Used price: $6.95
Buy one from zShops for: $9.50
The authors provide a picture of the culture for which Paul was writing, and show that it is suprisingly cosmopolitan like our own.
Where others try to twist controversial portions of the scriptures to fit modern ideas, these authors uncover the ancient wisdom of God and bring it to life in the 21st century.
The authors begin by defining the confusion over marital roles today, and the resulting chaos. They then outline the husband's role as servant-leader, and describe his core concerns. The wife's role is then outlined as helper-lover, and her concerns are also presented.
Two chapters are devoted to the idea of submission, dispeling many myths regarding it. Common problems are addressed, and practical applications are provided. The book closes with two helpful appendices recounting the breakdown of gender roles in ancient Rome, and the impact that Paul's words had on that generation.
I recommend this book wholeheartedly for both husbands and wives desiring to gain a better understanding of a Biblical-oriented marriage.
Used price: $0.02
Collectible price: $2.00
Buy one from zShops for: $4.00
Just about everything you ever wanted to know about the English Language is in this book. There are newer and older references but none so complete and at the same time readable. This book covers history, usage, almost usage and possible futures of the language.
One of my favorite antidotes was the one about how the Advisory Committee on Spoken English (ACSE) discussed the word "canine":
"Shaw brought up the word 'canine', and he wanted the recommendation to be 'cay-nine'... And somebody said 'Mr. Shaw, Mr. Chairman, I don't know why you bring this up, of course it's 'ca-nine'. Shaw said, 'I always pronounce things the way they are pronounced by people who use the word professionally every day.' And he said, 'My dentist always says (cay-nine)'. And somebody said, 'Well, in that case, Mr. Chairman, you must have an American dentist.' And he said, 'Of course, why do you think at 76 I have all my teeth!'"
After reading about how English came about, the next book to read would be "Divided by a Common Language" by Christopher Davies, Jason Murphy
It is free of the linguistic jargon most general readers would find pedantic, and although it is aimed at the general reader it is never condescending. The first half of the book explains the historical development of English while the second half focues on modern English.
Most refreshing though, is that it is free of the triumphalism found in many books of this kind. Reflecting the demographic reality of English today, it gives even-handed attention to the many contemporary varieties of English spoken around the world in places such as North America, Singapore, India, the Anglophone West Indies, and so on.
'The Story of English' is best suited to those who are curious about the origins as well as the future of English, and who want an easy-to-understand introduction to the subject.
Used price: $15.01
Used price: $2.53
Buy one from zShops for: $3.50
More accessible and practical than Mitchell, or Taylor, (though not as theoretical or fundamental).
Holtz & Kovacs is a clear step above Das, Coduto, or Huang in scholarship.
This is a book that you keep for your engineering career.
Good Luck
Used price: $1.34
Collectible price: $9.00
Buy one from zShops for: $9.02
The stories create the atmosphere that one is sitting in one of the elderly story tellers living room listening to them.
This book is especially worthwhile for non-African-Amercians readers, because virtually all African-Americans that have roots in the south, know these stories all too well.
This material needs to be read, and remembered. There was a long time in our history when, although there was no more slavery, African Americans were treated as a separate serf class, under constant pressures and reminders of their lower status. Whites used pervasive legal and social downward pressures to keep African Americans out of an equal education, and equal access to public facilities, much less the right to equal jobs and the right to vote -- and then claimed that African Americans' lack of achievement was a racial fault. If an African American violated one of the many social taboos, the sanctions ranged from a beating, to loss of job, and even being lynched.
While whites benefited from Jim Crow, the whites, also, were trapped in the system. They were also forced to abide by legal segregation, and were subject to social pressure if they were too liberal (being called "n* lover," "white n*," etc.).
What led to the mindset that the end of slavery should lead to continued legal and social oppression of African Americans? It was part of white American culture. Lincoln himself said that he was not "in favor of making voters or jurors of negroes, nor of qualifying them to hold office, nor to intermarry.... [T]here must be the position of superior and inferior. I am as much as any other man in favor of having the superior position assigned to the white race." In 1877, Rutherford B. Hayes traded the end of southern post-war Reconstruction for the electoral votes he needed to win the presidency. Southern states then were free to institute the Jim Crow system.
I believe we are more subject to peer pressure than we would like to believe. Although reviewer McInerney asserts that "no civilized person" would benefit from Jim Crow, I feel many otherwise-good people were trapped and/or blinded by their own interests and surroundings. When allowed, and even encouraged, their evil side showed itself. On this topic, see John Griffin's _Black Like Me_, on the different faces that whites showed to other whites, and to African Americans.
