Closer to Truth has really opened my eyes. This book makes the latest scientific thinking of the most innovative thinkers accessible to the general readers. By reading the book, I felt that I joined a roundtable with top scientists and thinkers to discuss in-depth on some most fascinating scientific issues. This book fits perfectly an audience, like me, who needs a simpler introduction. Robert. L. Kuhn hardly asserts to have all the answers or to have proven anything beyond presenting the latest development in each scientific field, however, he clearly is laying the groundwork for future work in scientific inquiry. If you interest in development in science today, you got to read it!

Closer To Truth gives meaning to science and I loved it. Such fascinating ideas and such easy reading! At first I browsed, skipping and jumping to what I particularly liked (consciousness, artificial intelligence, life in the universe). Then, surprisingly, I read the book from cover to cover, and I realized the continuity of themes, all of which reflect deeply on what we are as human beings. I almost sense a purpose to human life and I am still rather overwhelmed.

The Book Closer To Truth has rejuvenated my excitement for science. Dr. Robert Kuhn is brilliant to bring such a diverse group of people togther.I was elated to see that his roundtable discussions were not limited to scientists. Seated at these roundtable discussions are poets, philosophers, musicians, educators,as well as some of the greatest scientists of our time. The focus of the discussions in this book are in-depth. Science is about asking questions and challanging those questions for the quest of the truth.I think my college-aged children would be more excited about science if they were exposed to a book like Closer To Truth. This book kept has me up at night. Every aspect of our life in some way is revolved around science.Closer To Truth addresses some compelling topics in science today. Closer To Truth has reminded me of how important science is to mankind.

I read this book and one of the author's other books, "The Passenger." Davis writes well and obviously intimately knows the kinds of characters, places, scenes, etc, that background his novel. Perhaps it is me and not Davis who is at fault for not awarding this book five stars, but I feel it is missing something. You are whisked along, helter-skelter, through a plot with the requisite twists, turns, and roller coaster plunges... but I want more. I want it to MEAN something. This book is solid entertainment, so maybe I am wrong to want it to snare me at gut level as well as taking me for a damn good carnival ride.

Patrick Davis hit a home run with "The Colonel". I found it fast moving, full of suspense (the butler didn't do it) and a fast read. It is worth the price.

Patrick Davis has a real winner. You may think you know who dunnit but you don't. This book is one of the best I have read in a long time. Suspense from start to finish. I would love to see a new series started with Simon and Martin. You can throw in Amanda too. Bravo, great book!

"The Hearing" brings back police lieutenant Abe Glitsky and defense attorney Dismas Hardy as they attempt to find out who killed Elaine Wagner - a prominent lawyer whose secret was that she was Abe's daughter from a relationship ended long ago. As more facts about the case are uncovered, both Abe and Dismas begin to doubt that Hardy's client, a junkie arrested at the scene of the crime, was the killer. Glitsky and Hardy are both flawed but good men who maintain a friendship despite their divergent work and personal lives, and they were appealing companions during the couple of days it took to read this generally fast-paced book.

This is the first of Lescroart's Dismas Hardy books I have read. Although it is part of a long-running series, "The Hearing" stands fairly well on its own - though some scenes seem to be included just to allow recurring characters a chance to make an appearance. If this book is typical of Lescroart, then it is clearly the characters, and not the storylines, that keep readers coming back. I found it hard to believe that Hardy's legal strategy really would have worked, and the central villain's actions didn't quite add up. I also found it strange that Elaine's tendency to have problematic relationships with older men is at least partially attributed to the secrecy about her paternity, yet Abe's blossoming relationship with a woman his daughter's age is presented as an unambiguously positive development. Maybe this will play out further in the next book? Lescroart has me interested enough to want to read it and find out.

