Witness to The Young Republic: A Yankee's Journal, 1828-1870 By Benjamin Brown French and Edited by Donald B. Cole and John J. McDonough is a marvelous journal that time-capsules life in Washington,D.C. from 1828 - 1870. Brown was a political officeholder and knew and became personally aquainted with every president from John Quincy Adams through Ulysses S. Grant.

This book was edited from over four thousand pages that were part of his personal diary... and what a diary it was. French had a flair for writing and he makes a splendid treatment of the events on the political scene of his day, keeping the readers well entertained with fascinating annotations and gossip. French's eventful life is recorded here with a delightful mix of the ordinary and extraordinary characters only an observer with a keen eye can bring to paper.

French kept watch and recorded some very interesting events in American history: as his journal gives us a shrewd but lively entertaining trip through American life; a magnificent sweep across American history, we see comments on personalities, events, manners and political ideology, penetrating observations on the people and events of that time.

One of the most tearful events, as described by French, was his account of Lincoln, as he was at Lincoln's bedside when he died. One of the best accounts in the book is French's description of the events leading to and including Lincoln's Gettysburg address. All in all, this book is very interesting and gives a rare look into events, life and times of that time period and is well worth your time to read. This book is full of information about the leaders of this great country and how they really felt at that time.

There is information about all of the prominent personalities found in this book from that time... making it a treasure trove from which we can get a better picture of how life was, not only public, but private as well.

No one has done more than Renehan to explore and explain the Byzantine tale of abolitionist John Brown and his idealistic but confused (and sometimes absurd) northeastern bankers. This is a splendid story that, by polishing with his customary narrative excellence, Renehan has turned into a real gem.

THE SECRET SIX does a wonderful job of revealing the tangled web of intrigue that lay behind John Brown's 1859 incursion at Harpers Ferry. This is stunning stuff: six affluent northeasterners, one of them the husband of poetess Julia Ward Howe and another the leading Unitarian minister of his day, financing terrorism in slave states -- and going about it methodically, calmly, and deliberately. What a story. And so well told.

THE SECRET SIX paints a vivid portrait of the northeastern aristocrats who financed John Brown's infamous 1859 misadventure at Harpers Ferry. Renehan's elegant, complelling treatment of true historical facts reads like a novel. All the members of the Six -- Franklin Sanborn, Theodore Parker, Thomas Wentworth Higginson, Samuel Gridley Howe, George Luther Stearns and New York's Gerrit Smith -- are brilliantly sketched by Renehan, who also does a first-rate job rendering the unpredictable and unstable John Brown. Most importantly, Renehan proves expert in unscrambling the many Byzantine intrigues that combine to make up the story of Brown and his often-perplexed benefactors.

This book provides a fascinating journey through one man's experience with reincarnation. Whether you are a "believer" or not, Jeff Keene's carefully written personal account of his past life experiences as a confederate general are interesting. He also provides a different type of historical perspective on the Northen war of aggression through both pairs of eyes: Confederate and Yankee.

Mr. Keene's writing style is straightforward and clean, making this a pleasure to read. And he gets extra credit for meticulous historical annotations, and adding several appendices that provide valuable background on General Gordon.

If there was a weakness, it may lie in Mr. Keene's projection of reincarnation onto others through comparing old photographs from the civil war to contemporary images of his co-workers. While the physical similarities he illistrates are striking, they pale in comparison to his own remarkable personal journey of discovery.

This book will make a great summer read for teenagers and adults-and is a must-have for anyone interested in past lives.

Imagine you are someone not remotely into the supernatural. You're well-grounded in the physical world, have led a fairly normal life and have no belief in reincarnation. Then one day you are confronted with a series of inexplicable "coincidences," all of which lead to the inescapable conclusion that you have lived a previous life as a particular confederate general in the American Civil War. What would you do?

"Someone Else's Yesterday" gives the account of what Jeffrey Keene did when he found himself in that very situation. In a sense, it is a real life detective story, but the case to be solved has implications of the utmost importance to all of us. In the balance lies the issues of life after death, and the existence of the soul.

