Religious historian Richard Hughes Seager provides a revealing and candid portrait of the communities, practices and individuals who are central to the modern Buddhist life, examining not only Buddhist beliefs and history in Asia and the US, but providing profiles of Buddhist traditions which have been brought into the U.S. Buddhism In America rounds out our information and provides important insights into the Americanization of Buddhism and is an important addition to the growing library of Buddhist historical liteature.

This "road map to the American Buddhist landscape" succeeds in being both "engaging and informative," as the author intended. While it could be used as a text for a college class, it will also be of interest to American practitioners of Buddhism (like me) who want to know more about our roots and about the variety of forms of Buddhism in America.

Part One provides background material on the history of Buddhism and its transmission to America and includes a short chapter on "Very Basic Buddhism" for those new to the subject or wanting a refresher. Part Two, the largest part, discusses the various forms of Buddhism in America, with chapters on Jodo Shinshu, Soka Gakkai, Zen, Tibetan, Theravada, and "other Pacific Rim migrations." And Part Three explores some "Selected Issues": gender equity, social engagement, intra-Buddhist and interreligious dialogue, and the Americanization of Buddhism.

Religious historian Richard Hughes Seager provides a revealing and candid portrait of the communities, practices and individuals who are central to the modern Buddhist life, examining not only Buddhist beliefs and history in Asia and the US, but providing profiles of Buddhist traditions which have been brought into the U.S. Buddhism in America rounds out our information and provides important insights into the Americanization of Buddhism and is an important addition to the growing library of Buddhist historical liteature.

If you're looking for a good biography on Howard R Hughes, look no further, because this is the one you'll want. Richard Hack writes in an open and laid-back manner making it all easy to enjoy and absorb. The subject manner certainly makes for entertaining reading itself. This most noted of eccentrics will captivate you as well as disgust you. Hack takes you inside the Hughes empire and paints a very good picture of the how and why of his world. If not for Hughes inheritance from his father-owner of the Hughes Tool Co-you most likely will never have heard of Howard Hughes. Basically Howard himself had no business acumen. His life does read somewhat like a fairy tale in that most of the things he wished for he got. From movie starlets to hotels and casinos. Money can truly buy most things. Unfortunately he wasn't psychologically stable for the last half of his life and this caused him and those around him much misery. Form whatever opinion you like about Hughes, but after reading this biography, the opinion you form will be a strong one. It was a well-written biography that lagged just a little on the editing.

Highly recommended.

....I settled on this book because I thought it would be account of Howard Hughes's weird and wanton ways, like several of the other books on this very original American have been.
Much to my amazement, I discovered that this book, which the publisher has unembarrassingly labeled "the definitive biography of America's First Billionaire," was not exaggerating. The story that unfolds here is a real pageturner...one of a life that hit upon politics, Hollywood, aviation, science, and parental neglect of the most extreme variety. What makes this book work as well as it does is the ability of the writer, Richard Hack (of whom I know nothing but intend to read more), has built the plot as if writing a novel. His words are lush with emotion and frustration, as the reader is brought along as an innocent observer of an incredible life story. It took a special talent to make material that has been attempted to be told elsewhere new and exciting. "Hughes" is both well researched and beautifully written. I cannot recommend it highly enough to men, women and teenagers.

There has been a lot of writing about Howard Hughes. A lot of it was based on incomplete or just flat out false information, going back even to when he was living with the Clifford Irving hoax. If we are to believe the author of this book had access to thousands of never before available documents, and he's telling what he found factually, this would be the definitive Hughes biography to date. That he makes it a fat, juicy biography makes it great reading.

So I would nominate George Clooney to take this role to the big screen. There are remarkable similarities in their looks, and the public would just eat up this tale. Here we have a man who was lucky enough to inherit a big fortune early in life. But he didn't just sit on his money. He re-invested a lot of it into other industries, such as movies and airplanes. His resources greatly advanced the art of aviation in it's time, and his movie marketing greatly enhanced Jane Russell's breasts in their time. He was a hands-on, get involved manager who flew test planes himself, setting many speed records.

This dashing lifestyle also made him the darling of Hollywood. His string of glamorous conquests was a who's who of movie actresses, from budding starlets to major icons. He literally had the world in his hand for awhile.

Alas, something happens to people when they gain so much power that there are very few people or institutions that can tell them "No". We've seen this in the last 100 years with characters such as Hitler, J. Edgar Hoover, Elvis, and Michael Jackson. They get a few successes, and think they are infallable. This leads to bad decisions in life that either deteriorate them, or leave a mess for those that surround them. They also withdraw, always mentally, sometimes physically, from the world around them, as if they were surrounding the wagons to protect them from that world.

This also happened to Howard Hughes. We see early signs of where he's going when he was merely a ruthless young business man. The first thing he did upon inheriting part of a company was to immediately buy out all the other inheritors to give him total control. Holidays such as Thanksgiving and Christmas mean nothing to him, and he calls upon his associates to work on these days to get more done. Marriage had it's uses, but none of them ever involved love.