While we are certain that we wouldn't go back to that system, we shouldn't be so sure that we, also, wouldn't be trapped by it if we were born into it. Consider that Truman, Eisenhower, and Kennedy (to a large extent) didn't take effective action to end segregation.
This book is excellent. Those dreadful and shameful times -- and the vestiges which still continue -- must not be forgotten.
List price: $110.00 (that's 30% off!)
Used price: $75.00
Collectible price: $79.41
Buy one from zShops for: $76.45
It should be no surprise that more recent revelations have overtaken G&D's look at Soviet designs. Still, the info they do present is generally representative of the design's actual properties. A similar state applies in the chapter on Dutch Design 1047.
The only caution requiring the reader's attention is that the occasional typo pops up to confuse the statistical information. This is a general caveat for all three volumes rather than this one in particular.
This book is really an authoritative source for studying battleships from their inception to their final days.
Used price: $103.43
Used price: $9.75
Collectible price: $19.06
American culture's emphasis on individualism often ignores the more collaborative contributions such as Dr. Szilard's. An original, he both created and collaborated, and this book tells his story.
At times, I thought the author might have been over-stating some of Dr. Szilard's accompishments, but the story is otherwise well-done, and frankly, Dr. Szilard deserves a little promotion, so I didn't mind.
I recall as a teenager in New York City viewing an historic television debate between Dr. Szilard and his erstwhile student, humble assistant, and that day self-appointed "father" of the hydrogen bomb: Edward Teller. Both my parents had arrived in the United States during the late 1920s from Hungary; they were Szilard's vintage and had crossed paths with him in Budapest. The two powerful Hungarian atomic physicists, Szilard and Teller debated the nuclear arms race on TV (Szilard was fiercely against it). My family was glued to the TV screen. The Soviet Union was menacing us in New York City with THEIR nuclear weapons. Dying of leukemia, Leo Szilard had dragged himself out of his sickbed at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Institute for Cancer Research to debate Teller on this vital subject.
At one point, the condescendingly charming Teller prefaced his offensive remarks with, "But my DEAR Szilard, ..." Leo cut him off in mid sentence with, "I am NOT your 'dear Szilard' anymore ..." It was wonderful! Szilard at his worst was far, far superior to Teller at his best. Alas, Leo Szilard would soon die, and Teller would go on to dazzle his California actor-governor-president friend Ronald Reagan with Star War fantasies for furthering his beloved arms race. By contrast, as GENIUS IN THE SHADOWS reveals, Szilard not only possessed incredible insight and creativity in science and geopolitics, but he also expressed a great moral sense and love of humanity.
GENIUS IN THE SHADOWS treats one of the 20th century's most significant thinkers and humanitarians with down to earth candor not often found in biographies. Those wishing to be entertained by sharing the exciting adventures in the life of Leo Szilard, read this book.
Used price: $6.99
Collectible price: $21.18
Buy one from zShops for: $13.17
List price: $14.99 (that's 30% off!)
My only criticism of the book is that Tyson did not offer more information about the details of Williams' sojourn in China and the agreement that ultimately allowed his return to the United States with his wife and children and free of the persecution of the FBI and local and state authorities. I'm sure that is a story by itself that is waiting to be told.
Read this book and William Ivy Hair's "Carnival of Fury: Robert Charles And The New Orleans Race Riot of 1900" available from the University of Louisiana Press. Get a new take on American history.
I hope this book encourages those who read it to seek out older peple who remember the Civil Rights movement so that they can learn more about what the history books "forgot" to mention.
The compelling thesis of "Radio Free Dixie" is that the civil rights struggle in the South featured a strong element of armed resistance against the forces of intimidation, led by the Klan, but legitimized by the legal structure of the southern states. Williams, from an early age, rejected the pacifist ideas and practices of Martin Luther King, arguing that blacks would never win their rights, much less any measure of respect until they were willing to demonstrate a willingness to defend themselves with arms. While most of the press and his supposed allies (King included) attempted to portray him as a violent revolutionary bent on overthrowing the government, Tyson convincingly shows that Williams was in fact a true believer in the U.S. constitution and that he never advocated initiating violence. Nor did his aggressive stance come from nowhere. Tyson shows that Williams' own family had a long history of determined and nonpacifist resistance, as did many other black families throughout the South.
This is also a stirring story of one community's fight against racism. The white community of Williams' Monroe, N.C. did everything it could to stop his efforts to integrate the town, but despite this, Williams built an extraordinary local chapter of the NAACP that relentlessly exposed the injustices daily heaped on blacks, even when the NAACP itself was refusing to recognize the activities of the chapter.
Tyson's book deserves accolades for exposing another layer of the complex history of the civil rights movement. The book is well-written and researched and full of genuine, yet balanced respect for its subject. A must-read for students of the civil rights movement and those searching for a real profile in courage.