One of the most heartbreaking legacies of war is the lasting affect that it has on children. In the introduction of "Children In War", it is noted that two million children were killed in wars over the last ten years, and that millions more were injured and orphaned during that same timespan. Alan and Susan Raymond wanted to bring that stark reality to the worlds attention, and they accomplished that goal by making a television documentary and a book called "Children In War". The book describes the horror of war through the words and experiences of children; children from the nations of Bosnia, Rwanda, Northern Ireland and Israel. The book is filled with pictures drawn by children from those nations, as well as photographs of the children themselves. The images drawn are not only about the physical death that comes from war, but also about wounds of the heart and spirit that can last a lifetime. The pictures drawn by the children are very haunting and moving. The authors believe that the act of drawing and remembering can be a form a therapy for the children, and a way of beginning to heal. Perhaps it can also serve as a path to finding a sense of peace. There is a hope found in this book that in the future the children who have suffered so much will have the wisdom to help create a better world; a world where adults will always strive to protect all children from the harm and destruction of war.

Children in War is based on a television documentary and tells the story of life during war through the voices of children of Bosnia, Israel, Rwanda and other countries. The blend of oral history plus the illustrations of the kids provide eye-opening details on the lasting impact of war on children. Color and black and white photos along with comments by social workers and adults make for added impact.

Over 2 million children have been killed in wars over the pastten years. "Children In War" covers four different warzones: Bosnia, Rwanda, Northern Ireland, and Bosnia. The authors interview children of these war zones, letting the children tell their stories in their own words. The authors also include the childrens' artwork to help punctuate their stories. The book is a devastating indictment of the brutality of war and how it sacrifices the innocent and helpless on the altar of ideology.

Coal Camp Boys by Raymond Alvarez shares more with the reader than just words. Raymond imparts a wide range of feelings throughout the story. I find myself impatient for the next page and will yearn for more at the conclusion of this volume. Please include illustrations. CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!!

Alvarez, a keen observer of the West Virginia coal mining culture, has captured it sypathetically, without being sappy or sentimental. I have read many fiction and non-fiction works set in the Appalachians (my college major was Appalachian Studies), and this one is thorough, engaging, picturesque, hopeful, and I can't wait for the sequel.

Coal Camp Boys, By Raymond Alvarez is a great book. It is very detailed and makes you feel as if you are really part of the book. I also love it because the characters really remind me of some people i have actually known .

this book is haven sent,ive all ways felt that god talks to everyone.and that no-one could have a relationship based on fear,and that anyone and everyone is special to god. i was soo happy to also be clairafied that there is no hell or saten,that god used as a scare tactic to force anyone to chose him.

Throught-out this entire book, I kept exclaiming," I knew that!" But it is always nice to read it from another source than my own inner source. It's nice to know that God communicates with all of us if we but listen. The information and concepts were more than insightful. A Must Read!

This book does not tell you to worship god as much as you should worship yourself. It made me realize that there are many many things we have to learn about , life, ourselves and our relationship to one another

Teaching English as a Second Language is challenging. I have used this book many times and my students find it easy to study and use. The format with explanations on one side and the exercises on the other is helpful and attractive. For beginners, this is great.

I teach business English in China. Murphey's book is a great tool for teachers. I especially like the diagnostic tests in the back of the book. You can use these to determine what exactly your student needs. Then you can just give the student the exact lessons the student needs. The lessons are laid out so there is one lesson on a page and a quiz on the opposite page. Excellent tool and a must have for teachers.

davkees@public.guangzhou.gd.cn

I teach English to foreign students. They all rate this book very highly and I have no hesitation in recommending it to students and teachers alike. It is very well laid out with lots of examples and exercises to test knowledge.

Before i read this book, i know rocks just is rocks.But after i read this book, i know rocks is very important for my life.This book have many good point.For example it have more pictrun and easy letter in this book.So not too difficulty.There are still some left many interesting think in it.I willing recommend it to other people interested with rocks.