So we get to see one side, which is this dashing young millionaire who becomes America's first billionaire. We see him as he lands at crowded airports after setting yet another air speed record. We see him with every hot babe on the silver screen, and a lot more hoping to get there. America even liked him thumbing his nose at the government when he felt they were digging into his private life too much. This would all have to be portrayed.

But we would need a director like Martin Scorsese to turn this into a "Raging Bull" type of hell. Yes, he had the women, but the feedback from them seemed to indicate a very selfish lover who often couldn't produce where it counts. Yes, he directed several films, but was such a control freak that the products went way over budget. And the volumes of instructions he wrote to his staff on how to guard against germs, real or imaginary, show a very disturbed mind.

And the movie would have to show how this increasingly lonely man deteriorated in his last ten-fifteen years of life. While it is true, as suspected, that his paid caretakers took advantage of his situation, and in fact sped up his demise, it is also surprising how much of his faculties remained in his later years. While he was well on his way to looking like the Walking Death he eventually became, he still had the ability to conduct a two-hour press conference to convince the world that the Irving biography was a hoax.

But the ultimate ending would have to show that all the money in the world cannot buy happiness. For the last several years of his life, he was surrounded only by people who were paid to be there. His hair, beard, and nails grew to extreme lengths. While obsessed with germs, he ended up living in putrid squallor, with jars of his own wastes stored everywhere. His body was stoked up with enough drugs to kill an average person, and he even had the remnants of five broken needs inside his arms.

This could be Oscar time for both Clooney and Scorsese if Hollywood lets them do it right.

This was one of my father's favourite books, and the lucky person who gets to read this instantly sees why. Although it's many years since my one and only reading, the extraordinary 'story' qualities of this novel are a long way from being forgotten, or surpassed in other novels I've since read. However, the most striking element of the book, without any doubt, is the remarkable accuracy and simplicity with which Richard Hughes represents the world of children, the protagonists. Never have I read such a perfect description of the motives for children's actions, their perception of facts and deeds, and the accompanying dialogue. Complementing this is the reaction of adults, their own surprise, and quite simply one of the most spellbinding stories to plunge into. This book cannot be recommended enough.

As a single parent father, I've found an opportunity with A High Wind In Jamaica to read a book with my 9 year old daughter. It's an experience we are sharing and yet I'd imagine experiencing independently on two different levels. She brings me the book every night. It's a medium from which to explain some of life's more complicated issues to my daughter. So it's serious and it's fun. I read the book years ago and am experiencing it anew. My daughter wanted it I believe because of the children on the cover. She loved it from the first page. I'm glad I bought it and I'd recommend it to parents to share with their children.

I feel no shame in pronouncing "A High Wind in Jamaica" one of the greatest books of the century, regardless of native language. What I feel shame for, however, is that I had never even heard of the novel until it appeared on Modern Library's list. Now I rank it among my favorites.

What impressed me most about the work is the number of levels upon which it works. A child could easily read this book as an adventure story, while an adult would read it and grasp the minute horrors that its children face. To say this is a masterstroke of its author would be putting it mildly. Very few authors can successfully pull it off, and Hughes deserves any and all recognition he receives for that accomplishment alone. Forget that the book is a lightning fast read on its own.

In what must be some of the most horrific accounts of strom conditions at sea, In Hazard blasts you in the face with vivid tales of monster waves, blistering winds and the freighter snared in their grasp. As the days of relentless horror pass on board the freighter, the author delves deep into the lives of the men trying to survive the hurricane. Unfortunately, he abandons his gripping description of the storm for a meandering inventory of the survivors' thoughts.

The SUNDAY TIMES was right: IN HAZARD is a tremendous piece of narrative description. It's one of the finest sea stories ever written--as shocking as THE PERFECT STORM, and even better written.

The weather was building, but the captain felt almost no concern at all. His freighter was no ordinary ship, and the hurricane season was past. Surely, he was facing no more than a fall gale in tropical waters.

What he was actually facing was one of the most powerful ocean storms ever recorded. By Wednesday, the ship was experiencing a full hurricane. On Thursday, the barometer would fall to 26.99 mb and the winds would be blowing 200 knots. That's when the horror began. During the ensuing days, the wind and the sea were about to perform feats no living sailor had ever seen before. Read this book!

In Hazard is about the capacity of mankind to cope with overwhelming challenges and believe in its future against dreadful odds. It is a thrilling, sobering, and masterfully written book--but it is worth its price just for the account of the storm, whose winds will never quite die out in the mind of the reader.

I bought this book and found it to be very thorough with recipes and pictures for hundreds of types of finishes. However, I did find the title misleading. The recipes are only for copper, brass, bronze, and silver.

The metalwork I do is with steel and I bought the book to color steel. This huge medium is never dealt with in the book.

A useful reference for the serious metalworker, with color plates of most of the patinas, and a helpful discussion of techniques. One deficiency is the lack of any information on the relative durability of the patinas under the effect of handling or weathering.

