In the preface of his book, author Oates states it is not his intention to determine the mental capabilities of his subject, abolitionist John Brown. But, he certainly paints a vivid enough picture so the reader can determine for himself if Brown is a crazy old coot, a cold blooded murderer, or a man on a might mission or a combination of all three. I had just read Cloudspliiter by Russell Banks (a fictionalized version of Brown's life-see my review) and it made me want to read a real biography of Brown. If anything, this book made me appreciate Banks' immagination even more. To Purge This Land with Blood is a very detailed account of Brown's life, maybe too detailed. Every character, no matter how inconsequential, is named. And this sea of names and places can be mindboggling. I found much of the book slow going and already knowing the outcome of Brown's life didn't compel me to move on quickly. But, after reading the book, I now believe I now know Brown. And isn't that the purpose of biography?

If you were, like I was, taught that John Brown was not much more than a well-meaning madman then you don't know the John Brown of history. Oates does a great job of dispelling that myth as well as presenting for the first time the full picture, thoroughly footnoted, of the man who may have sparked the Civil War. I have small gripes with some of the text, but none worth mentioning here. Read it and be impressed.

M.L. Brown's The Wild East: A Biography of the Great Smoky Mountain National Park is the amazing story of the centerpiece of eastern wilderness. Introducing herself and her work with a refreshing and highly personal account, Brown immediately enlightens the reader as to her motivations. What proceeds is a history that is so meticulously researched that the wildness of the park seems almost suburban, making The Wild East simultaneously fascinating and slightly disappointing. But pathos is bound to ensue after the mythical GSMNP is taken off of its pedestal, and Brown delivers a heavy dose of reality by focusing on prior land use within the park, the contradictions of park management, and the nebulous concept of 'wilderness'. The result is an accurate account of the park's creation that de-shrouds it of some of its wild mystery, an effect that might not be enjoyed by every reader.

In Brown's defense, she had few complete histories of the park to update and examine (outside of D.S. Pierce's The Great Smokies), and the litany of personal accounts, newspaper articles, and other histories that she unearths make for a tremendous piece of scholarship. Brown leaves no stone unturned in describing the opportunism of the Tennesseans and consternation of the North Carolineans, and she fully reviews both sides of every major argument that enveloped the park to the present. Of particular interest is her focus on making the history of park and area residents seem less like 'hillbillies' and more like average Americans of a century ago, with many personal accounts of day-to-day Appalachian life.

But missing in her attempt to please everybody is a sense of the rancor and vitriol that must have surrounded the park's formation, guided by a healthy dose of eccentricity from all of the wonderful folk who gave a hand in helping of hindering the park's will to survive. Her most flagrant omission is an unbiased discussion Horace Kephart and his contributions to both regional anthropology and the park's development; Kephart is only mentioned in passing. For a park with such a dynamic history, one might wish for a more dynamic story, with a greater sense of the conflict and character that makes the Great Smoky Mountains the centerpiece of eastern wilderness.

Again, a good portion of the park was settled, and thus its status as 'wilderness' is a matter of debate. To this end Brown inexplicably addresses eminent environmental historian William Cronon on the topic of wilderness in her conclusion, which is a departure from her storyline and should have been omitted. Had she debated wilderness directly throughout the book her conclusion would not be so disjoint.

An argument that Brown does develop is the issue of land management both within and around the park, with a focus on the Gatlinburg area and conflict surrounding park managers and policies. Her bear management discussion is particularly strong, as is the history of contrasting land development on the North Carolina and Tennessee sides of the park and park management of Cades' Cove.

In short, despite its shortcomings, The Wild East is a necessary read for all GSMNP enthusiasts. Brown's honest history might make the park lose some of its luster, but will also surely create new leagues fans for the dynamic GSMNP.

Margaret Lynn Brown's "The Wild East" is an important contribution to the field of environmental history. The author seems to know the region where the Great Smoky Mountains is in, well. She traces the history of the Smokies and of the people living there. She analyzes how the Smokies came to be under the federal government's jurisdiction and how the landscape was changed profoundly.

What I find most interesting is the attempt by a superintendent's effort to preserve the mountains as pristine as possible but he came up with some strong objections by surrounding residents who were concern about bringing money in to the region. Also, surrounding towns began to flourish as attractions like Ripley Believe it or Not and even Dollywood became the focus of tourists going to the Smokies to get away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life. It's almost ironic that there is such drastic difference between the Smokies, where wilderness is preserve and the very commericialized towns surrounding the mountains.

