Charlotte's Web has always been my favorite book. I have read it about ten times. It has lessons in living for any ages. There is life, death, love, hate -- all the emotions people experience. E. B. White captured all this in his writing. His life story would interest anyone!

This critical anthology collects various approaches that register the changes in contemporary theory pertinent to the thinking of the nation. There are no less than nine different critical responses exploring the equivocal significance of narratives of identity, origin and progress in the cultural formation of the nation. As Prem Poddar puts it in the Introduction, "such a redescription of the nation works to acknowledge the complexities of cultural difference by raising the question of translation" (8). And in the same way, according to Homi Bhabha, translation involves both persistence and change such that the discourses around the nation are both "lost and returned, superseded and restored" (9).

Because the volume encompasses a wide range of theoretical approaches that move back and forth from the western topographies of Denmark and Canada to the cultural specificities of South Africa, Sri-Lanka and India, Meena Alexander's refreshing cross-breeding of critical and creative writing over the issue of cultural translation is appropriately the opening essay of this collection. In Alexander's paper the fluid diasporic world within which she must carve a space to live goes hand in hand with her woman's body that she cannot escape.

In his fascinating essay entitled "Europe's Violence: Some Contemporary Reflections on W. Benjamin's Theories of Fascism", Graham MacPhee discusses Benjamin's engagement with the aesthetic as a part of his examination of the consequences of technological modernity for the social and political forms bequeathed by the Enlightenment. By relating Benjamin's essay on German fascism to Kant's "Perpetual Peace", MacPhee attempts to show how Benjamin's oeuvre offers resources in reformulating the parameters of the nation "through its exploration of the recognition and negotiation of violence both within and beyond the borders of nation-state" (25). If MacPhee's reading of Benjamin's work is taken to mark the emergence of a new global topography in the aftermath of the first War World, Neluka Silva's essay on literary representations of contemporary Sri Lankan politics seeks to explore individual, collective and gendered identities in relation to nationhood. Through an acute examination of different genres and various Sri Lankan literary texts written in English, Silva wishes to show the construction of ethnic identities as inextricably linked to the nationalist rhetoric of the Sinhalese state on one hand and to the separatist discourse of the Tamil Tiger guerilla force on the other.

Two interesting essays deal with issues connected to nationalist identity and post-colonial experience. Lars Jensen focuses on the position of contemporary Canadian and Australian writer in relation to the idea of space as a shaping force in constructions of national identity. After examining numerous literary texts as examples of post-colonial literature, Jensen concludes that Canadian and Australian writing's relation to the center -be it national or geographical - can only be fluid and process-oriented, constantly changing to the interpretations of history. This argument is taken further by David Johnson in his analysis of a particular ethnic minority, the Griqua in South Africa, and their claims to the South African government for recognition. By providing three versions of colonial history that deal with questions of origin and the possible deprivations the Griqua might have suffered because of colonialism and apartheid, Johnson argues that while the post-colonial critic will focus on "the historically defined discursive systems" constituting Griqua national identity the South African member of the parliament has until recently refused to include Griqua ethnicity in the South African rainbow nationhood.

Where Johnson offers a close reading of key colonial Griqua texts in order to disclose the violence included in the category of the nation, Hans Hauge undertakes an original comparison of South African and Danish literary history. He concludes by claiming to have found neo-Kantian echoes in post-colonial discourse and by identifying Edward Said's Orientalism as an Arab postmodern text.

A more telling take on Danish history is presented Prem Poddar and Cheralyn Mealor. Through a meticulous postcolonial reading of Peter Høeg's novel Miss Smilla's Feeling for Snow, the critics provide a seminal, much-needed, and fascinating account of Danish nationalism. Poddar and Mealor view Smilla as a critique of Danish imperialism and Danish colonization of Greenland while at the same time they reveal the text's ambivalence in its treatment of Danish national identity. Read in this light, Høeg's novel becomes a paradigmatic text exploring the interrelated issues of colonialism, nation and migrancy.

Mahesh Daga's reading of vernacular archives seeks to demonstrate the ambiguities and confusions surrounding the use of the Indian term jati as nation during the closing decades of 19th century. More than questioning the uncritical translatability of such terms, Daga aims to demonstrate that the changes occurring in vocabulary of public discourse are "symptomatic of crucial changes in the conception of nation itself" (205).

Echoing the volume's opening essay, Caroline Bergvall's final paper seeks to explore questions of translation and translatability. Through an examination of texts written across several national languages, Bergvall argues that while translation from one language to another encourages notions of linguistic transparence and humanist universalism, plurilingual writing (writing that takes place across and between languages) operates "against the grains of conventional notions of translatability and intelligibility" (248). Moreover, by problematising the contemporaneity of hyphenated identities cross-lingual textuality foregrounds issues of personal and cultural memory and locatedness.

