This is perhaps the best book that I have read on environmental history. Davis contends that the Southern Appalachian Mountains have been raped, robbed, and pillaged for centuries and casts new light on a largely ignored subject. The strengths of the work are Davis' illustrations of the cultural and environmental developments that have occurred in southern Appalachia from an interdisciplinary approach. The work is well-written and Davis displays an excellent knowledge of the literature using both primary and secondary sources. The sources are current and the bibliography is a useful tool for scholars wanting to do further work in Appalachia. Most scholars who have written on Appalachia have largely ignored Native Americans but Davis has shown in the same manner as William Cronan (Changes in the Land) and Alfred Crosby (The Columbian Exchange) in other areas of America, the consequences that European explorers had on Native American populations. Davis certainly executes and conveys with a skill understanding of the precontact environment, ecology, and landscape for the reader. This book could be used in history courses, folklore, Appalachian studies, sociology/anthropology, and a host of other classes. Also, it is written so well it is good for just general reading. This is a powerful, forceful, well-organized, and convincing work.

This book is a summary and overview of the Councils and the climate in which took place. If you are looking for extreme detail, this may or may not be what you are looking for. But when read along with the Early Church Fathers volume on the Councils (Series 2 Vol 14) at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library, it serves the reader well.
Mr Davis writes well and does his homework, but when you read, you must keep in mind that he is a Roman Catholic and puts in plugs here and there for the Pope, as if that is what made the council Ecumenical. Even the title reflects this (as if there were an 8th ecumenical council).
After reading the chapter on the 7th Ecumenical council, I was almost convinced that it was not even Ecumenical, on account of his exerpt on the Franks "not being included". But even as an Eastern Orthodox, you can read this and get a lot out of it, as for Councils'theology and politics.

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In this valuable book Leo Donald Davis, a Roman Catholic priest takes an objective look at the history of the Church and the theological story of the council meetings during the first seven ecumenical councils. Each chapter of the book is dedicated to one council; the circumstances that led to the council, the convening of the council, the actual deliberations and the aftermath of the council. The seven ecumenical council dealt with are the councils of Nicea I, Constantinople I, Ephesus, Chalcedon, Constantinople II, Constantinople III and Nicea II.

The life of the Church during these councils was very much intertwined with secular history. Secular politics and theological controversieis were often intermingled. The eccelsiastical rivalries were sometimes much worse than the political ones. The author deals with history in an objective manner and is preoccupied with showing the gruesome facts without taking any sides. The faithful people need to note that the Holy Spirit worked through all these persons and situations.

It is a delightful book. After having read this, our outlook on the Church and her doctrines will no more be the same.

Escribo para quienes deseen adquirir este libro y son de Latinoamérica, el libro viene con un CD para realizar un laboratorio (el cual se debe realizar para cada uno de sus capitulos). EL LIBRO ES REALMENTE UTIL PARA DESARROLLAR UN SITIO B2B CON HERRAMIENTAS MICROSOFT. Los laboratorios se pueden desarrollar normalmente teniendo: Microsoft Site Server Commerce edition 3.0, Visual Basic, Microsoft SQL y windows NT 4.0. Eso sólo lo supe cuando tuve el texto en mis manos...

Since the inception of the internet there has been no way to measure the impact on the global business community. Business after business has popped up all over the world and now you have the opportunity to shop online and conduct business without ever leaving you house.

Capturing this idea and making it work for you and your business is what Microsoft Press has done with this book, part of the Microsoft Mastering series. In just under 450 pages you'll find information on how to configure Site Server 3.0 and use technologies like ASP, XML and COM+.

The book is more than the typical information center, it also includes exercises and review questions that will help you understand the concepts as well as train you in the areas of e-commerce and e-business. You'll find that after reading this book you are more than ready to start the business you've always dreamed of.

Included with the book is an extremely helpful cd-rom, which included Internet Explorer 5 in case you don't have a browser. Along with that are course lab files, web site connections, lab overviews and breakdowns as well as the labs themselves. For under $50.00 Microsoft is making the transition in the new millennium a whole lot easier.

Written in the 1970s, this book details O'Neill's vision of space colonies - huge space stations built from lunar material, selling solar power beamed to earth. Although his timetable of such colonies by the 1990s turned out to be too optimistic, this book is very much worth a look, both for historical reasons, and also to see what will happen once the price of access to space drops.