Before i read this book, i know rocks just is rocks.But after i read this book, i know rocks is very important for my life.This book have many good point.For example it have more pictrun and easy letter in this book.So not too difficulty.There are still some left many interesting think in it.I willing recommend it to other people interested with rocks.

Its a good book for beginners on this field, you wont find all of the rocks out there, but youll learn quickly about the major differences and characteristics of some rocks...

It is very colorful, pictures are awesome, and I liked that the book tells you about rock and mineral uses, as well as in the ancient times as in today.

I recommend it as an introductory book on the matter, then you should move to a more detailed book. I gave it 5 stars Considering that it is a pocket book.

I took a course from Dr. Tucker as a Bowling Green State Univ. (OH) undergrad in 1992, and it became the most memorable class I ever took. Eleven years later, I am still recalling his passionate advice...in particular the distinction between an agressive person (which nobody appreciates) and an assertive person (who most everyone respects).

I was in the middle of extracating myself from a business relationship with a Difficult Person (DP) and remembered this slim volume. My sister took this author's psychology class while an undergrad at Bowling Green State U. and passed the book along to me. Dr. Tucker's assessments of common DP's, their behavior patterns, and most importantly, HOW TO DEAL WITH THEM really helped me through that situation, and many others. Lots of people you encounter in life are DP's and this book can help you get more from your dealings with them. I hope this gets put back in print soon.

I din't though that a book could take so many things, that the are so right (and on time)when you are dealing with DP. I was honest very please to see that i am not alone in this world. after i had read this book i feel very confortable with myself.

Totally enjoyed this book, and completely recommend everybody read it. Too bad there are not more books about Czech women that are out there -- what a point of view!! Gets into New York and all its seduction, from the people to the danger... Makes you want to become a taxi driver!!!

This book is just a fantastic joyride -- I read it in one breath!! I cannot believe it was written by an immigrant -- the writing is just so smooth and cool... Makes you want to become a taxi driver in New York and... grab a life!!!

Driven. This is the only way to describe Iva Pekárková's _Gimme the Money_ (Dej mi ty prachy, 1996), impeccably translated from Czech into New York slang by the author herself and her husband Raymond Johnston. Fresh, gutsy, hilarious, the novel is one terrific (and terrifying) joy-ride through New York, propelled by a Czech taxi driver-a woman taxi driver at that.

The fast-paced plot rivets the reader's attention completely; there is simply no way to put the book down once one has begun this rollicking roller-coaster ride. Intrigue, passion, delicious detail, crazy characters-this novel has something for everyone. It is a novel of epic proportions, reminiscent of Jack Kerouac's _On The Road_, yet, in its anecdotes it also zooms in close-up to capture intimate intricacies of City life in sharp shots paralleling Jim Jarmusch's film "Night on Earth".

BUCKLE YOUR SEATBELT!!!

Forget the glassy ordinariness of cab-rides you have experienced in the past! And, with Gimme the Money, get into the driver's seat to discover first-hand that every pick-up is "speckled with little shards of adventures" (p 114). As Gin, our heroine, explains, "Every real taxi story is like a short story mystery novel with the first and the last few pages torn off" (p 118).

The plot follows the exploits of Jindøiška, a somewhat naive and trusting Czech immigrant, who becomes wise to the ways of the world in her encounters with foreboding New York and its outrageous inhabitants. In the end, she becomes Gin, a spirit as tough as the City itself.

Mesmerized, the reader observes this metamorphosis unfold through a myriad of adventures, as Gin deftly maneuvers her way (and will) with slippery taxi drivers, punk clients, exasperating lovers and even psychotic killers. Ultimately, Gin becomes the sum total all of these multi-faceted tones, which make up the throbbing pulse of the City, so that "submerged into the City, (like it was a whirling foam)... every cell of your body got permeated by its rhythm, its plasma circled in your veins, and therefore you became, just like everyone else, a building block, a cell, a molecule in that humongous, colorful mosaic..." (p 34).