While the theoretical and methodological sophistication of Translating Nations may be lost on a reader who is not conversant with the related discourse, anybody interested in contemporary critical approaches to the nation should become acquainted with the volume.

It is one of the greatest books of all times. While the human race is being pushed even more into emotional savagery by the pseudo-intellectuals and false gurus, this book courageously discusses the divine enlightenment possible through rational thought.

If you value field guides, you will love this Time-Life edition of "The Walker's Companion" from The Nature Company. Several highly respected nature writers, including David Rains Wallace and Ann Zwinger, make contributions to this well-illustrated and highly informative text. Those names should give you a clue to the excellent combination of literary and scientific writing that makes this text a must-have reference for anyone who is interested in the environment.

This is a field guide that powerfully combines content with context in a way that makes the information about nature and the environment not only highly accessible, but intrinsically linked to the key social topics that are central issues in both science and social studies. Topics include the history of nature writing and in America, hiking tips, the study of nature throughout the ages, field identification and sketching outdoors. Ecological concepts such as food chains and pollination are concisely described and illustrated in a section titled, "Understanding Nature". Information about every ecosystem from forests, mountains and deserts to farmland and vacant lots is included in the "Guide to Habitats" section. This kind of comprehensive perspective about environment helps the reader to think about and see ecology in very relevant ways.

The format of double-facing pages per topic gives concise environmental information, making it easy to read, index and apply to the reader's world. The guide is an essential home or travel reference as well as a valuable classroom text that would be interesting and accessible for audiences from 10 to 100. The text is so versatile that I have a copy for myself and have ordered a class set for my middle school students for a wide range of class use including nature drawing, research, gardening and environmental education.

Under the banner of evangelicalism, people are promoting an "open theism" that attempts to rid Protestantism of its belief in the sovereignty and omniscience of God. In Whatever Happened to the Reformation?, a number of scholars, including Drs. R.C. Sproul, John MacArthur, Bruce Ware, and R. Fowler White, have come together to provide a strong and reasoned response to this modern-day heresy - a response rooted in the Reformation.

This is a great book about the way a man (my father) makes a hard and arduous life into on that is wonderful and fullfilling. Now gone his memory lives on in this book. For those who knew him it was a great lose and he is loved and missed. I love you and will always keep you close to my heart.

This book helped me to pass the 70-58 exam with a 900 and I don't really have any networking experience. I would highly recommend it. I would however appreciate it if the publisher would reveiw it again for typos which seemed to be present in quite a few places. This could throw someone like myself off.

This book helped me pass NetEss with a 933 .. It is a good book with very clear wording, which any person could understand.

I did find that there were a lot of typing and spelling errors, which does become a little much. It covers all that you need to know for the exam and will be core credit to passing. YOU MUST... also take some online tests which simulate the MCSE exam itself.

The book will definately go into my "handy kit" and will be a great referance. The reason this book lost a star was because of it lack of information on RAID(and typos!). Use another source of information for this topic! IT IS IN THE EXAM! Microsofts description of this would be the best to study.

ENJOY.. I HOPE YOU ALL PASS

I used this study guide along with Sybex's Test Success (ISBN:0782121462, read my review)and both helped me pass the 70-058 with a 900/1000. My only complaint was that WINS and DNS topic coverage in this book was null, and I was tested on these topics in more than one occasion on the real exam.

This book takes a while to read, but it gives you a wealth of knowledge. You will feel that you have actually learned something, which makes this book an excellent networking-terminology learning tool as well.

The CD tests included are challenging and they provide a good measure of your real exam readiness. I'd recommend taking these tests once each and only after you have mastered the material completely. The reason is that the test questions (and answer order) are not randomly generated and taking these tests more than once might actually hurt more than benefit your learning.

I recommend this study guide for its value as an exam tool and a networking reference. Complement it with a Cram book, the Sybex's Test Success book (mentioned above), or a source of practice exam questions (Measureup or Transcender) to tackle the NetEss test with confidence.

After taking eight Microsoft exams, Win98 is the hardest that I have found and I am very thankful to have had this book to help me through it. The Exam Cram series has been wonderful and this installation is no exception. Of all the study guides that I used for the Win98 exam, this one was by far the best. I would suggest supplimenting it with the Windows 98 Resource Kit.