Certainly "artsy," certainly original, and certainly tiring is John Brown's second and most recent novel, The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton Gerard Lafleur. At points in the story, it seems that Brown achieves something great. At other points, I wished I never picked the book up. The novel's complex plot circles around a handful of eye-catchingly interesting issues including racism, life as a seriously handicapped child, mentorship, and others. Suspiciously reminiscent of the Forrest Gump screenplay, Shelton Lafleur (abr.) also contains a nice dose of casual, meaningful, and insightful philosophy in the form of Shelton's occasional reflections on life. The story is told from the retrospect of Shelton Gerard Lafleur, who is narrating the story as a moribund and decrepit old man. He tells the story of his most unusual childhood in New Orleans during the Depression -- the story of his mysterious adoption by an affluent and aged white woman, his life-crippling fall from a backyard oak, and his experiences with the eccentric and impoverished black mentor who adopted him for a second time. Despite the poignant issues involved, Brown fails to create anything close to a moving novel. The Wrecked, Blessed Body of Shelton Gerard Lafleur is instead victim to long spells of rambling and trifling.

I completely disagree with the previous reviewer and with Kirkus. Maybe some of the plot is implausible, but that isn't really important. This author has touched deeply into things about human nature. And I loved the irony of the ending.

I have always had a fascination for why people believe the way they do. I could not put this book down. It is interesting that all of the priests kept thinking that the next event (entering seminary, becoming a priest, saying the first Mass, becoming a missionary, etc.) would provide them with peace with God. Yet, at each turn, they found no answers to their questions, no peace. Each of them stumbled across the Bible under differing circumstances, but had trouble justifying Catholic dogmas with what they read in the Bible. Most of them had to sacrifice everything in order to leave the priesthood. Some testimonies were very insightful, others repetitious, but all provided me with an insight into the difficulties many priests must be faced with. Anyone opposed to Catholicism should first read this book to gain a greater sense of compassion for the person on the other side. The author should focus on organization of the testimonies (perhaps chronilogically), add dates where missing, and add transitions where it seems to jump.

This book puts a human face on the number of those who eventually had to leave the Roman Church priesthood because they could no longer reconcile their changing beliefs with those that they were required to practice...and it does this via fifty testimonies of the over 100,000 men who have left the Roman Catholic priesthood since 1970

As these priest tell their stories, we are educated in a number of ways.

One, we learn a great deal about Roman Catholic Church theology, including the Mass, confession, justification, etc.

Two, we are provided fascinating insights into the various trainings, practices, duties and obligations of priestly and monastic orders. Some of these practices seem barbaric by our contemporary sense of spiritual awareness. It is appalling, for instance, to think we have Roman Catholic orders of monks who still practice medieval, physical forms of cruelty upon themselves (like flagellation) and their fellows (blows to the face) in an attempt to be right with and pleasing to God.

Since the spiritual journeys of these priests are internationally and ethnically diversified, we are also educated in terms of the Roman Catholic Church's role in various countries and cultures. In some countries, it is apparent that the RCC has a power that is every bit as dominant politically as it is religiously. Many of these priests feared for their personal safety as well as their future careers when they entertained notions of leaving the priesthood, because of the Roman Church's vindictive representatives in government, in the police forces and in the business community. Some of these priests, after having left the priesthood, were forced to leave their countries to find hospitable refuge elsewhere. Evidently, in some parts of the world, leaving the priesthood is not like quitting a job.

For these reasons, and the fact that many faced the potential of a cultural stigma as well as intense disappointment of friends and family, we learn that leaving the priesthood required a good amount of courage. The fact that all the ex-priests in this book left because of a crisis of conscience or belief, as opposed to yearnings for worldly or physical desires, make their stories even more compelling and credible.

We also learn the extent to which the Roman Catholic Church, despite calling Protestants "brothers," in actual practice in various locales considers Protestantism its number one enemy. Many of these testimonial conversions are remarkable considering the fact that the priests relating them were raised and educated to hate Protestants. Many actually were led to believe that Protestant Bibles were radically different than Catholic Bibles. Protestant literature, in one man's story, was kept in a forbidden, locked closet in a church library.