TRACES OF A CZECH PAST...

Although her thick Slavic accent learns to meld with the groove of Ha-a-lem, in the throes of passion, it still whispers solo in Czech; and though her body is marked by the brutality of the streets, it still preserves that old appendectomy scar lousily sewn up in Czechoslovakia-in all, despite her hard-knock street education, Gin's original spirit remains undaunted. Indeed, the novel is a Bildungsroman, but it is a cool, fresh, hip, happenin' version of the genre. In fact, the book transcends, no, defies, any and all generic categorization, because, unlike the ordinary novel, it so clearly arises from real life.

Pekárková belongs to that "brotherhood of those who DARED" (p 19), as she describes it in her book. She herself, upon leaving Czechoslovakia, worked as one of the few female taxi drivers in New York. Her descriptions are those of a veteran:

When night drivers arrive home at night and fall into bed, the film of everything they'd seen on their shift, of everything they drove past, gets projected onto their eyelids... With the conviction that THEY are not drivers of taxicabs. They are actors. And writers. And screenwriters. And visual artists...On the spool thread of Gin's head, a whole movie sequence was being filmed, about 200 miles a day, and every morning as she was falling asleep, the dailies were getting projected in her head, projected, rewound and fast-forwarded... Days and nights got fused into a single yellowish tint, the reel of the film got melted together, and you couldn't see though it-except in multiple exposure, and each time she went to sleep to the cooing of pigeons, the City reverberated in her head like a single clear, crisp tone of a golden gong (pp 50-51, 54-55).

In Gimme the Money, Pekárková, the former cab driver, became the Czech Republic's hottest new writer, screenwriter and visual artist as she transformed these melting multiple exposures and this cacophonous metropolis into sharp crystal-clear images with penetrating prose.

Pekárková's attention to detail is painstakingly meticulous. By her deft pen, even the tiniest or most banal object is painted in a surprising new light, such as "the weather-worn, wet Yellow Cab [which] fluttered around glistening streets like an insomniac butterfly" (p 29) or a crack in the sidewalk, "where the asphalt is caving in and crumbling apart or where it's bubbling up into space like tiny, tit-shaped volcanoes" (p 103). The language is so smooth, such a subtle mixture of perfect American idiom and rhythmic Uptown slang, that one suspects this is not the translation-that the Czech version is the copy and this the original.

MANIC WORLD

In all, by virtue of Pekárková's covert knowledge and her blatant writing talent, the reader becomes completely, if not obsessively, absorbed into the manic underground world of taxi drivers, with its subterfuges, (such as illicit "dummy cars"), its oily garage romances (bosses oozing charm from greasy pores), its accidents and mechanical breakdowns (see the chapter "The Tree"), and above all its brazen, heroic survival on the road (where, ultimately, one must kill or be killed).

However, it is not merely Pekárková's savvy expertise on the road that makes this journey passionate; rather it is her innate knowledge of people and relationships. Pekárková's character casting is most certainly the acme of the book. In her careful modulation of caricature sketches, she creates believable, yet incredible characters.

We come to love Gin's "chéri" (now husband) Talibe, with his African inedibles, debile ideas (such as wanting Gin to get married for a second time to his "cousin" Ougadougou) and indelibly magnificent sexual delights. However, we also love Gloria, Gin's Cuban roommate, the artiste, who manages to aesthetically plaster exactly 365 immaculate, immolated cockroaches on canvas, as well as all the grease-monkeys, illegals and hobos that make up Pekárková's vast array of characters.

Pekárková's prose also comments critically on contemporary issues, such as immigration and assimilation, multiculturalism and racism, sex and gender, performance and drag or art and trash. Most importantly, our heroine shows us how to maintain one's vital energy and wonder in the rough, drab modern world-unmitigated zest for life being perhaps the ultimate rebellion in the face of today's strident, monotonous, capitalist parroting of "Gimme the money." In sum, Iva Pekárková's _Gimme the Money_ is a definite MUST for all those who want to experience a thrilling, breath-taking read.