The Windows 98 exam is one of the toughest - it proved that way for me out of the four MCP exams I have taken so far. Don't think you know Windows 98 for the exam just because you have been using it for years and know how to use the contol panel. The Exam goes heavy into the networking end of using Windows 98, particularly as a client in an Windows NT4.0 or Novell domain. There is lots on the test having to do with Novell integration, TCP/IP configuration and troubleshooting, file utilities, user and hardware profiles, the registry, dial up networking, troubleshooting, boot sequence, system policies, mutimedia capablilities, and security/sharing. The exam has lots of scenario and simulation problems. Exam Cram is a great book to use as a supplement to a full study guide - I used Sam's Teach Yourself MCSE Windows 98 in 14 Days and was very happy with it. A lot of hands on using your computer with Windows 98 to try doing things as you learn them is very helpful. Even though you might not be able to use Windows 98 on a network you can still install and configure most everything you need to do to pass the exam. Exam Cram will help reinforce what you have learned and if you feel unsure about an area of study then you can refer to your main study guide to bone up on that area. The book has a very good focus of what is important to learn for the exam. Exam Cram also has a couple of hundred practice questions - some at the end of each chapter and a 59 question practice exam at the end. The practice exam is tough and the answer section is done in such a way as to explain why a particluar answer is right and why the others are wrong, which will help you learn. I also recommend the book to anyone who just wants to learn the full capablilies of Windows 98. I read a few general purpose Windows 98 books that did not cover ANY of the more advanced topics that you will find in a MCSE type book. Exam Cram MCSE Windows 98 is well worth the money!

As is the case for all the Exam Cram books I've used, this is the best study guide on the market. It is packed full of the information you'll need in order to pass the exam. I thought I was ready to pass, until I picked up this book and learned quite a few little nuances of Windows 98 that I hadn't used before and/or wasn't familiar with. It also provides many study tips and exam taking tips for those who are new to the certification exams. Highly recommended!

The frightening aspect of this work is that it is simply another glazing over of what Americans call the Vietnam War. The sources consulted do not constitute anything resembling a full scope of available scholarship. Americans do not understand the Indochina conflict because they are only allowed to see one side. This book is simply another work in a long line of American political lore which has created convenient rationalization for complex events in Southeast Asia. There are significant scholarly works available for the reader who desires true understanding. This work is certainly not to be held among them.

David Kaiser has accessed newly released documents to write an excellent book. He has chronologed the day by day decisions and opinions of the men at the upper levels of the government that led America into the Vietnam War. We see how Eisenhower's men wanted to commit troops to stop the expansion of communism in Southeast Asia, especially in Laos. Then we see how Kennedy's people continued these policies, while Kennedy reigned them in and wanted to move more carefully.
Kaiser shows us the different agendas. How Diem did not want to use his troops against the Viet Cong, but rather to keep him in power. Diem refused to give any of his military officers enough power to fight the Viet Cong for fear they would plot a coup. He only gave his officers enough force to show the governments strength, keeping Diem and his family in power.
After Kennedy was assassinated Lyndon Johnson inherited Kennedy's advisors, but did not keep a reign on them, so the government made commitments to send troops into Vietnam. Even after Diems death, the Vietnamese only wanted to continue their troops in their power plays instead of fighting the Viet Cong. McNamara and Rusk continued to lead us into war and Lyndon Johnson agreed with them. Ball continuously tried to slow the slide to commitment down, but Johnson and his advisors ignored him.
Kaiser argues that the opinions each man held depended on when he was born. He explains that some were born, and grew up during the 30s and 40s during what he calls the GI generation. Because of this they believed that the United States could achieve anything. Kaiser also points out that the arrival of World War 2 also affected their opinions. Rusk devoutly believed that we had to stop the communists in Vietnam, or there would be another World War. Johnson also held this all or nothing viewpoint. Kennedy on the other hand held a more sophisticated view, placing Vietnam behind other problems, unlike Johnson.
Kaiser shows how Johnson and his advisors refused to negotiate with North Vietnam unless North Vietnam gave us everything we asked for first. An unlikely event. Eventually Johnson and others lied about the problems to keep the commitments increasing. Johnson also tended to ignore other foreign policy problems.
Kaiser's writing usually moves easily so it is not as hard to read as it might have been, given the complexity and detail of the subject matter.