The book is sure to appeal to all those with an interest in reincarnation and/or the Civil War. The author comes across as rational, intelligent, honest, sincere and humorous. It's not written in the flighty, fuzzy-minded style of some new age books nor in the dry, boring style of some of the scientific studies of reincarnation. It's just a down-to-earth, good and fascinating read. I highly recommend it.

Keene's book is perhaps the most important book you will ever read. Period. If you want the best and the strongest physical evidence for the existence of life after death, Jeffrey Keene's book will provide it to you. If you have doubts about reincarnation, this book will remove all your doubts. Keene's excellent book documents his amazing discovery of his past life as a Civil War soldier. After reading the verifiable evidence he presents, you will forever be a believer in life after death. His ground-breaking discovery and research is so fascinating that it was profiled in an A&E cable documentary. What makes his account so unique is that he did not discover the evidence for a past life using hypnotic regression like others have. Keene had no choice between accepting the reality of a past life or not accepting it. Keene's discovery of his past life came from his own life experience that involved a series of unusual synchronistic events. He did not seek this experience. This experience sought him. Over time, Keene's amazing life experience would continue to reinforce the reality of his connection to the past, even before he became convinced of it himself. He was not given the luxury of choice in this matter and this is one reason that makes his experience and evidence so credible. Whether you are a believer in reincarnation or not, you will find Keene's book to be one of the best books you will every read. It is filled with hope and filled with facts that strongly suggests that life continues after death. I highly recommend this book!

Kevin Williams, "Near-Death Experiences and the Afterlife", ...

This short story collection is a worthwhile read, and I will be looking up some of the authors featured. In particular, Andrew Sean Greer's story is heartbreaking; William J. Cyr's story has an interesting conversational, matter-of-fact tone; and the curiously named author "wormser" has a short but sweet entry. The best part of this collection, for me, is the interview with author Richard Bausch. I found it thoroughly inspiring, as it touches upon such problems as writer's block and having the confidence and determination to live a writer's life. The best part about Glimmer Train collections as a whole is that they give unpublished writers their first break, in addition to publishing established writers. More literary magazines of this caliber and spirit of inclusiveness are sorely needed!

This is an enjoyable collection of short stories; although, as with other collections, there are a couple of weak links in the chain. Nevertheless, it's worth buying for Andrew Greer's story alone. Others are also quite good, such as Karen Outen's fictional debate on whether to have a baby, Wormser's story about a childhood friend, and William Cyr's original and witty (and, at the same time, chilling) story of a bad stepfather. I also enjoyed the whole presentation--with baby photos of the authors (as well as current shots) and their personal comments. Established author Richard Bausch talks about writing, racism, and life in general in an engaging interview. Definitely worth a read!

Good subject coverage, knowledgeable author, and plenty of uncluttered figures makes this book very worthwhile. The only thing missing from this excellent book is an update. Although this is the third edition (1998), almost all of the equipment photographs are from the early-to-mid 1970's. An extensive and broad Suggested Reading section follows most chapters but again far far too many references are to early 1970's books and manuals. An update could earn this book a 5+ rating.

My professor suggested this book and deemed it the "Bible on Evidence". I bought it and it is. A great book that will clear up many of your questions. If you don't understand what your law professor is saying, this book will make it clearer.

This book was very enlightening and insightful on the practice of law in the 40's, 50's and 60's. It brought to life an era of controversy and injustice within an evolving America. It helps to explain these disruptive years of anti-communism and racial injustice amid the political struggles of a partisan society.

Racist and anti-abolitionist diatribes ruin what could have been an excellent story. The writing is quick-paced, and reads like Tom Clancy,(for good or ill) particularly with his ability to weave several plot threads together and build them towards the inevitable climax at Harper's Ferry. I'm trying to learn more about the secret six, but all this book did was point out how history has been rewritten by the losers - the confederates. Slavery was the fault of John Brown and the people of Boston? I don't think so.