In the legal thriller/police procedural, Lescroart weaves an intriguing story with likable, believable, well-drawn characters. This is one of the Dismas Hardy series (I will go back and read the others) featuring Hardy as a low rent but hard working attorney and Abe Glitsky as a police homocide lieutenant with a very personal interest in the murder of up-and-coming attorney Elaine Wager. When the sister of a drug addict, charged with Wager's murder, asks for help, Hardy reluctantly assists. But when the DA asks for the death penalty in an apparent alcohol/drug induced murder, Hardy smells a rat. Actually there are lots of rats in the operation of the San Francisco police department/DA's office, making Hardy's job quite a bit harder to sort through.

What is not hard though, is to really like these characters. Hardy and Glitzky are best friends, a truly odd couple. When Glitzky has a heart attack and is suffering with regret for not having contacted his daughter, Hardy is there for him. Also engaging is Elaine's paralegal who turns up helpful clues as well as the villains in the case--I wont spoil it for you by telling who they are.

If you like the early Grisham legal thrillers and police procedurals this book is for you. A word of warning: it gets off to a slow start and at 560 pages is best saved for the beach, weekend away or a very long flight.

In this latest of the Dismas Hardy novels, John Lescroart shows that he is more than up to the challenge of continuing series.

He brings back Hardy and Glitsky and a wealth of other characters. In past books he has tended to focus on Hardy or Glitsky as the main charater, but in this outing he gives them equal billing which provides for a nice balance. All of the secondary characters are eqully well developed and Lescroart keeps enough twists and turns going in the plot to keep this book from becoming predictable.

Lescroart is by far my favorite author of this genre and with this book out does himself. While many authors would turn to formula and coast through a story this far into a series, Lescroart never lets down. We find out more about Hardy and Glitsk's kids and once again David Freeman is back with a solid contribution.

On top of the characterizations there is a very well developed legal story here. Once again Lescroart goes outside the norm and has the bulk of the legal story take place during the preliminary hearing, another neat trick.

An excellant extension of the Hardy saga and well recommended.

The Tin Collectors is Cannell's sixth novel. At first blush it seems to be just another basic, good, cop story; but it develops into something more, going beyond the action and plot into relationships. LAPD detective Shane Scully receives a call in the middle of the night from Barbara, his one-time girl friend who is married to his ex-partner, super cop Ray Molar. Ray has gone berserk and she needs help. Shane dashes the five miles to their house and finds Ray about to kill Barbara. When Shane intervenes, Ray tries to shoot him. Shane returns fire in self defense and kills Ray. This is a difficult situation, but Shane knows he is in the right and expects that all will work out. Ha! For reasons Shane cannot figure out, the top administration of the police department quickly elevates the situation to a major affair and turn it over to Internal Affairs. The Internal Affairs Division is informally known as "The Tin Collectors" because of their high rate of convicting cops and collecting their "tin" (badges). Shane's case is assigned to an IAD prosecutor brought back from another assignment. An earlier investigation of Shane in which he was exonerated was one of her few defeats. Several young cops for whom Ray was something of an idol are assigned minor roles in the investigation and make things difficult for Shane. Why are these cops even involved-their normal assignments are far from IAD business? In the end justice prevails, although it takes some skillful writing to resolve the situation without artificial solutions. Along with the standard cop story, Shane is involved with a fifteen year-old problem child. The boy's single mother has asked Shane to let her son, Chooch, stay with him for a month or so in order to have a good male role model. The relationship between the mother, the boy, and Shane is slow to develop, but adds significantly to the overall impact of the book. I thought the book was very slow in the beginning, and almost put it down. I am glad I didn't. It was not until I was nearly through that I realized that Cannell is best known for his screen writing (The Rockford Files, Hunter...). The early pages probably work better on screen than on paper. In retrospect, they visualize very well and do set the stage effectively.

In The Tin Collectors, Stephen Cannell offers the first in a new series that is also very much a police procedural. With 5 successful prior novels, Cannell is still best known for writing/producing such television hits as the Rockford Files, Baretta, The A-Team, Renegade, Silk Stalkings and many others.

