If you want to see what happens to a country when a fundamentalist religious movement hijacks a country you need only look at Iran and Afghanistan. The same would happen here if Gary Bauer and his ilk actually achieved a real measure of power. Their ascendancy would result in a financial collapse that would make the Great Depression look like a tea party. It's so easy to blame easy targets like film, music and the latest whipping boy of the right wing, the 60's, for what's going on in America today. It lets lazy politicians look like they're actually accomplishing something. Watch out...Bauer's running for President.

Author Robert H. Knight, in his "Age of Consent," tackles a huge topic. Yet his historic survey-like description of popular culture's decline misses two key consequences of "Relativism," as a social ethos: (1) Comparativism (which neutrally treats all 'belief/opinion systems' as equally valid); and (2) Moral Legalism (which suggests that legal permissibility--and arguable legal versions of fact, however interpretive--is the ultimate moral authority. (If it's legal, or in a gray area, or undetectable...it's OK, so long as no real harm comes to anyone.) The author fails to expand on the two-edged sword predicament of Relativism, as both a media marketing necessity in a multi-ethnic America, and also the divisive foundation for potential Balkanization. A good intro to the subject.

Bob Knight is angry with an America that has taken the wrong path, and he takes the cultural leaders to task for leading the country astray since the 1960s. High culture, low culture, and middlebrow are all misguided, according to this book, and only a return to American traditions will rescue American civilization from decay. In his final chapter he finds hope in grass-roots America, which Knight argues can revitalize the country's intellectual and cultural life, if given a chance. Written from a Christian perspective, it presents an important point of view which should be seriously considered by all Americans interested in cultural developments.

The book is a personal account of an American trapped in Japan after the bombing of Pearl Harbor. One expecting lengthy details on life on the Japanese home front will be disappointed. Only a very small number pages give one much information on life in Japan during WWII. To be blunt, I thought the book was pretty boring.

This tightly edited volume of Mary Tomita's letters is an important and very necessary addition to the field of Asian American Studies. Exploring the wartime experiences of Mary Kimoto, a young Nisei (second generation Japanese American) from rural California who travels to Japan and is subsequently trapped in that country during World War II, the letters in this book give tremendous voice to the experiences of this Kibei woman. Kibei were Japanese Americans partially educated in Japan before returning to the US to reside permanently. While the exact number of Kibei is unknown, they are estimated to have numbered into the thousands. While many Nisei went abroad for study tours (kengakudan) sponsored by local immigrant newspapers, an relatively smaller group went to Japan for long-term study or work. Full of warmth, humor, and pain, Tomita's letters to her best friend Miye betray the somber realities of being a minority among the Japanese. It adds a unique chapter to the history of American racism, the wartime incarceration of Japanese Americans, and Japanese history. All this, and so much more. This was a wonderfully crafted, expertly edited text that should be on the shelves of anyone interested in issues of biculturalism, racism, and Japanese American history. I cannot recommend this book enough, and will be sure to assign it in my university courses.

How things used to be, not how they are today. Old processes, old way of doing things. Unfortunately, there's really nothing else out there to fill the gap - this may be the best available. Be warned, if you want to set up a proactive purchasing department, this is not how to do it.

This book provides the complete groundwork for setting policies and procedures in a purchasing department. As a new purchasing agent, I value this resource, which enabled me to develop a functional, effective purchasing department.

It was with great disappointment that I read in 15 minutes a book whose title had promised so much. A small, thin book to begin with, "Wit and Wisdom" is heavy on white space between too few quotes. The quotes that are collected herein appear to have been collected carelessly with little concern for their merit. The truly memorable sayings contained in this book can be counted on one hand and can be had for free with a good search engine on the internet. This is one of the few books that ever saddedned this Librarian.

Devereaux Cannon, Son of Confederate Veterans, expert historian, and true believer in the "cause" and its great leader Robert E. Lee, has chosen a wonderful selection of quotes that reveal the multi-faceted General Lee. He has captured Lee the leader, Lee the strategist, Lee the man, Lee the parent, Lee the commander and the many other Robert Lee's that we know and recognize as the greatest loved of American military commanders. One quote truly stands out, as General Lee speaks across the generations to us today: "The consolidation of the states into one vast republic, sure to be aggressive abroad and despotic at home, will be the certain precursor of that ruin which has overwhelmed all those that have preceded it...I grieve for posterity, for American principles and American liberty."

Excellent book.