When reading this book, anyone who considers himself a serious Christian will be shocked by how little the theological training of Roman Catholic priests involves the study of scripture. One man testifies in this book that in thirteen years of training to be a priest, he had twelve hours of studying the Bible. Another stated that he was not allowed to even read a Bible until after he had turned 21, despite the fact that he had been trained to be a priest since he was a ten. One is left with the impression that since so many Roman Catholic Church dogmas (like the sacrifice of the Mass, the Marian dogmas, confession, transubstantiation, purgatory, the priesthood itself) have questionable or no scriptural basis, the Roman Catholic Church prefers to train its future priests with literature on what they say about the Bible, rather than risk having seminarians question Church teaching by reading the Bible itself.

Despite this effort, the constant thread throughout many of the narratives is how God brought the truth to anguished, confused, and troubled souls in spite of Roman Catholic "brainwashing" as one ex-priest phrases it. Many times the seed of God's truth was sown as priests were required to perform actions that in their hearts they knew only God was capable of, such as absolution. Many more times conversion occurred as a result of studying the Word of God and learning that the Gospel message of God's love and forgiveness, and Christ's one time perfect sacrifice blatantly contradicts the Roman Catholic view.

We cannot simply dismiss the conversions of these brave and intelligent men as being a result of ignorance. In some cases, these men experienced decades of training and learning in Roman Catholic teaching. An objective reader, regardless of denominational affilliation, must conclude that there is something wrong with a Christian church that shields not only its laity, but its clergy from the Bible...but when one sees how a thorough grounding in the Word of God can lead to exodus from that church, we can at least understand why.

A quick read: informative and surprisingly entertaining as well.

I'm a former Roman Catholic. I got this book as a recent Christmas gift from a friend. I must admit, the evidence in this book is very compelling. If you're a Catholic struggling with your faith, you need to read this book. Or if you're thinking about becoming a Catholic, you need to read this book. God is found in the Bible and in its teachings. I must warn you-you'll find a lot of differences between the Catholic Church and the Bible if you read this book. As you read it, I'd suggest keeping a Bible close by. You'll find that all of the information these former priests give is 100% accurate. Excellent book!!!

I buy this book to help learn .NET to take MicroSoft tests. Did not know book is writen for beta .NET. I did not pass test since I learned from wrong version.

DO NOT BUY. Is old and no help.

Forget this book, unless you application the same as theirs.

This book provides an exellence big picture of .NET in developing an e-commerce website. It will definitely save you a lot of time in developing a website. It does not provide in detail on how do you implement it though. You would need specific books on asp.net and on VB.net or C# to complement it.

I studied out of 7 different preparation books, and this one, by far is the worst one! The questions in this book are really difficult, tricky and unlike the CLEP exam! The questions in the actual CLEP exam arent tricky like the SAT or GRE, they are straightforward. For some reason, Peterson's has decided to put in SAT-like questions on their practice exam. This book should be thrown out of the market because its NOTHING like the real exams! I would recommend Princeton Review's Cracking the CLEP, and Review for Clep Examination by Comex Systems. The REA also writes really accurate practice exams. If you are taking English, I also recommend you purchase "The Writer's Reference" by Diana Hacker. That was probably the most helpful book in brushing up on your English.

I found the practice exercises in this book to be very helpful, and I did really well when I took the CLEP afterwards.

Looking to maximize my ability on the CLEP tests to avoid taking numerous classes that I have no interest in. If you'd like to get practice on these tests, than this book may help.

Jean Libby's _John Brown Mysteries_ is an ambitious attempt to continue writing an African-American-centered history of America's most famous and infamous abolitionist, John Brown. It is an important book, because too few historians of Brown pay attention to the role of African Americans in his struggle, despite that obvious facts that his was a struggle against blacks' enslavement and that Brown was personally at ease and friends with black leaders and laymen to a degree rarely seen even in abolitionist circles at the time.

At once an attempt to reintroduce lost or ignored primary sources by African Americans from the time of Brown's raid and an attempt to comment on them and on the discourse at large, _Mysteries_ is a strange book which can not decide what it wants to do, and so fails to do anything effectively. The tension between being a collection of primary sources and a commentary on them and a criticism of past work, all at once, leads to a variety of strange errors in both content and presentation. And none of it is helped by the writing of a committee - the authors are a collection of professional and amateur historians calling themselves "Allies for Freedom," after historian Benjamin Quarles' ground-breaking book. Editor Libby was not aggressive enough in crafting them into a coherent voice.