Officer Shane Scully gets a frantic call from the wife of his ex-partner Ray 'Steeltooth' Molar. Molar is beating her. Again. ("You don't get the name 'Steeltooth' just because your last name's Molar") In self-defense, Scully is forced to kill the abusive husband. The killing of the popular, virtually legendary cop brings Scully more grief than he ever imagined. Put in charge of Scully's Internal Affairs prosecution is Alexa Hamilton, the department's "number one tin collector." When he is accused directly by the Chief of Police of taking files from Molar's house and threatened with facing a murder charge if the material is not returned, Scully is convinced he's being set up.

Scully begins his own investigation and soon uncovers evidence of corruption in high places. Hamilton is the only one he can turn to who just might believe him.

Some glib prime-time dialog does seep in. (When Scully's house is hit in a drive by shooting he says, "I got enough lead in the walls to go into strip mining.") Cannell keeps the tension and pace at high levels so a bit of cliché doesn't really detract. There is no mistaking Cannell's mastery of story telling. The same sense of character and dialog that have made his television shows hits, guides him here. The Tin Collectors is a sure winner.

Los Angeles Police Sergeant Shane Sculley sleeps peacefully in his bed with no major cares haunting him until the call at 2:16 AM comes. Barbara Mular, the wife of Shane's former partner pleads with him to save her life from her husband Ray who is beating her up. When Shane arrives at the Mular home, the door is open so he enters. He sees Ray knocking Barbara around with his nightstick. Shane tries to diffuse the situation, but is forced to kill Ray when the latter draws out his gun.

Instead of the normal channels, a high up in the department forces Ray to go before a review board. Ray happens to have been the mayor's driver and bodyguard. "His Honor" wants Shane to go down preferably with a murder conviction. Shane learns that things are soon missing form Ray's home and if they discretely reappear all charges would be dropped. Shane knows corruption has been a way of life for LAPD, and he has to uncover it if he wants to clear his name.

Stephen Cannell starts this novel with a fast-action tale that continues to build up momentum until the story line exceeds the speed of light. Readers will empathize with Shane, an endearing hero struggling to regain his idyllic life lost in the corruption maelstrom. THE TIN COLLECTORS is an exciting story that leaves the audience wondering who will police the police when IA is corrupt?

Harriet Klausner

Mr. Ritter takes a fond "look back" at past baseball stadiums that are now mostly memories. I find it interesting that the new stadiums being built are "throwbacks" to the designs of most of the parks described in this book. Which in my opinion is probably a good thing!

While the book mostly describes old-time major league stadiums (complete with "Top Ten" lists of the most historic events to take place at each stadium), a few minor league parks are also mentioned.

Lots of history and photographs are featured with each park's description. I like a couple other reviewers sincerely hope an updated edition of this book will be out soon, now that so many other ballparks (Candlestick Park, Tiger Stadium, and the AstroDome, for example) have been replaced.

If you enjoy reading about what it was like to watch a game in these old parks, you will enjoy this book!

Also recommended: Nuggets on the Diamond, Grand Minor League, Baseball's Hometown Teams: The Story of the Minor Leagues

THIS BOOK IS AN EXCELLENT WRITTEN HISTORY OF OLD BASEBALL PARKS. IWAS ABLE TO EXPERIENCE THE POLO GROUNDS, EBBETS FIELD, CROSLEY FIELD, ETC. THE PICTURES ARE FANTASTIC, AND LARRY RITTER'S WRITING IS UNMATCHED. IF YOU WANT TO LEARN ABOUT OLD BALLPARKS, THIS IS YOUR BOOK.

Lost Ballparks by Lawrence Ritter is a great book for anyone interested in old major league ballparks. Loaded with excellent, often historic pictures (including Mays' catch in the '54 Series and Maz's home run in the '60 Series), the book recounts essentially all of the steel and concrete era parks (built between 1909 and 1915) that were used in Major League Baseball but no longer exist. Some older parks (Baker Bowl, Hilltop Park) and 1950-60's era parks (Metropolitan Stadium, Memorial Stadium) are also included, as are selected minor league parks. The book naturally piques your interest, and leaves you wanting more.

Hopefully a new edition will be printed soon; the book was originally published in 1992 and doesn't include parks closed since then. Any new edition would also benefit from including Wrigley Field, Fenway Park, and the old Yankee Stadium. Even though these parks still exist, they would round out the history of the classic era of Major League Baseball.

