In the many arguments I've had over the merits of collective action, I have found few arguments as useful as Michels' "iron Law of Oligarchy", stating that even the most egalitarian orginizations wind up having their decisions made by a select few at the top. Morever, institutional reforms will not help, since this tendency is inherent to complex orginization. Surveying the intensification of power across a host of socialist parties and publications, Michels provides much empirical evidence. Too much, at times, as after about 200 pages of stories about leadership groups developing in socialist orginizations, the book starts to drag a little bit. It is all worth it, however, as the "iron law of oligarchy" is one of the most fascinating arguments you'll ever find in a book about politics. Seymour Martin Lipset's introductory comments provide interesting background info.

Michels was a member of a socialist movement who wondered if one could ever have what today is called participatory democracy. The result is this wonderful book, in which Michels discovers the "Iron Law of Oligarchy", that even in the most egalatarian movements, elites will call most of the shots. Michels goes further than many elite theorists who simply claim that this has always been so: he claims that elite management is inherent to complex organizations. Whether you agree or disagree, you must read this man and debate his ideas!

R.S. Eden's "Dog Training for Law Enforcement" is one of the best and most comprehensive books I've read on this subject. Makes me want to join the local P.D. just to train a dog. Mr. Eden's ability to translate his knowledge into easily readable and usable information is commendable. Even if you have no interest in training dogs yourself, its worth the read just to see how its done! Can we clone Mr. Eden and ship out a copy to every police department with a K-9 unit?

What a career as a journalist Pitts might have had. The superb "people skills" and vivid descriptive powers expressed in this book make it a very "human." Pitts, however, is an archaeologist, bringing a strong scientific background to an account of a prehistoric dig and what it brought to view. As the evidence mounted of ancient hominids living along the Sussex coast, it became clear that Boxgrove revealed an unprecedented age for European habitation. Boxgrove, as this book makes graphically clear, will become the standard against which older archeology will be judged and future finds compared.

It is difficult to distinguish the respective contributions made by each author in this book. Mark Roberts, a young archeologist at the beginning of the excavations who became the Director of the site, is a dedicated digger. He managed logistics, personnel, site management and analysed the results. It is likely that he provided significant portions of the scientific background for the account. The story is simply one of persistence in using evidence to gain support for extending operations when funding seemed threatened. Those extensions continued to reveal an assemblage of fossils, tools, and other signs of human activity. All from half a million years ago.

With the authors contributing background material on climate conditions, glaciation and sea levels, soil content and the new science of geomagnetism, we're given a detailed picture of the world surrounding those ancient people. What impact did that environment have on their lives? What does the evidence suggest about how they coped with what nature imposed on them? Did they hunt, or scavenge? Was meat a mainstay or a "side dish" in their diet?

This book makes a major leap of interpretation in formulating what sort of people existed those millennia ago. With help from many sources, the authors build a picture of a sophisticated creature. Boxgrove produced a wealth of flint tools and flakes, some the researchers were able to reconstruct into the original stones. The evidence, they assert, suggests a creature with strong intelligence, capable of in-depth analysis in selected topics. The most important consideration was in hunting and creating the tools to make the hunt a success. Knapping flakes from flint is "more than banging a couple of rocks together" - requires the ability to foresee several steps in advance - "like a game of chess." The tools meant ready access to meat - and meat is necessary for increased brain power. Far from a raw savage, Boxgrove's revelations image our ancestor a capable creature. From this interpretation, it's clear older finds must be reassessed. New discoveries will need to draw on the same interdisciplinary teamwork Roberts was able to assemble.

Fairweather Eden is a wealth of information, both historic and current. Much background material is provided, interspersing the descriptions of participants in the finds and subsequent analysis. One individual actually strips down a carcass with the provided flint tools. Beyond the text is an array of diagrams and photographs depicting the information. If this book has a shortcoming, it's the use of notes' sources in lieu of a bibliography. That hardly detracts from its worth, however. The amount and quality of work Pitts and Roberts have put into this study will keep it useful for a long time. [stephen a. haines - Ottawa, Canada]

It's great to see Steinbeck's works coming out in this nice edition. This volume is up to LOA's usual excellent standards, and like the first two volumes in the Steinbeck series, continues covering both famous pieces like Cannery Row and East of Eden, as well as some of his less known works. In any case it's a real treat for any Steinbeck fan. Can't wait for the fourth volume!

Am suprised that this book is not still in print. It got excellent reviews when published back in 1985 in the US and UK. Tells the story of a spoiled young woman who marries a older Bajan planter in 1664 and goes with him to his plantation. Slave revolts, hurricanes, Dutch naval attack plus a steaming love story makes this a superby story, one also carefully researched.

A great book. A-z on the rainforest, animals, plants, tribes, distruction, and much more,

Lacking knowledge of the Architectural issues involved, I had to approach "Athena and Eden" with my experience of ancient and classical Greek literature. I was shocked by the strength and cogency of Mr. Johnson's arguments. Though not yet fully convinced of all of the conclusions Mr. Johnson has reached, "Athena and Eden" has definitely given me some ideas to chew on while Mr. Johnson writes his second volume.

Many near eastern/mediteraenean cultures exhibit shared memories of a common prehistory. From Gilgamesh in Mesopotamia to early tales of Osiris in Egypt, echoes of the Genesis and Flood stories abound. If Mr. Johnson is correct, than Greek mythology is a very twisted (possibly Satanic) retelling of the fall of Man.

