novel and Griffith's film, his affirmation validates Dixon's depiction of the poor maligned white man and his sexually threatened wife and daughter. Hardly the case--in spite of history textbooks' portrayal of Wilson, he was himself a virulent racist, outmatched only, perhaps, by his wife. As James W. Loewen indicates in his review of history textbooks, "Lies My Teacher Told Me," the "filmmaker David W. Griffith quoted Wilson's two-volume history of the United States, now notorious for its racist view of Reconstruction, in his infamous masterpiece 'The Clansman' [later retitled Birth of a Nation], a paean to the Ku Klux Klan for its role in putting down 'black-dominated' Republican state governments during Reconstruction" (18). Loewen notes later that "Wilson was not only antiblack; he was also far and away our most nativist president, repeatedly questioning the loyalty of those he called 'hyphenated Americans.' 'Any man who carries a hyphen about with him,' said Wilson, 'carries a dagger that he is ready to plunge into the vitals of this Republic whenever he gets ready' " (19).

If you read "The Clansman," read it because it was a bestseller, was recommended by an American President, and spawned a movie which at the time was a landmark in cinematic technical achievement--facts which should shock you. It may be racist tripe, but its historical significance remains relevant--as does the continued dangerous potential for people to buy into versions of reality that bear little congruence with truth. If we've learned anything over the past few years, just because a President of the United States says something doesn't make it true, nor does it excuse you from the need to think critically for yourself.

I do not agree with Mr. Dixons glorification of Lincoln, thus I found the first several sections of the book difficult to stomach. However, once the book reached the Reconstruction of South I gave it my undivided attention. You'll find no P.C. revisionism here. Mr. Dixons novel reads more like fact than fiction, yet no one these days has the courage to tell the truth for fear of being called a racist. President Woodrow Wilson said of the book (and the film "Birth of a Nation") that it was "All Too True" and he should know as he lived in the South during Reconstruction. As an A.P. History teacher I only wish I could get away with having my students read this book.

As a novel, The Clansman has many faults, but as a popular exposition of the Dunning interpretation of Reconstruction (pro-Southern, anti-radical republican), it is excellent. First published in 1905 (my copy has pictures from 'The Birth of a Nation' so it's post-1915), it was written by the descendent of a Klansman in the glow of the reconciliation of North and South that was finally symbolically completed in the Spanish-American War - when two former Confederate generals (Joe Wheeler and Fitzhugh Lee) returned to the National colors to serve against the Spanish.

The novel's historical significance is enhanced beause it was the basis for D.W. Griffith's Birth of a Nation, one of the dozen or so greatest American films.