The only shortcoming of the book is that it is a bit short; I would prefer some of the minor league parks be replaced with longer stories about major league parks. However, if you are interested in old ballparks or baseball history, BUY THIS BOOK!

Stone Barrington is back, and this time he is on the loose in New York City.

Assigned by his law firm to aide a client in the dumping of her unfaithful husband, Stone thinks this case to be "dirty work", but when a dead body turns up he realizes there is more to this case than meets the eye.

As Stone begins looking for answers he runs into Carpenter, the beautiful British agent he met while in London. Carpenter is in New York for her own investigation, on a case she is not willing to discuss, but the deeper Stone probes the more he gets the feeling her case is related to his.

Teaming with his ex-partner Dino, Stone hits the streets of Manhattan in search of a very dangerous woman with the answers to a bizarre and complicated crime.

'Dirty Work' is a fun, enjoyable novel...one that will keep readers guessing. The Stone Barrington bestsellers are mysteries filled with surprises, sexy vixens, rogue heroes and intriguing plot lines, and this is one of the better entries in the series.

Stuart Woods can always be depended upon to create an original, fast-paced thriller, and 'Dirty Work' is a great way to spend a few hours in an easy chair.

Expect to see this on all the lists.

Nick Gonnella

Few protagonists in the thriller/crime genre have proven to be as popular as Stone Barrington, once a lawyer now a cop. He's sophisticated, sexy, smart - everything readers could want. And he's given a voice laced with all of those qualities by able performer Tony Roberts

Stone is hired to catch Lawrence Fortescue in the act - the act of being unfaithful to his wife, a rich-as-all-get-out woman who wants photographic proof of her mate's infidelity. To this end Stone hires a photographer who turns out to be a bumbler. The cameraman falls through a skylight onto the wandering husband who is then declared dead.

Problem is he was poisoned, his playmate disappears, and the photog is charged with murder.

The only pleasant surprise for Stone is running into Carpenter, the gorgeous British agent he met in past adventures. She's now in the Big Apple on an assignment of her own. Before long we learn that her life is also on the line.

Stone Barrington and Stuart Woods - what a pair! Imaginative, woven with surprising twists and turns, "Dirty Work" is enthralling listening.

- Gail Cooke

What a read. Fast paced, strongly developing plot with a twist here and there, and characters that are at once believeable, Dirty Work is a book worth your time to read.

Stone Barrington is retained by Woodman & Weld to catch a wayward husband while he's seeding new pastures. However, the person he puts on the case ends up falling on the target of the investigation, killing him. One thing leads to another and we find that the person the husband was with in an internationally wanted intelligence agent nicknamed La Biche. This agent has sworn an oath to kill members of a British intelligence team of which the wayward husband was a member (talk about loving your work).

Enough. I don't want to ruin it for you. If you've read any of Woods other books you know you're in for a treat. I am relatively new to this author, but have found him to be a master storyteller. If you're new to Stuart Woods then I predict you'll be back after you finish this one.

The majority of the book was actually on the passage of desegratation. Very interesting though. It was a wake up call of how our judges create law rather than interpret it. There were many other instances of government social engineering interlaced among the main story.

In *The New Color Line: How Quotas and Privilege Destroy Democracy*, Paul Craig Roberts and Lawrence M. Stratton argue compellingly that Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, the landmark Supeme Court decision that struck down the "separate but equal" doctrine established by Plessy v. Ferguson in 1896, was a product not of sound, impartial legal reasoning but of extra-constitutional judicial activism based on sociological theories and good intentions, with disastrous long-term consequences for America.

