Whereas, Alexis de Tocqueville offers his perspective on America as an outside observer, the literary genius James Fenimore Cooper offers his assessment of culture, politics and society in 19th century America. He doesn't hold democracy to be sacrosanct like we do today, but rather like any other system of government with its advantages and disadvantages. His look at the nature of liberty and its relation with equality is particularly intriguing.

He is cognizant of the dangers posed to American self-government, which values legal equality. Equality, is a virtue, only insofar as it pertains to equal rights and equality before the law. Any effort at establishing equality of outcome is tantamount to tyranny and opposed to liberty. Cooper illustrates the precarious relationship between liberty and equality. Unless, tradition, custom, the rule of law and the Constitution are revered and upheld- the American Polity could easily collapse into majoritarian tyranny under a demagogue.

One gains an appreciation of the system of government established by the American founding fathers after reading this book... They established a constitutionally-limited federal republic, with limits not only on the power of government, but with limits placed on the power of majority rule, so as to limit the fundamental role of government to protecting the rights of its citizens. This constitutional republic sought to balance out monarchial, democratic, and aristocratic elements...

This is a really handsome book and with it's companion (vol. 2) makes a great addition to world lit. on your bookshelf. Some stories are novellas and some are only a page or two long but they're all artfully written and come from old established translations from late 19th century/early 20th. For anyone who wants to tackle WAR AND PEACE or ANNA KARENINA they should read a little of Tolstoy's more accessible short works and they can't go wrong here. My only complaint (and this goes for all Everyman series books) is that the text printed on the other side is annoyingly visible making reading a bit of a chore. This is a major blunder for any series of books purporting to capture the world's best literature but if you can ignore this (or at least get used to it) this would be a smart purchase because the price is right (if you buy it here).

This is an abriged translation of the famous tafseer of Ibn Jarir al-Tabari. This commentary is the most important commentary of the Muslim World. The translator explains his methodology that was used to prepare the book. It is part of a planned four volume series. This book is up to the middle of the second chapter of the Qur'an. The book includes the Arabic Text of the Qur'an plus transliteration. The book is well thoughout and the translation is sound

This book is an excellent guide for those who want a complete listing of known published works by most detective fiction writers. Each authors section discusses when the books were printed and textually describes many of the dust jackets. There is also a section in colour showing many of the rare dust jackets as well as the covers of rare books usually found without dust jackets. I have found this book to be a frequently used resource. In addition, many book sellers now cite this as "Cooper and Pike" in their listings to confirm first edition points.

This book is great if you can get your hands on it.
It uses a variety of topics to stress it's point;
such as science, math and cooking.
The resource books that go along with it have hands
on approaches to learning as well and worksheets and
the normal busy work. I have only found these in amazon
zshops...they are titled Enjoy Literacy Activity Book and
there is also Integrated Theme Tests. These are editions
3.1. There is also 3.2 which is titled Celebrate Literacy
Activity Book and Integrated Theme Tests. If you haven't
decided on a series to use definatly try these books.

Collaboratively created by poet Roger Cooper and photographer John Erickson, Impressions is a unique melding of full-color photography and poetry. Images of nature combine with spiritual free-verse lyrics, each preserved without deliberate knowledge of or reference to one another, and presented side by side, offering the reader a memorable series of visual, literary, and emotional experiences far greater than the sum of its parts. Impressions is enthusiastically recommended as a relaxing and emotionally contemplative work that is thoroughly enjoyable to page through at leisure.

We have been trying to decide on some of the best wireless initiatives for our company for quite some time. This book was incredibly useful in understanding where some of the industry leaders see the future going. I especially liked the chapter written by the CEO of AT&T Wireless. This book is a must have for anyone interest in wireless opportunities or in the wireless industry.

I'm a human being, a recoverer from childhood trauma, a therapist, and a reader. This collection of essays by professional researchers of "the human condition" affirms for me a profound truth about all of us, and why we do what we do. These veteran authors' central theme is "multiplicity" - the little-acknowledged universal fact that our "minds" are naturally modular, routinely producing a range of subselves or subpersonalities that we experience as one "me". One profound implication is that "you and me" are two physical people - and also two *groups* of *selves* all interacting in complex ways, simultaneously, in ways we're only vaguely conscious of.

Author/editors John Rowan and Mick Cooper have done lay people and professionals a great service by bringing together a group of articulate experts who weave a convincing meta-story affirming our *multiplicity* across theory, research, and practice. The implications of what they collectively say are - in my biased opinion - world-view shifting. If most people in our culture or world accepted that each of us is a *group* of people, without being *crazy* in the least - I suspect our society would shift dramatically, in many good ways.

One of the many benefits of this book is the buffet of different articulate concepts that are spread before the reader. There is a unifying theme, but a rich diversity of background, perspective, conceptions, terminology, and enterpretations that empowers each reader to sample and construct our own belief about "multiplicity" and it's personal and social meaning.

The content of this book, and the credibility of it's group of authors, has shifted how I think about myself, you, and our fellow Beings - even after 62 years of observing and mulling. The implications of what these wise people write are vast, and beyond summary here.

I believe anyone - not just clinicians - with genuine interest in personal growth, behavior, and potential will significantly profit from reading this and related books like "Internal Family Systems Therapy", by Richard Schwartz. Another interesting, useful book is "Embracing Each Other", by psychologists Hal and Sidra Stone.