This is the best English grammar textbook I know. It is very clear and concise. It is perfect to learn and useful as a reference book. The exercices are related to everyday life situations, which is very helpful. If you want to improve your English, I also recommend The Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary. Good luck!

Raymond Murphy's "Grammar in Use" series (Cambridge University Press) provides concise exercises, clear examples, a simple format, and a systematic approach to learning English grammar. It's almost ideal for self-study since each lesson (unit) can stand alone and unit answers can be easily found and understood.

Plus, the "Grammar in Use" books cost about half as much as the other "classsic" texts like Betty Azar's overrated and impractical "Fundamentals of English Grammar." Administrators and teachers, especially ones working with immigrants and refugees, should consider price and practicality when choosing texts.

Just compare "Grammar in Use" with Azar's "Fundamentals of English Grammar." Murphy's text uses 340 pages to explain esential grammar points while Azar takes almost 600 pages to overwhelm students with exceptions to rules. Murphy's book focuses on common expressions and everyday language; Azar's thick book offers the drill and kill approach to learning languages.

Granted, many ESL teachers have an almost religious faith in the Azar series. They can recycle their grammar lessons year after year. But the Azar series costs far too much, weighs too much, and contains far too many impractical exercises of limited practicality. ESL Teachers may find the Azar's grammar charts fascinating, but adult students will find Murphy's series helps them actually using English at work, school, home, and shopping. What is the goal, anyway?

Since immigrants and refugees don't need, want, or have the time to master these often silly grammar distinctions without a difference, I strongly recommend Cambridge University' "Grammar in Use" series. Don't busy adult students deserve an accessible, practical grammar text?

I don't usually like requiring grammar books for adult ESL classes. The desire to speak "correct" English can sometimes morph into a strange cult of some idealized English that one can't find spoken in American cities. Still, Murphy's clear exercises avoid this common pitfall by focusing on essential grammar points, using practical examples, and skipping over the peculiar oddities that mesmerize too many grammar fundamentalists. This affordable book lives up to its title and helps students learn English by using the language.

Finally, "Grammar In Use" stands out as the most student-friendly grammar series that I've seen in a decade of teaching English composition and ESL. Buy it.

So absolutely useful - not only tons of grammar stuff but good use of vocabulary in the examples. This, along with Murphy's Basic Grammar in Use, are great.

I was required to use this text book in my Human Resource Management class for my MBA requirements. I do not have an HR background so a lot of the information presented in this book is new to me. The authors do a great job of presenting the material in an easy to understand manner. There are a lot of real life examples and case studies that are interesting to read and help to put the concepts in to perspective.

This book will be a great reference in my professional life. It has employment laws, recruitment strategies, training and placement strategies to name a few. This is a must read for any HR professional and it really brings to focus the need for a stronger HR presence in companies to help them stay competitive.

I used this book to study for the Excelsior College exam in Human Resources Management and I got an A. It was very well written and easy to follow.

This is a textbook for advanced students of Human Resource Management, but even old hands in this field can gain a new insight on different topics which are very often neglected such as career development or separation and retention. Beside the discussion on different subjects the editors are bringing in comprehensive bibliography as well as discussion questions and a modern approach by using the web for additional exercises.

A study of the end times without this book will certainly be incomplete. A must read for any serious biblical exploration of the precarious subject of eschatology.

This book is a fresh perspective on many hard to understand aspects of a certain future. Whereas the book is fully engaging, it leaves one wondering when the next in the series will come out. A must read!

I may be a bit biased but I have to say this is one of the best works I've seen on eschatology and specifically the "Left Behind" phenomenon to date. It is a successful critique of Lahaye & Jenkin's book written in an accessible yet knowledgable style. You don't need to be a graduate level student to read it and yet it offers enough "intellectual meat" to sink your teeth into. On top of the book itself, the appendix alone is an invaluable resource.
Highest recommendation! I look forward to the rest of the series.