The progression of legal precedents that the authors trace from the Brown decision through the 1990s proves the long-term danger of reading law non-literally or "in the light of changing times." The1964 Civil Rights Act, the authors show, was especially harmful. Its vices aside, it had this virtue: it was clearly intended, as evidenced by the Congressional record and the plain language of the Act itself, to prohibit racial quotas. Yet to no avail. In the judicial atmosphere of the time, encouraged by the Brown decision, the Act meant anything a judge declared it to mean. Determined to ensure disadvantaged groups not just equal rights but rights to equal results, increasingly activist judges gave to minorities and women, in flagrant judicial usurpation of powers that properly belong to the legislature, a host of new privileges at the expense of the legitimate rights of white males--or of anyone who wishes to succeed in life on his own merit, for that matter.

I have two significant criticisms of the book. First, while the authors include a voluminous bibliography of articles, books, court records and government documents, there are few actual citations. This aggravating lack of footnotes makes it difficult to do research to check the book for distortions, thereby diminishing, in my eyes, the authors' credibility. Stratton, an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown University Law Center, should know better given the vitriol that such a book as this one is likely to elicit from critics.

Second, the authors' political philosophy is rooted in conventional conservatism, with all its flaws. As their book's subtitle implies, their chief end is the preservation of "democracy"--meaning majority rule, minority oppression, whatever kind of benevolent spin they attempt to put on it. They thus cede ground to the collectivists and open themselves to attack on multiple fronts--such as that, whatever their assertions to the contrary, the Supreme Court is a fundamentally *un*democratic institution. Their belief in a strict constructionist interpretation of the Constitution is laudable but needs a firm grounding in individual rights to be effective.

For good political philosophy, I recommend Dr. Tara Smith's groundbreaking *Moral Rights and Political Freedom*. It is Roberts and Stratton's account of the Brown decision and its consequences that makes their book worth reading.

I think it telling that the ANONYMOUS reviewer on Feb. 2nd below seemed to have little to say about the book, but instead bloviated about the vast-right wing conspiracy. I doubt he/she read it - probably just some Democrat intern with little else to do.

This book offered an actual in-depth inspection of the danger of allowing the courts to rule - something the Founding Fathers warned about but continues to go on with barely a mention. I think the Founding Fathers would have been disappointed in our apathy. They fought a revolution for less.

This book should probably only get one star but I gave it two because it does give the reader a good look at Lee the man instead of the saint. The problem is that it goes too far. It is hard but possible to make a much loved figure human without going to the extreme Connelly goes to. A happy medium would have been much more likely to bring us the real Lee. Sadly instead of going after the real General Lee Connelly goes on the attack and gives us a picture of a sad person who does not reflect the real man. Was Robert E. Lee the pure figure he is often pictured as? Not likely. On the other hand he also was not the pathetic figure given us by Connelly. In an attempt to destroy the myths of the past Connelly creates a set of his own half truths and myths. Shame on him!

This book might be approached as an examination of how a well-known personality is transformed for a human being into a cultural icon. Sequentially and chronologically Connelly takes his readers through that process using Robert E. Lee as the item of investigation. Along the way, Connelly makes commentary on the differences between the cultures of the north and south and how Lee's legion spread because of those cultural differences. That context has been well-established by numerous writers. Connelly simply uses it for a closer examination of Lee. For example, on page 102 he quotes another historian, Bradley T. Johnson in writing "Environmental factors had forced North and South to develop contrasting socieites. The North, 'invigorated' by constant struggle with nature, became materialistic, grasping for wealth and power. The South's 'more generous climate' had wrought a life-style based upon non-materialism and adherence to a finer code of 'veracity and honor in man, chastity and fidelity in women'"
This book helps a person to understand how history evolves in the process of retelling over a period of several generations.