As far as particulars--

I found his arguments about the true identity of the Zeus figure extremely compelling. Yet the Athena/Hera division is still a little muddled in my mind (probably more my fault than the author's).

Overall, "Athena and Eden" is a very intriguing book that deserves a lot of attention. It gets my recommendation.

The focus of Greek civilization, the Parthenon captures viewers imaginations even as it conceals its true meaning. In his ground breaking work, Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. author of ATHENA AND EDEN: THE HIDDEN MEANING OF THE PARTHENON'S EAST FACADE demonstrates that when Athena is seen to be Eve, then Greek mythology becomes narrative art. Consequently, the marble sculptures on the east pediment of the Parthenon relate the story of the origin of mankind, matching the Genesis account in detail.

Johnson asserts that scholars have previously been unsuccessful in identifying most of the figures in the east pediment because they have failed to connect Athena with Even and the story of Eden in the Book of Genesis. Through careful research, Johnson demonstrates that we do have the literature and art to serve as a source of reconstruction. Painstaking comparison demonstrates shows that the sculptures of the eastern pediment depict the Garden of Eden, the birth of Eve, the Great Flood. Furthermore, the goddess Athena, whom the Greeks worshipped as the one who brought the serpent's wisdom, is the same person the Book of Genesis calls Eve.

Johnson, a West Point graduate, author, teacher and public speaker based his research on surviving sculptures, the ancient writings of Homer, Hesiod, Pindar and others, plus myths, vase art and the work of numerous experts. His controversial approach will certainly garner attention from all who are interested in the classics, religion, art, and mythology. Indeed, Johnson's unique perspective will provoke avid discussion among academics for years to come, yet is easily approachable by any who hold an interest in our origins.

Athena And Eden: The Hidden Meaning Of The Parthenon's East Facade by author and educator Robert Bowie Johnson, Jr. offers the non-specialist general reader a unique, accessible, and provocative look at classical artwork and human spirituality. Athena And Eden focuses on the majesty of the Parthenon and its mystical connection to the Book of Genesis. Illustrated with numerous black-and-white photographs of Greek artistic treasures, sculptures, and pottery, Athena And Eden is an original, seminal, ground breaking, unforgettable, and highly recommended perspective that will be of particular interest to students of Hellenic art, architecture, mythology, and religion.

Yes, it's been said, this game is like the X-Files, only it's not. This is much, much cooler. Character generation is easy enough, and there's a lot to work with. The rules, too, are fast and easy (with the possible exception of combat, which can crawl a bit). There is enough information here to keep a creative GM busy for an eternity, and if you add some of the sourcebooks (all exCellent, mind you), things just get better. Even if you're not a gamer, get this just to read about a very, very chilling world not unlike our own at all...

Imagine the X-Files crossed with big guns and you're just about there. This is a superb RPG with a very detailed and beleivable background. Characted generation is a little complex but you end up with exactly the character you were looking for. This main rule book has a wealth of information about weapons, technologies, alien races, supernatural, psychics and with regular source book releases there is plenty for a GM to work with. Combat is swift and deadly just as in real lifa and your characters will have to do some good thinking if they want to come out of adventures unscathed. This elimenates all the dungeon hack and shoot em up scenarios which plague most RPG's. You will love this game, I know I do.

I'll admit I was suspicious when my wife suggested this game: I mean, I like the X-files, but this had been done to death hadn't it? Coupled with cliched artwork... I sat back and almost challenged it: "Make me like this" And I loved it. The background is great, the world believable, but above all, it's all so very very easy. No huge rule lists, no super list of weapons, just pick and play. Character generation was a snap, and we were off into the world of AEGIS: Saving the world from threats it didn't need to know existed.

My only gripe was that the cell generation system seemed ridiculously complex... but that said, everyone else assured me it was prefectly sensible when you get yo know it. And I will do.

"The Alleys of Eden" was first published in the early 1980's. Its revival is due to the later works of Robert Olen Butler, including the 1993 Pulitzer Prize winner, "A Good Scent from a Faraway Mountain." Few writers have delved into the psychological lives of Vietnam vets as Butler has. This novel tests the love between an American deserter in Vietnam and a Vietnamese woman, who are bonded by the extremities of the war. When the couple try to start over in America, they are faced with a different set of challenges. This novel is remiscent of Le Ly Hayslip's autobiographies, "When Heaven and Earth Change Places," and "Child of War: Woman of Peace." The irony is that it took more than a decade for Butler's refreshing novel to surface, and that is largely due to the efforts of the Vietnam vets' struggles to be heard and the public's recent interent in literature related to Vietnam.

Like much of Robert Adams work, this book at first appears transparently ordinary--photographs of a truck stop somewhere in the middle of nowhere--but somehow resonates with memories. There is the irony of the name of the place cast against the bleakness of the photographs--but Adams claims that no irony is intended. But my own memeories called out by this book are of long car trips before air conditioning, the smell of hot engine oil, of cars overheating, the taste of cold coke in a bottle, and the smell of diesel engines long before anyone thought of air polution. The biblical Eden was a place of perfection before the fall, but these pictures must refer to the same place at some later time, after the the tree was cut to make way for the interstate.