Packed with technical detail, O'Neill's plan is based on two assumptions - that the price of access to space would drop, and that the price of energy would rise. Neither came true in the early 1980s. The Space Shuttle did not make space flight cheap as promised, and low energy costs did not make space based solar power economical. In the near future though the space frontier may very well develop just as he foresaw.

THE HIGH FRONTIER is an excellent book on the practicality andeconomics of the human colonization of space -- very entertaining toread and full of interesting technical information. It is the classic work on the subject -- highly regarded by folks such as Carl Sagan, Isaac Asimov, and Thomas Paine (former administrator of NASA). When this influential book was first published, it changed a lot of minds throughout the world. Is human colonization of space achievable even with 1970's-1980's technology? Could it be profitable on a global-economic scale? The author thinks so and tells us why and how; and his credentials are impressive. The author, Dr. Gerard K. O'Neill, was a tenured professor of physics at Princeton and one of the founders of the Geostar Satellite Corporation (a company that worked on implementing GPS satellites). Many of the conclusions in the book are backed up by actual experiment and by numerous studies done both within and without NASA. This is one of the handful of books that have helped to shape my outlook on the future of mankind -- a strong statement reserved for an excellent and influential work. -- Brooke P. Anderson

In a day in which the Federal government of the United States is virtually all-powerful, nothing is needed so much as a diligent study of the United States constitution, its limitations, and the original intentions and perspectives of America's founders. "Was Jefferson Davis Right?" serves this capacity not only by employing a rigorous examination of the US constitution and early American politics and perspectives, but by challenging the modern politically-correct dogma concerning Jefferson Davis, the Southern Confederacy and the War of 1861-1865. The Kennedy brothers demonstrate key principles that impacted the events of the conflict between North and South and created the America that we live in today. Among those are: 1) The historically provable fact that the Founding Fathers did not intend that Washington's government be all-powerful but rather limited to a small range of specifically delegated powers: a conditional, not supreme union. 2) That prior to 1865, the states of the union did not hesitate to defend their reserved rights and that such actions were in fact mainstream practices. 3) That the consolidated view of the United States government was a view that evolved after the formation of the Republic. 4) That the usurpation of power by the Federal govt. began very shortly after the formation of the union and was reasonably contained until 1861. 5) That Jefferson Davis and those who advocated southern independence were in fact following the pattern originated by our Founding Fathers in their separation from England. 6) That the issue of slavery (although a heinous practice) was beyond the power of the Federal govt. and was instead a matter for the states to decide for themselves just as the Northern states (and European nations) had done during the time in which they embraced the practice. In summary, "Was Jefferson Davis Right?" is an excellent book in terms of providing evidence for its assertions and eliciting thoughtful response. I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in the great issues that so consumed our nation in the mid-19th century, and (in many ways) have dictated the society in which we live today. On the nitpick scale, I'd have to say that I had only two problems with this book. To start with, it was a bit too redundant in some places. I know that repitition is the key to learning and such but I think that this statement applies more to facts and less to logical thoughtlines. I have more trouble with remembering dates and names than I do with following ideas though, and your mileage may vary of course. The only other detractor is a Kennedy brothers predilection that is actually much reduced from "The South Was Right," and that is the use of rather harsh language directed at certain historical figures and regions. I can understand very well the frustration that these issues raise (particuarly when considering your stolen heritage...I am a Virginian, after all....), but I think that your case is weakened and sometimes lost on those who might be persuaded (or at least become sympathetic) to your point of view, if your word usage is designed to be offensive to the "facts" and perspectives with which some individuals are familiar. They take it personally. For that reason, I believe that some things could have been phrased more effectively for the undecided or skeptical reader. Overall...an excellent work. Powerfully persuasive. Highly recommended.

This book is worth the purchase price simply for the fascinating biography of Jefferson Davis. This gentleman stood head and shoulders above the sectionalist, despotic, backwoods bozo who won the election of 1860 and forced the Southern states to secede in order to preserve the Constitutional ideals handed on to them by the Founding Fathers. If Jefferson Davis, a man who proved time and again during his national career that he was concerned with the general welfare and interests of *all* the states, had run in the election of 1860 and won I believe he would have been hailed as the greatest American president since George Washington.

He was a hero of the Mexican-American War; he treated captured American Indians with honor and dignity; he was a Congressman and Senator of note who was scrupulously honest in the performance of his duties -- even to the point of not availing himself of the perks of his office; and he was probably the best Secretary of War our nation had (which to its eternal shame did not officially acknowledge his death in 1889 as all other Secretaries were acknowledged and officially mourned).

And that's only the first half of the book!