This book is not just a revisionist look at Robet E. Lee but also an objective evaluation of the Southern Lost Cause Syndrome that utilzed Lee as their flagship for a just cause. Thomas Connelly is a great writer of the western theater notably the history of the Army of the Tennessee and of the western Confederate cabal that had conflicts with Jefferson Davis. Connelly offers what southerners and partiucularly Virginians may find as a harsh evaluation of Lee during the war. This book also includes some psycho-analysis that offers some reasoning for Lee's very formal demeanor which is in far contrast's to Joe Johnston whose troops would pat him on the head on occasion but not dare approach Lee in such an informal manner. In my opinion the book demonstrates that Lee was simply not infallible like amy man who has overall responsibility, he must accept some of the blame for failure. There is also the question of whether Lee was too aggressive with limited manpower (Gary Gallagher has referred to this as crucial, that the Confederacy was in serious need of military victories for morale). The Lost Cause contingent made up of Jubal Early and company always gave Lee total credit for victory but not in defeat, Early & company always made someone other than Lee a scapegoat in their version of history. Gettysburg serves as the grand indictment of this philosophy where Longstreet becomes the total goat at Gettysburg in the 1870's while one of his accusers, Early, covers his own lackluster performance by publicly hanging Longstreet. Early raps himself with the cloak of Robert E. Lee to deflect criticism of his own actions and post war exile. To my mind, Connaly expolores better than anyone else the self serving relationship of Jubal Early to the Lost Cause syndrome in Early's attempt to rewite history. Connelly brings out that Jackson was the south's great hero until Lee's death and the emergence of Lee's rise among southern writers. He also argues that Lee lacked a national picture of how to best serve the Confederacy by his opposing transferring troops west to bolster those failing armies with limited resources. He argues that Virginia was Lee's first and main focus. Highly reccommend this book, whether you agree or not, Connelly makes you look at the facts presented and while not meaning to destroy Lee's image of a competent and charismatic general, it tends to show him as human and mortal who like everyone made some mistakes. We all have to look at historians presentations carefully, even Douglas Freeman in Lee's Lieutanents slightly diminishes Jackson's role and he makes Longstreet shorter, fatter and a plotter of self grandization. This is an intellectually challenging book best appreciated by those that have an open mind. This book most likely helped foster Alan Nolan's "Lee Considered."

Kaplan and Kristol add an interesting perspective to the debate over the war in Iraq. Their argument is that this war is definitely not about oil, and not just or even mainly about weapons of mass destruction. It is about liberating Iraq and making the world both more democratic and a safer place for democracy. It's a breezy, argumentative book, not really so much an attempt to convince opponents of the war as an attempt to stake a theoretical claim that something they call a distinctly American internationalism is what informs the Bush Administration's action against Iraq. Naturally, Clinton's Administration is targetted for particular contempt, but interestingly enough Bush I and even Reagan are also criticised as narrow realists.

What's missing from this analysis is any sense of history and of how the US is perceived outside its borders--and even outside the Beltway. Not everyone is going to be able to accept the notion that the US should simply be trusted to do the right thing. The book's authors clearly have either no idea or--scarier still--no interest in how a book like this will be read by people who have either watched or experienced first-hand a less-than-idealistic USA in action.

At the precise time of writing (Baghdad seems to have fallen today) and for the next few months, the Kristol/Kaplan theory will be riding high. But whatever this book claims, what they charitably consider to be activist idealism is not going to turn into doctrine. It won't because the US is always going to feel the need for the moral flexibility that realism offers. "Operation Iraqi Freedom" is a catchy slogan, but will it be followed by, say, "Operation Uzbeki Freedom", aimed at liberating Uzbeks from a brutal and corrupt dictatorship in Tashkent that happens to be allied with Washington against radical Islam? Of course not. Nor is it going to be followed by "Operation Pakistani Freedom" or "Operation Zimbabwean Freedom".

My own conclusion is that Kaplan and Kristol either do not really believe what they are arguing, or they are dangerously naive utopians, not unlike the dogmatists who steered the Kremlin into wild Third World adventures in the 1960s and 1970s. I suspect it's the former, and this book is mainly about raising the authors' own profiles for the next few months. Otherwise, someone as ideologically pure as Kristol claims to be would have resigned several times over in protest during the Reagan Administration (e.g. over Iran-Contra) and refused to serve under a realist such as George H W Bush.

It's fascinating to watch just how far Kristol and Kaplan will go to make the evidence fit their theory. They ask us to believe, for example, that attacking Iraq today is akin to Kennedy's decision to quarantine Cuba. The fact that Kennedy was faced with a nuclear threat that could have unfolded in a matter of weeks, not years or decades as in the case of Iraq, seems lost on Kaplan and Kristol, who instead conclude that war on Iraq is further justified because Kennedy did consider a military option for a while. Amazing stuff.