Presentation first: it is, sadly, simply hard to tell which document one is reading at any particular time, and where it comes from. Divisions between documents are poorly marked, as are the divisions between commentary and primary source. And despite the author's avowed desire to facilitate further research, the entire book is foot-noted half-heartedly. Used solely as a research tool, it is passable in style and quite valuable for its resurrection of rare sources. But read cover to cover, it is jumpy and ill-structured.

These errors in presentation make the content suffer. The authors do not address the context of their documents, drawing little distinction between accounts from the 1850s or the 1870s, even though changes in America between those times are impossible to overstate. They do not adequately examine the underlying factual assumptions of the book, which come from W.E.B. Dubois's 1910 biography _John Brown_. They do not address the latest research on Brown (found concisely in Paul Finkleman's _His Soul Goes Marching On_, 1995). And they do not note the changes in black discourse on Brown from the oratory-dominated 1850s and 1860s to the mainstream publications in 1910 by DuBois.

On the other side, even though the book is a deliberate and welcome attempt to refute white liberal historical accounts of Brown, which largely ignored African Americans except for Frederick Douglass, the authors refer to these accounts only abstractly. Comprehensive historical biographies by Stephen Oates (1984) and Oswald Garrison Villard (1911) have a very different view then biographies-as-eulogies (Franklin Sanborn and James Redpath's books, in 1876 and 1861, respectively), which were starkly at odds with the hatchet jobs coming from Robert Penn Warren and James Malin (1929 and 1940, respectively). They can not be mentioned, much less refuted, together.

So, on both the black and white sides of the discourse, _Mysteries_ oversimplifies. Some of these criticisms are unavoidable; Brown's memory is so complex, no book can fully address it, and _Mysteries_ is an accessible 115 pages. And _Mysteries_ does bring back to the forefront the cutting edge debate on Brown today, which is why anti-racist activists from the white and black communities came to such vastly different conclusions about the facts and implications of his actions. But readers would be better served to go not to _Mysteries_ but directly to its authors' inspirations, W.E.B. Dubois and Benjamin Quarles.

Most programmers ask themselves, "Why aren't my tools this easy to use?" According to the contributors to this book, the answer is that we make far too little use of interactive 2D and 3D graphics. Even the most advanced integrated-development environments (IDEs) are built around a text editor. If you compare this to the dozens of sketches that programmers draw to show data structures, inheritance, and control flow, you can see how much more we could be doing. Most of the systems discussed in Software Visualization use visualization to examine or explain existing programs. Some of the results leave me cold, but some, like the classic "Sorting Out Sorting" by Baecker et al., are truly illuminating.

Its quiet good book for novices. Using this book we can learn how to create plug-ins and other things like how to install plug-ins, uses etc.,.

This book is very poorly written. Yes, there are usable things in it, but you're better off buying the X Toolkit Cookbook (if you need a tutorial approach), or the Motif Programming Manual (Volume 6A from O'Reilly).

This book reeks. It's poorly written, and organized so badly I was tearing my hair out after the first few chapters.

Buy "X Toolkit Cookbook" - it's so much better, it defies description.

It has been said that a specialist knows everything about nothing, while a generalist knows nothing about everything. This is a generalist book.

The title of this book is completely misleading, except, perhaps the "scratch" part: After reading it, I am scratching my head, and asking, so how do I write programs for X Window???

The author is spreading himself too thin. He assumes you do not even know how to edit a text file, you do not know how to program at all, you do not know what a linked list is. This is ridiculous. Obviously, if I want to learn about X Window programming from scratch, I do not know how to program for X Window, but I do know how to program in general. Alas, the book tells very little about X Window programming. It talks about Unix shells, about computer graphics, about make, about trigonometry, etc. But when it comes to X Window programming, it just breezes through it very fast. There is no systematic explanation of a basic structure of an X Window program. Instead, it offers the code of a vector image editor, completely confusing to an X beginner.

One thing the author excells in is self-praise. For example, chapter 13 says, "Chapter 1 provides an EXCELLENT introduction to ..." (emphasis mine). Give me a break!

I feel I was had. I feel I wasted both my money and my time. Don't waste yours!