The cataclysmic events both inside and outside the Muslim world since 9/11 have caused some serious collateral damage. Inter-religious dialogue has suffered a severe setback as a result of the increased antagonism between Muslims and non-Muslims. Especially progressive Muslim thinkers are now in an even less enviable position than before. In their attempts to find ouvertures these potential bridge-builders between modern western thought and Islamic discourse are often vilified by less open-minded fellow Muslims. In today's climate poisoned with suspicion, these intellectuals face a real danger of being stonewalled or considered mere apologists in the West as well.

The only way out of this deadlock of mistrust is to take note of the views and ideas of these often original thinkers. "Islam and Modernity: Muslim Intellectuals Respond" is a volume of essays in which some innovative Muslim thinkers are either presented and interpreted by Islamic studies specialists or given opportunity to speak for themselves.

After an introduction by Derek Hopwood, sketching the intellectual climate in which the debate on cultural heritage and response to outside influences is grounded in the world of Islam, followed by an essay on modernist influences on 19th century Urdu literature, John Cooper analyzes the contributions of Iran's controversial philosopher of science, 'Abd al-Karim Soroush, to the debate on the "Islamization of knowledge". A pharmacologist by training, Soroush also engages in penetrating studies of traditionalism and Islamic philosophy. Although he was very much involved in the educational reforms taking place in the wake of Iran's Islamic revolution, Soroush has nevertheless been able to retain an independent intellectual stand. Cooper explains that he succeeded in doing so because "[h]e began to present a more personalized discourse, in which his intellectual autobiography came to figure prominently [..]". In his argumentations for new trajectories towards knowledge Soroush uses elements from the entire Islamic intellectual spectrum: Persian poetry, ideas borrowed from revivalism, mysticism, and scriptural studies are employed to trace genealogies and suggest a new Islamic epistemology.

Andreas Christmann presents a micro-level study of the Damascus-based preacher Shaikh Muhammad Sa'id Ramadan al-Buti. The essay is based on field-work in which he has researched the biography of this representative of the traditional 'ulama or religious scholars, and the influences his ideas have had, mainly through the modern media of radio and TV.

Nadia Abu-Zahra's survey of the liberal writer on Islam, Husayn Ahmed Amin, shows that his main focus is on the importance of correct knowledge of Islamic history and consideration for social circumstances in the development and implementation of Islamic law or Shari'a. Together these will make Muslims aware that Shari'a law developed centuries ago and that its stipulations have failed to keep pace with new social conditions. In adapting to these new circumstances, Muslims can enhance their confidence in their Islamic identity. That such a reform has failed sofar is, among others, due to the misconception of the Prophet's infallibility, ignoring the fact that many of the Prophet's actions were driven by political and economic interests, and the isolationist attitudes of later generations of jurists. In a detailed analysis of Amin's argumentation on the basis of historical and scriptural studies, the author points out several inconsistencies in Amin's reasonings.

The Sudanese reformist Mahmud Muhammad Taha has paid the ultimate price for his modernist thinking: in 1985 he was condemned to death on charges of apostacy and executed. Mohamed Mahmoud's essay focusses mainly on the thinker's most influential work: "The Second Message of Islam". Taha may be characterized as a universalist and gnostic, as such his thought was not so different from certain strands of Sufism.
Taha's philosophy is permeated by two interrelated problems: the relationship between individual and society, and man's relationship to the universe. Taha's starting point that "in Islam the individual is the end. Everything else, including the Qur'an and the religion of Islam itself, are means to that end.", makes him a true humanist. Further on Mohamad Mahmoud explains that Taha's evolutionary perspective on religion induces him to take Islam as a living, endless process rather than a doctrine pregnant with dogmatism.
The author then takes us through some intriguing concepts that Taha's philosophy touched upon: original and subsidiary revelations, jihad, gender, slavery, the position of democracy.

According to Ronald Nettler, Tunesian-born mediaevist Mohamed Talbi has made a significant contribution to modernist Islamic religious thought in the later half of the twentieth century. Central themes in Talbi's thinking are the contextuality of scriptural exegesis, man's innate pluralism, and the provisionality of all knowledge. Interestingly, Talbi acknowledges his intellectual debt to the Christian theologian Hans Kueng for his views on interreligious relations.

The Moroccan Mohamed Abed Jabri is a professional philosopher, who has engaged in the debate on how Muslims can accommodate concepts like democracy and human rights in their conceptional world. Central to his thinking are notions such as ethical princple and rationality. Abdou Filali-Ansari's essay contains an interesting exposition on Jabri's view of secularism, serving as an illustration of the invasion of the theological field by 'secular' intellectuals.

From a similar mold, but decidedly post-modernist in tone, is the essay by Mohammed Arkoun, an expert on Islamic philosophy. He makes a case for differentiation between 'Qur'an-as-fact' and 'Islam-as-fact' on the basis of historical, sociological and linguistic research, without losing sight of the influence that ideologies have on the formation of 'meaning'.

Another thinker who has suffered the consequences of his innovative approaches to Islamic studies is Nasr Hamid Abu Zaid, who had to seek refuge in the Netherlands after being sued for apostacy in Egypt. He suggests that semiotic methods can be fruitfully applied to the study of Qur'an. His essay, dealing with the textuality of the Qur'an, illuminates Islamic notions of 'text', 'language' and 'semantics'. He emphasizes, however, that textual particularities must be studied in their historical context, and that the text's interpretation is absolutely human and therefore infinitely diverse.

All in all, this collection of essays makes an excellent companion volume to any of the vast number of books on political Islam.

this biography is wonderfull, it's one of the most complete bio of young Jack. It tells how he was.
there are a lot of rares photos and a few documents.
I suggest it to all the peaople who are fans of john f kennedy.