Beautifull book, irreplaceable info. I saw this years ago at a price of over $100 and balked, but I should have bought it then. If you are a commited bronze artist/ craftsperson and you want to get good patinas you will eventually buy this book, as it is the only one in print that is top notch in sophistication and comprehensiveness. Some might think this book with it's great technique descriptions, over 250 high quality patina chip photos, over 1000 distinct patina formulas and an incredible bibliography as esoteric and overly demanding in terms of chemistry and technique, but the rest will consider it priceless. Best patination book in print, possibly the best ever.

After admittedly a scan, not detailed reading, the book has problems. It appears to tell readers what they expect or want to hear, but not necessarily what actually happened in the history of the Church of Christ. If you are going to rely on this book, be sure to read other histories to get balance.

Reviving the Ancient Faith is by far one of the three best histories of the Stone-Campbell Reformation in print, the others being Leroy Garrett's Stone Campbell Movement, Revised Edition, and Robert Hooper's A Distinct People. Anyone interested in the origins and history of the Church of Christ, and what makes those "peculiar people" so peculiar will find Hughes' book most enlightening.

Hughes traces the two main streams of our tradition, exemplified by "founders" Barton Warren Stone and Alexander Campbell and how Stone's apocalyptic, countercultural worldview and Campbell's "progressive primitivism" and focus on restoring the ancient gospel merged in second and third generation leaders like Tolbert Fanning, David Lipscomb and James A. Harding. As one who grew up in the church of Christ, I was intrigued to learn from Hughes in the book, that our tradition had several pre-millennial evangelists (actually a pre-millennial "wing" of our brotherhood), which I had never realized before (most traces of it were "stamped out" by conservatives such as Foy Wallace, Jr., until memory of this branch of our tradition was lost by the mainline churches). Those sections of the book alone make it worth reading.

Hughes continues by examining in detail the triumphs and controversies of the twentieth century, through the insitutional wranglings of the fifties and sixties, the Crossroads movement of the seventies and on into modern times.

Some readers may be suprised at much of the material presented, as much of it has been consciously or unconsciously "swept under the rug," as it were, by the church as a whole. For this reason, many have inaccurately accused Hughes of "revisionist history."

My one problem with the book is the absence of any substantive material on Alexander Campbell's father Thomas, and the latter's pivotal 1809 "Declaration and Address," which greatly influenced the thinking of his son Alexander and, at least in the early years served as the movement's Magna Carta.

But all in all, Reviving the Ancient Faith is a great primer on the Churches of Christ and what makes us tick.

The author provides a well-balanced, readable and compelling overview of the people and issues that have influenced the modern history of the churches of Christ. The book was fourteen years in the making and is extremely well-researched and well-documented. It includes dozens of historic photographs and drawings of people who figure prominently in the text.

The book covers the standard history starting with Alexander Campbell and Barton W. Stone, continuing through the various controversies that divided and subdivided the body in the late 19th century and first half of the 20th century: missionary societies, instrumental music, premillennialism, moderization and institutionalism. It then provides excellent sections on more recent trends and controversies, including racial issues, campus ministries, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the Crossroads and Boston movements, the emphasis on grace, the "new hermeneutic" crisis, and the role of women in the church.

I would highly recommend this book for every member of the church of Christ and for anyone who wants an excellent overview of the church's modern history.

This is a lovely, colorful and attractive book full of interesting information about Indian culture and daily living.
However, I was disapointed that it had just a few recipes as it is really more of a travel/guide book. I returned the book because I wanted a cook book, not a guide book. But if you want a guide book, you will be pleased.

What a great book! Lots of simple recipes but also some more complex ones to experiment with on rainy Sunday afternoons. Great authentic smells and flavours.

This book gives a quick look at the major forces shaping the religious movement called the restoration movement and how the churches of Christ fit into the overall picture. Members of the churches of Christ (or anyone really) can gain much from seeing the similarities and differences between themselves and the men and women of the past who spent their lives asking many of the same questions and came up with many of the same answers. Be inspired by people who gave their lives for truth, purity and their convictions.

This book is an excellent reference for the beginning fly fisher. The discussions on equipment, fly selection and how two's on rigging flyfishing equipment, knots, reading streams and discussions on insect entomology are well written and explained in a manner which makes them easy to understand and remember by somone who is just getting into fly fishing. The secton on how to cast is also accurate and well written. However the best way to jump start your casting knowledge would be to enroll in a one day class at a local fly shop or coax an acquaintance who knnows how to show you on your lawn. All in all this book is a very good reference material and will give you everything you need to know to begin catching fish on the fly and help you determine whether you want to go further in the sport.

An entertaining and enlightening look at some of the safety and social issues facing our society. Mr Hughes takes real life safety stories and uses his engaging cast of characters (The men and women of Hazard Elimination Inc) to show us how things could or at least should be.

I thought some of the safety horror stories were a little far fetched until I learned that most of them were true.

Written from the perspective of a safety insider the book managed to keep me entertained while giving me a look at what is really happening out there and some of the less than positive results of our global economy.