This book will naturally appeal to ignorant ideologues who seek confirmation of their reflexive militaristic instincts, but it is actually quite worthwhile for others to read too. Just keep asking yourself questions while you read it.

This is an absolute must read, regardless of your postion on the war. Kristol and Kaplan clearly layout the case against Sadaam. They then point out the foreign policy flaws of not just Bush 41 and Clinton but also of pre-9/11 Bush 43. You will more fully understand the philosophy that layed the framework of foreign policy for each president. You will also clearly grasph how President Bush's view of the world has changed since 9/11.

Finally, you will be presented with the arguments and facts that form the backbone of our current stance towards Iraq. Even if you do not come to the same conclusion as that of the authors, you will better understand why our country is embarking on a path to the liberation of Iraq.

My only complaint is that there are only 125 pages of riveting reading!

In "The War Over Iraq", Kristol & Kaplan present an excellent case for the use of pre-emptive force not only against Iraq but also against other nations that threaten American ideals and interests, both at home and overseas. They highlight the grievous actions of Hussein's regime and then proceed to detail the shortcomings of both George H.W. Bush's ("narrow realism") and Bill Clinton's ("wishful liberalism") foreign policy paradigms in dealing with Iraq.

The crux of the book is their compelling argument, using the (George W.) Bush Doctrine ("American internationalism"), that the United States should pre-emptively strike Iraq. They fully explain the tenets of the Bush Doctrine, which is a viable model for dealing with threats in the post-9/11 world.

Though the war with Iraq is already underway, do not be dissuaded from reading this work simply for that reason. The Iraqi situation is a real-world case study that helps explain the Bush Doctrine. This new paradigm is being tested right now and will be the method of engagement for US foreign policy for the forseeable future.

i thought it was not very good

These morsels are ideal for bedtime delectation. To quote "Death of the Mallory Queen" narrator Chip Harrison, the 'Archie' of Lawrence Block's laugh-out-loud take-off on Nero Wolfe and assorted generic conventions: "If this were novel length I'd say what each of them was wearing and who scowled and who looked interested, but Haig says there's not enough plot here for a novel and that you have to be more concise in short stories ... ." Lack of complexity and lightning-quick resolutions aside, pleasures are many. First published in 1949, Talmage Powell's "Her Dagger Before Me" reads like a picture postcard of the era come to life on the page. "Chee's Witch" spread lore. In "Snow," a new story, Stuart Kaminsky's Porfiry Petrovich Rostnikov is a uniformed police whose future depends on his ability to woo his damaged left leg. Stories are arranged by age, from masters to the "new breed," the former being primarily male [with the exception of Maxine O'Callaghan, creator of Delilah West,according the editor, the first modern female P.I.] and the latter being women. The modern female sleuths -- Shugak, Matelli, Plum, Monaghan -- are fearless about defining for themselves the meaning of guilt and justice.

Robert Randisi has succeeded masterfully in pulling together a single volume of works that provides his reader with a brief, thorough, and excellent overview of contemporary mysteries. The stories in this collection feature the "first" cases of many of today's leading sleuths. Unlike many short story anthologies, there is a great range in tone and subject matter in this FIRST CASES volume. Some stories are cozies while others are hardboiled. All fit somewhere across our genre's spectrum.

I was pointed to this short story collection by my favorite mystery bookseller. I told her I needed a fresh text for this upcoming semester's course on writing mystery short stories that I regularly teach in the California State University system. Students in that class usually have a wide range of writing interests, and FIRST CASES--VOLUME 3 provides models that can apply to their varying literary efforts. It features stories by Tony Hillerman, Gar Anthony Haywood, Laura Lippman, Lawrence Block, Maxine O'Callaghan, and Anne Perry, among others. There is even a Talmage Powell story dating from the mystery genre's pulp fiction years. I am quite pleased with this collection, and it is now among my course's required texts when this semester's course begins soon.