A short account of the final days of the Civil War where Grant forces Lee into bloody battles of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania, North Anna, Cold Harbor, and Petersburg. Grant forces the Confederates to use their most precious resource--manpower, and wins the Civil War. Good insights on how Lincoln backed Grant to the full degree in his waging of the war. Also a good overview of the final days in both Richmond and Washington D. C. For those who doubt Grant's genius, they should read this book.

Accounts of the Battle of Gettysburg always seem to focus on who is to blame for the Confederate loss. Dowdey's version happens to blame Longstreet, primarily. However, Longstreet fans shouldn't avoid the book on that account. Dowdey gives a clear, well-written, though inevitably at this date somewhat old-fashioned, account. As no other author that I'm aware of does, he discusses the preparation for the invasion: the way that Davis refused Lee the reinforcements he'd requested, the way that Lee failed to rethink his method of dealing with subordinates after Jackson's death. I think Dowdey is a little scanty on Culp's Hill, but then I think that about everyone but Pfanz. Overall, this is a good basic analysis, definitely worth reading.

I'm still reading this book, the first one in this series that I've read. It seems to be accurate in its historical details, and the mystery itself is intriguing. But the incredibly annoying thing about it is the narrator's constant and continual references to past occurences in the series. I might have given it higher mark but for that.

This was the first book of Hall's that I have read. I enjoyed most the historic aspect of this story, the details of a time gone by. I found the cast of characters likable enough, and I like the author's choice of using a famous historical figure as a protagonist. In this book, Ben Franklin embarks upon a trip to Bath, England, running into some shady characters along the way. At one point or another along the way, you are led to question the integrity of almost all the people involved leaving you, the reader, to figure out who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. Definitely a good read if you want to become absorbed in a good book, but don't want anything too heavy.

Control over northwestern Virginia during the Civil War was critical to Confederate
offense or defense; however, the history of campaigns in western Virginia have been
overshadowed by the military events in eastern Virginia. The author notes that the two
regions of Virginia were fundamentally separated before the Civil War "....by reasons
of climate, soil and situation, Eastern Virginia remained the region of large plantations,
with heavy slave population, and profitable agriculture, especially in the production of
tobacco. West Virginia....having been settled by hunter, pioneers, lumberman and miners,
possessed little in common with her more wealthy and aristocratic neighbors beyond the
mountains." As the text notes, Virginia was already divided.

The author debunks the myth of Union solidarity in western Virginia stating that while
60% of the population were pro-Union, 40% of the population were Southern
sympathizers and they controlled 60% of the counties. The text states that on June 2nd the
first land battle of the Civil War took place when Confederate Colonel Porterfield's
command was surprised and being outnumbered fled in chaos in a defeat dubbed the
"Phillippi Races."

Many of the future problems that were to plague both armies were evident in the fighting
in western Virginia. The text illustrates the problems of incompetent, politically appointed
commanders; one example was the ex-Virginia governors Generals Wise and Floyd
refusing to cooperate and were jealous of each other. Both armies had officers lacking
military experience commanding poorly trained and woefully equipped armies.
Washington and Richmond together with their field commanders lacked working
knowledge of the area's topography, road conditions and seasonal weather so that Robert
E. Lee, a Virginian, had to personally scout the area to gain knowledge of the field. In
addition, due largely to miserable field conditions, disease played a formidable and tragic
role for the armies in the field which was an "insurmountable obstacle to any offensive
campaign."

The author states that "during the last half of July (1861), Federal forces worked diligently
to place a firm military grip on the areas of West Virginia under their control. The text
outlines the 1861 battles at Carnifax Ferry, Cheat Mountain, Sewell Mountain and
Barstow. However, before Lee had any realistic opportunity to succeed in the west "and
just four months into the war it seemed that the division of the Old Dominion was
assured." On October 29th Lee returned to Richmond for another assignment and by the
end of November the West Virginia campaigns of 1861 were over. The Confederacy
having lost control of the area in 1861, on June 20,1863, West Virginia became the 35th
state in the Union.

The author states "that the South's attempts to retain West Virginia were feeble at best."
He concludes writing "The Northern forces were not entirely successful either. They
were....more the beneficiaries of an initially inept enemy, than the heroes of a successful
campaign....The almost wilderness nature of the country, with its weary miles of steep
mountain roads that became impassable in wet weather, and the acute absence of forage
for animals were elements which the Federal commanders greatly underestimated."

Historian have not documented the 1861 battles in West Virginia as completely as
the later battles in eastern Virginia; however, the strategic failure of the Confederacy to control
western Virginia exposed the Army of Northern Virginia's left flank often requiring
deployment of critically needed forces from eastern Virginia thereby limiting Confederate
strategic options in the east.

The serious reader of Civil War history will find this account informative.