The book shows the kind of men that financed John Brown's Abolitionist movement. They had no regard for the laws and Constitution of this country when it came to their fanatical obsession of the way our government should be governed. After reading this book, one knows that the Abolitionist movement is alive and well, media and all! The American people do not know their history. This book exposes a lot of truth as to what the movement really was: Power to overthrow the government by using the slavery issue to gain power over the states. It was a movement that caused the bloodiest war of our history. The loss of lives was more than any other war the Americans have fought. The Abolitionists were very prominent in their society: Preachers, teachers, and physicians. Because of their staus, they were able to influence the people. The slavery issue could have been solved the same way England solved their slave issue, by compromising and relocating the slaves. The real sad part is John Brown as being hailed as a hero while he should have been tried and hung for the murder of so many inncoent people. This book helps to put to rest the myth of John Brown as being a hero. It shows the fanatacism and cowardice of the Abolitionist movement by their use of others to do their dirty work. In this book, Otto does not take sides. He takes the historical happenings of both sides and allows the reader to draw up the conclusions themselves. He has the book well-indexed so that further study can be made. The excellent thing about this book is that you cannot find many books about the Abolitionist movement. Their movement has been well hidden from public view. (Too bad you only go up to 5 stars. It should have been given 5 and then some. Possibly 10 stars.) If you are interested in another book about the same issue, I recommend Samuel A Aslie's "A Southern View of the Invasion of the Southern States and War of 1861-1865."

The book shows the kind of men that financed John Brown's abolitionsit movment. They had no regard for the laws and Constitution of this country when it came to their fanatical obsession of the way our government should be governed. After reading this book, one knows that the Abolitionist movement is alive and well, media and all! The American people do not know their history. This book exposes a lot of truth as to what the movement really was: power to overthrow the government by using the slavery issue to gain power over the states. It was a movement that caused the bloodiest war of our history. The loss of lives was more than any other war the Americans have fought. The Abolitionists were very prominent in their society: preachers, teachers, physicians, that they were able to influence the people. The slavery issue could have been solved the same way England solved their slave issues, by compromising and relocating the slaves. The real sad part is John Brown was hailed as a hero while he should have been tried and hung for the murder of so many innocent people. This book helps to put to rest the myth of John Brown as being a hero. It shows the fanatacism and cowardice in the Abolitionist movement by using others to do their dirty work. In this book, Otto does not take sides. He takes the historical happenings of both sides and allows the reader to draw up the conclusions themselves. He has the book well-indexed so that futher study can be made. The excellent thing about this book is that you cannot find many books about the Abolitionist movement. Their movement has been well hidden from the public. We are left with the films, fables, poems, books, etc with the one-sided view. All of these are far from truthful. (TOO BAD YOU ONLY GO UP TO 5 STARS. IT SHOULD BE GIVEN 5 AND THEN SOME. POSSIBLY 10 STARS)

A good reference book for anyone connected with a pension or profit sharing arrangement. It is not a guide to IRAs, Keogh plans, SEPs, rather it focuses on traditional defined contribution and defined benefit plans. While this book seems written for more for budding actuaries, those wishing to study design alternatives or asset management will find this book provides a good background. I find two flaws with the book.

First is the lack of examples. While the book discusses full funding limitations, it does not show you an example calculation. While it tells you how to calculate the minimum liability, it does not show you an example of how to present it in the financial statements. This book is not a text book, but it would be very helpful to see some real examples in practice rather than only discussions about the rationale behind the method.

Second, the single chapter on pension accounting is weak. Issues not mentioned include accounting for minimum liability, disclosures under FAS 132, understanding the relationship between funding and expense, curtailments and other plan amendments, the interrelationships between the conflicting limitations of ERISA/IRC/GAAP, the effect of pension assumptions on the financial statements and the impact of FAS 87 for an over funded plan on the financial statements of the sponsor. The perspective focuses more on the reasons the accounting standards exist, not the strategy or day-to-day issues of how the pension affects the financial statements of the sponsor. If accounting is what you need, buy a current intermediate accounting book.

Very coplete study, covering almost all imaginable subjects, from actuarial maths to investment management to organisation and HR aspects of pension provision. This is not a manual, though. Get a simpler and less in detail book to get a general view of the topic, and then use "Fundamentals..." as reference.

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!