In 1991 New York Teacher of the Year John Taylor Gatto and a former student of his rented Carnegie Hall for the night, invited many different representatives from the unschooling and alternative education world to speak, and turned them loose on an audience of about a thousand people. This book is the collected speaches from that October night.

From the distance of ten years, the maverick nature of this event is fading somewhat. Any alternative--or at least the distrust of public schools--is now part of mainstream debate in America. "The Exhausted School" is worth reading nonetheless for the fire in the belly passion these men and women felt in offering a better way. And it's important to remember that Gatto--with his "Teacher of the Year" credibility---is the guy who got the dialogue started. Even the idea of renting such a venerable performance space for the event defies elitist decorum. The fact that certain teachers' unions and teachers' colleges tried to diss the "speakout" adds additional outlaw cachet.

Old homeschooling and unschooling hands won't find anything particularly new here--Gatto's speaches are reprinted elsewhere. But the various Sudbury-style and community grassroots school reps' presentations --as well as the pleas of Gatto's young students--are wonderful. If you're feeling draggy in your commitment to a Better Way than the American Public Education Behemoth, this book is like a good hug.

This book, by John Pollock, presents an accurate, compelling portrait of two of the greatest missionaries who ever lived and worked in China. It tells of Hudson & Maria's beginnings, their lives, their marriage, their missionary work in China, and the end of the marriage of 12 and half years when Maria died. Overall, a book that shows God's sovereignty and hand in every affair of man's. I would definately recommend reading this book if you are interested in missions work. I rated the book down one star because I found several grammatical errors in the book, and I also thought the author could have included more information about Maria's life.

A very interesting collection of papers, articles and case studies on international marketing and how it affects a domestic business organization. We have recommended it to our clients and they have responded favorably. The word "stimulating" was used most often to describe the content. The most common negative comments, although few, were about the types of companies discussed. They wished that there were more examples of how small companies became successful exporters.

Sam Taylor's vision of his grandfather's life is thought-provoking and literal; at times, one begins to wonder if John Taylor was not himself speaking through the mind of his progeny. As a reader I found the text both detailed in a myriad of descriptives, albiet dry and slow. Taylor tends to drag on and on about the life of John Taylor...at times, his tale reflects the beaming enthusiasm only a grandchild could bear.

John Taylor, third president of the Mormon church, was known for the enigmatic way he took the reins after the death of Brigham Young, leading both his church, and his family, through the earliest days of their settlement of Utah. As a non-Mormon, I found the story appealing, as chapter after chapter led me through the daily travails of this proud people. Many see Mormons as headstrong, a sense of arrogance leading their way to the "True and only path of God". After reading this narrative, one can easily see why any Mormon would have reason to be proud.

Anyone researching the Church should read this book. Taylor not only covers his grandfather's life, but also delves into Mormon scripture and doctrine, painting a glorious portrait of a people persecuted for their beliefs, and a people willing at once to die and kill in the name of God.

Coatsworth and Tayler have added a significant contribution to a field that have known, up to now, only individual monographies about the development of national economies in Latin America, not disregarding the excellent Victor Bulmer-Thomas "The Economic History of LA" or the more recent volume organized by Rosemary Thorp. The history of economic international relations of the Latin American countries and the region's insertion in the world economy is, of course, a chapter in the history of world capitalism, but we were still missing a comprehensive approach about the specific path of the economic modernization of the entire region, despite some general contributions, like Bradford Burns'"The Poverty of Progress" or the old books by Rippy and Platt. Now, the quest is (almost) over, at least from the point of view of "centric" economies. Coatsworth and Tayler add a new powerful academic tool for researchers and other people interested in better know how Latin America managed to become what Prebisch called "a periphery to the center". Perhaps the next significant evolution in this field would be to have a history of the economic insertion of Latin American countries in the world economy from the point of view of those countries. But, that is another story...

Concise and to the point. I have found most of the mainstream theatre genres and practisioners I have looked up in it. I must admit that some historical details are just skimmed through, accentuating only the famous works of an author or director. For a full spectrum, I find myself alternating between the Cambridge Paperback Guide to Theatre and this dictionary.

An introduction to macroeconomics written by the creator of the Taylor Rule. It begins with an overview of economics in general including market economies and the supply/demand model. Later topics include measuring GDP, the spending allocation model, unemployment, productivity, money, inflation, fiscal policy, monetary policy, financial markets, and international trade. The text has bright, eye-catching graphics and convenient review boxes placed throughout the chapters but tends to focus more on the U.S. economy than economies in general.

This book, which has also been co-published simultaneously in the journal Social Thought (1999;19(2)), came out of a symposium at the St. Louis University School of Social Service at the sponsorship of the Doerr Center for Social Justice, Education and Research. The contributors to the six chapters with topics like Compassion, solidarity and empowerment; Welfare reform and foster care; Delinquency prevention; Collaborative practice in low income communities; Fostering resiliency in children and Ecumenical housing all came from authors within the field of social work. Data from the United States on poor children (The state of America's children yearbook, Washington, DC: Children's Defence Fund, 1998) has shown that three in five poor children are white, one in five live in suburban areas, one in three live in a family with married parents and two in three live in a working family. In 1973 14.4% of all children in America were poor, but in spite of a better economy that figure climbed to 20.5% in 1996. For young families in America the child poverty rate doubled from 20% in 1973 to 41% in 1994 and all these increases even though the federal government had implemented welfare reforms to prevent poverty. The chapter by Nancie Palmer from Wasburn University on "Fostering resiliency in children" based on her doctoral work from 1991 on exploring resiliency in adult children of alcoholics was interesting reading. She introduces the Differential Resiliency Model (DRM) as an alternative and non-pathological approach to the study of children and families, who are coping daily with adversity. She sees resilience as an evolving process and while one person can display one of four types of resilience (anomic survival, regenerative, adaptive and flourishing resilience) this person may develop growth through new challenges and through homeostasis, coping strategies, relationships to environment or the use of energy the person will be able to survive. This book is recommended for workers in social work or perofessionals working with poor or disorganized families.

Professor Joav Merrick... E-mail: jmerrick@aquanet.co.il

This is a very deep and thurough look at the scavenger lands. The only bad part of it is that it often leave certain things without stats, as in these tombs of former exalted that annhilate their would be thieves...eh,jsut pet piev though. But all in all, if you are interested in this part of the game world, buy it.

As a storyguide beginning his third MAGE chronicle and as a player starting in a separate chronicle, I found this book very useful in further detailing the ways in which true shamans work in the World of Darkness. In some ways, the book continues the themes expounded in the Dreamspeaker tradition book, but it goes further and is not limited to Dreamspeakers alone.

That said, this book does focus on shamanic methods and viewpoints, and has a heavy emphasis on interaction with spirits. It's not a spirit compendium, unlike Werewolf's Axis Mundi, and though it touches on shamanic possibilities for all Traditions, it seems far less useful for non-shamanic groups like the Celestial Chorus and the Order of Hermes.

Outstanding features involve blessings and curses of being a shaman, new merits and flaws, the potential "catch-all" nature of Spirit magick, discussion of totems and the World Tree aspect of the Umbra, and finally a new collection of spirit-related rotes. It's all well-written and presents minimal rules-related content. The story is illustrative without being intrusive.

Bottom line was that this gave me a greatly expanded perspective on what it means to be a shaman, the responsibilities as well as the benefits. The only drawback for me was that the authors chose not to explore alternative visions of shamanism, such as technomancer or Hermetic possibilities. Consequently, the book will be primarily useful to chronicles featuring Dreamspeakers, Verbena, or Cultists.