David Hein, a Professor of Religion at Hood College in Maryland, has found gold in the mine of his state's Civil War archives, in this collection of letters written by members of a prominent Maryland family on the eve of and during the war. Hein's book immerses us in civilian life as civil war approached, fiercely as a wind-driven wildfire, personified by the Montgomery County family of Allen Bowie Davis, a prosperous gentleman farmer/legislator from Rockville, then a village north of Washington.

Davis and his wife, Hester, in time became unionists who feared the consequences of a Maryland secession for their state and family. "We may not like the present administration, nor endorse its acts-but-'we had better bear the ills we have than to fly to others that we know not of,'" wrote Hester to her daughter, Rebecca, late in May of 1861. "Let Maryland remain neutral and she may ride out safely this awful storm...I fear this secession element. It would be certain ruin to all our hopes as a family, in this world."

Their son, William Wilkins Davis, was a student at St. James College, a prestigious Episcopal boy's school near Hagerstown, in western Maryland. St. James had the misfortune to lie between opposing armies that tramped incessantly through the region and staged America's bloodiest day on a battlefield a mere seven miles distant, along Antietam Creek. The boys of St. James spent Sunday afternoons in the spring of 1861 not in the library but visiting nearby union and confederate camps. Fearful parents began withdrawing their sons as tensions grew. In the spring of 1861, with the bombardment of Fort Sumter in Charleston Harbor and Baltimoreans clashing with northern troops marching through their city, young Wilkins became an impassioned sympathizer for the southern cause. Letters heretofore about food, studies and illness became angry diatribes against Lincoln, Maryland Governor Thomas Hicks, and others perceived to have a foot on the jugular of southern state's rights. "I hereby announce myself, henceforth, a straight out 'Southern Rights' man, and want nothing to do with Lincoln, his party or anything connected with him, or it, unless it is to help thrash him," he wrote to sister Rebecca on May 21, 1861. "I can no longer support a man whose avowed intention is to subjugate the South...and our contemptible, cowardly, lying governor winks at every thing [he] does without the lest compunction." Such words remind us that 19th century political discourse could also be ugly and coarse.

Both young Wilkins and St. James fared poorly in the cauldron of conflict. The boy took ill early in the war and, despite periods of good health, he died in 1866. The college closed its doors in 1864, an educational casualty of war.

Hein's book captures the complexity of the Civil War in a state of abolitionists, pro-slavery unionists, anti-slavery southern sympathizers and non-slaveholding secessionists. We see a pivotal Maryland through the eyes of adults and children, and the consequences of war for familial relationships, religious values and educational institutions. Hein's crisp editorial commentary knits these letters chronologically, supplying time and place for the Davis family to tell of life in the tumultuous middle of the nineteenth century. We are in the debt of this slender volume, for reminding us that a history replete with leaders and battles is incomplete absent the insights of sons and daughters, and mothers and fathers.

The definitive bibliography of Mormon history. An enormous, systematic undertaking. 1152 pages (in small but readable type). Two indices--by author and by topic. Also includes a hundred-page topical guide to social science publications on the Mormons prepared by Armand Mauss and Dynette Ivie Reynolds. This is an invaluable resource for students of Mormon history and/or sociology.

My 5 year old daughter recently read this book to me. She loved hearing the story of Teddy's adventures, and this book has inspired us to start a scrapbook of her adventures with her special toy animal friend. The last chapter is wonderful as it describes the bond of friendship between the bear and the little girl who loved him.

This edition is an updated version of the authors earlier book written in the wake of the 1996 Anti-Terrorism Act. Remember that Act? That was the one passed in response to Oklanhoma City and gave "sweeping new powers" to federal authorities, so that such a horrible act of terrorism, would never, ever, never, never happen ever again!

Now with 9/11 and the "Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism" (U.S.A.P.A.T.R.I.O.T) Act (how much time, do you suppose, does it take to come with these acronyms?), the authors are back with a critical look at a drive towards what has very little to do with counterterrorism and quite a bit to do with increasing and centralizing power.

In the past 12 months we've had proposals for a national ID card, a missle defense system, legalized torture, suspension of writ of habeas corpus, a "homeland security" infrastructure that is heavily reliant on security technologies of dubious value. Basically the only thing that has changed that would have prevented the 9/11 are locked Cabin doors and the newfound general awareness that "cooperating with the hijacker" might not be the best policy for passeners.

Also along the way, a steady trickle of stories of missed opportunities, ignored warning and frustrated investingations have come out regarding the FBI and others to use the powers they already do have.

The bulk of the book deals with FBI misdeed during the Cold War and proposes an unfashionable counterrorism strategy that emphasizes the responsibility of actors, not ideology. Basically, trying to treat terrrorism as a crime not as war.

The proposals are a little narrow. Terrorism of the sort represented by al Quaeda is international, not just national. The fight against it will share more with racketeering and global criminal networks. And a world court is needed. I'm not sure if dealing on a purely "case-by-case" basis will do the trick.

Nevertheless, the authors have offered a well reasoned case and in the current climate when we are asked to give up so much with only the assurance of "trust us" we would do to heed their call.

This book is startling. The disciptions of human elephant interaction lead us to a deep and profound understanding of these magestic creatures. The art work shows both a stunning sense of design and, in my estimation, a certain grasp of artistic metaphor. Critques by artist etc. further validate this view. The culmination is a reevaluation not only of art but of personhood in general.

This is the second novel by David Nevin that I have read (But won't be the last). The more I read it the more I realized that politics has changed very little in the last two hundred years. I have been a student of American History for twenty five years, and still learned much from this novel. The author writes in such a way that you can almost imagine yourself being there to witness history as it is being made. And since it is a novel its not at all dry or boring to read, yet is based on historical facts with minimal "literary licence".

The Weight Training Workbook gives you all the tools to be sucessful in the gym. This book takes an approach that lets the basic and advanced readers both benefit from it. Any question that I had about weight training where answered in this book.

WOW!!! I can't say enough good things about this book. I will adimit that I didn't love it at first, it wasn't until I was in the second or third chapters when I started getting with it. But once I did, I learned more in those few pages than in the last 10 seminars I have attended, here are some of the highlights.

I have had a lot of success with setting the rules of the sales process with the three-step suggestion in the book. I have eliminated virtually all of the stalls I was seeing by just telling the prospect that it is O.K. to tell me "No" and that I will expect them to tell me whether to stop or proceed at the end of each meeting.

I learned to define what real pain is, what words or phrases the prospect uses and how to pick-up on them quickly. I learned that what I had defined as pain was really just the symptoms of pain and not the real emotions behind it. I have become much more comfortable with pain and better at diagnosing its source, because I am listening with a purpose.

I could go on forever, but I'll move to the testimonial: My sales have doubled since implementing the leadership selling system in October 1998 and my company is using this book as THE training tool.

I treasure this book! Not just a book of quotations -- in a series of annectdotes, mouthwatering morsels, that leave you hungry for more, this is a literary feast. It presents Ben Franklin in a way that few books can. The reason? It shows you the Franklin you want -- when you want him. The topics -- prejudice, slander, or party loyalty -- to name some, are clear, well-organized, and often witty. But these are not the main reasons I treasure the book. You might have excellent access to short squibbs on Warren Harding. The book draws its delight from the greatness of Franklin and the authors abiding appreciation of the First American. A possessor of the earlier edition, I promise you an inexhaustible treasure.

Word Processing in Groups provides a thorough yet complete exposition on the relationship between finite state automata and Group theory.