The second half is an impassioned defense of Jefferson Davis' honor and proof that he was not a traitor based on the writings of the Founding Fathers (including such centralists -- even monarchists -- as Alexander Hamilton). Based on the ideals of the Founding Fathers, as the Kennedys prove beyond doubt, Jefferson Davis was not a traitor. Abraham Lincoln and his Yankee cohorts who raped and ravaged the South in the name of "preserving the Union!" were the true traitors, indeed war criminals.

This juror's verdict? Jefferson Davis was right!

This book is: 1. A book that opens up bringing Jeff Davis to life telling us of his lifes joys and sorrows. His adventures and his sufferings. His victories and his defeats. 2. It vindicates Davis's character and faith shrugging off the lies told about him as well as John Edsmoe vindicates the Founding Fathers in "Christianity and the Constitution: The Faith of our Founding Fathers" 3. It provides some solid Constitutional points Davis and his countrymen made about states rights and secession. Davis was definatly NOT a traitor. 4. It shows the reader that the issue of slavery was not as cut and dry as television and movies would have us believe. Not everyone who owned slaves was a cruel barbaric beast. And just because the Abolitionists were called abolitionists does not mean they were interested in the well being of black people. In fact they, like the Environmentalists and Anti-Smoking crowd today, were just using the issue as a vehicle to gain control wealth and power. A great book

I recieved this book and was very disappointed. I have a 2 year old who is becoming very curios about his body and I wanted to purchase a book that would help my husband and I to teach him about healthy sexuality. Since it shows a toddler on the cover and when we purchased the book there wasn't any customer reviews at the time, I purchased the book. However, when I received the book, I was very disappointed. Not only does it not give any truly helpful information, but I found it almost pornographic. It is not a book that I would want to share with my 2 year old child and probably wouldn't want to until my child is a teenager. Bodies are a beautiful creation, and this book should have a description stating what this book actually entails....pictures and very little information. It is not a book that will help people who are wanting to read plenty of information on helping to mold their children's ideas on healthy sexuality.

Some people think this is a "sex education" book for kids. I don't, necessarily -- although it certainly is a great item in the toolbox parents can have for this topic.

"The Curiosity Book" starts with a nice introduction by the author, which is helpful, but he then does something wonderful: he stops the wordy text, and lets beautiful photos and carefully-selected captions and quotations carry the message. [In fact, this could almost stand alone as a photobook.]

Old and young; white, black, yellow, brown, and all shades in between; male and female; clothed and nude. The beautiful black-and-white photos present a wide array of people from all over the world. They are presented as they are, with no explanations or apologies for how they look, what they wear, who they are. The accompanying captions reinforce the message that we are all wonderfully-created, we all share similar bodies, and we all deserve respect. This is not so much "sex education" as "self education."

If only we could all receive this message every day!

Enlightening...Insightful...Compassionate...Courageous. These are some of the attributes which, in my judgment, describe The Curiosity Book. Calling upon his diverse and rich professional experience with children and adolescents, the author, James Hunter, has developed a unique and extremely practical guide which should be of invaluable help to both parents and a wide range of professionals within the mental health and education fields. The Curiosity Book is written with a great deal of sensitivity and respect for the human body itself and, more importantly, the need to promote positive attitudes involving the human body. It is ironic that while most of us in today's society who consider ourselves to be caring adults frequently encourage children to be curious about their learning, their environment, and their friends, we, at the same time, typically discourage, ignore, or even punish children when they express curiosity about the human body -- their own or others. Thus, many children learn to view this type of curiosity as bad or as shameful. The Curiosity Book provides specific, sensitive suggestions whereby parents and child care professionals can engage in effective, healthy communication with children about the human body - developmentally, attitudinally, and spiritually. The photos contained in this book have been carefully selected to convey tolerant, respectful, and meaningful messages. They are inspiring and beautiful both in their simplicity and in their poignancy. As is the case with the narrative material contained in this work, the photos reflect a very well-balanced perspective relative to attitudes involving the human body - age, gender, and cultural diversity. I enthusiastically recommend The Curiosity Book to all parents and to all professionals in their efforts to help children develop more positive attitudes toward, and a more respectful appreciation of, the human body. William E. Davis, PhD Director of the Institute for the Study of Children At Risk University of Maine Orono, Maine

Original approach (learning from bad characters in the Book of Mormon) presented in a simple format (very useful for Sunday, home teaching and new converts readings alike). I enjoyed the reading, and recommend it be translated in more languages so to be used abroad. Waiting for Swenson Powell's next book.