Professor David Kaiser of the Strategy and Policy Department of the Naval War College tells us the real story behind the bureaucrats who put us into Vietnam, and in doing so lives up to the highest traditions of the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps which have generally been far ahead of the other services in their resistance to bureaucratic pressures from politicians. The CIA refused to provide Kaiser with anything but token documents, violating the Freedom of Information Act. Kaiser shows how politicians including Presidents Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson grew up under the spell of Churchill's anti-appeasement speeches to believe that the USA had to become the World Policeman. When he became President, Eisenhower began U.S. involvement in Southeast Asia covertly and the Joint Chiefs of Staff except General Shoup of the Marines were badgered into accepting this. When John F. Kennedy became President, both his Senate and Navy service led him to oppose intervention for a long time, in agreement with the U.S. Senate Democrats (Mansfield, Humphrey, etc.) and isolationist Republicans (Dirksen, etc.). The State Department Bureaucrats (who controlled the CIA) and their allies in related departments and the Joint Chiefs so badgered and pressured Kennedy that he eventually collapsed under their bombardment and agreed to intervention in Laos. When Johnson came in as President, he made full scale intervention. Some readers may recall that I have reviewed biographies of Field Marshalls Montgomery and Slim of Great Britain and Marshall/General Zhukov of Russia but not Eisenhower. The Allies produced 4 creative geniuses in World WarII: Montgomery, Slim, Zhukov, and Admiral Nimitz. Eisenhower was not one of them. He was then and later more suited to bureaucratic Ingenious Follower status than to individual Creative Genius status, like Lyndon Johnson. Our British and French allies opposed the intervention (Churchill would probably have opposed it too) not because of De Gaulle's *intransigence* as the news media claimed, but because they are the two nations with the most creative geniuses (along with Italy) in world history. When all is said and done, World War II was needed to defend the USA, but most wars are not and were not (like World War I, which was a bureaucratic war and nothing more). I hope that we start thinking more about jobs and education and environment at home and less about creating overseas what we cannot do at home.

This book was the best book I've read on spiritual abuse issues. It covers all areas: from being spiritually abused, why things go wrong in the churches today, how to recognize an abusive system, to recovering and returning to a right relationship with God, one of faith, hope, love, and grace. These are the things that build a relationship, and create change in our lives. It's not about rules, regulations, being obedient to leaders, and having people tell you their perception and belief of God's will for your life. That's why God gave us His Word, and we are to grow in a relationship with Him. He will do the work in us , we could not do ourselves. This book was the key to helping our family get our lives back together after having experienced abuse in a church. It not only validated us, but it is packed full of scriptures to search the truth out for yourself, to really look at what the Bible is saying, to whom, why, and to see Jesus's true character, and heart of God's Word. What a blessing! I noticed a person was sort of negative in their response to this book, and spoke of how we are to submit to leaders, etc. The Bible tells us to submit to leaders who speak the truth, who operate in the "fruits of the spirit," and who love (both saints and sinners alike). How can we get to the lost, and get them saved if we are to self-righteous to reach out to them, and love them enough to meet them where they are. Self-righteousness sends people away from God, not toward him. Legalism is based on getting right with God, not how to have a relationship with Him. Even though we were spiritually abused, I don't like to hear messages that "tickle my ears" either, but the deliverance of the message, and the heart of the person sending the message must line up with God's Word, and have a character as Jesus did. God gave us feelings and emotions too, it's not always our sinful flesh. We need God to help us discern between the two. I thank God for this book, pray that God will continue to bless their work because a lot of people without resources like this may otherwise walk away from the Lord, after having experienced such a tramatic experience as spiritual abuse. The book is full of insight, not only of abuse issues, but what's gone wrong in churches today. The only thing that the church can really offer anyone that the world can't is "God's love and grace." As Christians, that's our responsibility! That's what will change people, the world, and cause us to love God and want to serve Him.

It's right on target. I've seen all of the signs of spiritual abuse in several churches I've attended, and I'm in a church now where the signs do not exist among the leadership (and it's easy to dodge the self-righteous members who do practice any of the bad signs... no church is perfect). The difference between churches that use manipulation and those that practice grace is like night and day.

The key to preventing spiritual abuse is balance. God has placed boundaries around ministers and laypeople alike which should not be crossed. When the "leaders" run roughshod over the church members' boundaries while misusing Scripture to protect themselves from legitimate criticism, something is wrong. Pastors cannot claim authority reserved solely for God or expect to control people in ways that only the Holy Spirit can do. God has rules for leaders to obey, and ways for laymen to confront leaders about sin.

I have to disagree very strongly with those who say that this book is anti-leadership or that this book causes problems in churches.

One of the examples used in the book is about a pastor whose congregation expected too much of him. Yes, some churches do place burdens on pastors that are too hard to bear; so this book is for wounded ministers as much as for wounded laypeople. Yes, we're guilty of expecting our pastors do do everything when God really gives ministries to every believer.

Van Vonderen and Johnson warn people who read the book not to use what they have learned as a weapon, but to take action only in the proper spirit. Of course, any time someone takes action in a church, real problems will become visible. My question in every case is: are those problems caused by those speaking out, or have they been there all along and are only now being exposed? People just causing trouble need correction or should be encouraged to move on. People exposing existing problems should be heard out, and solutions to benefit the entire church must be sought. Sweeping exposed problems under the rug is not an option.

This book isn't written for rabble-rousers or disgruntled church members or anyone else of that sort. It is for Christians who have been wounded by the church and who need God's healing. It is fair, it is doctrinally solid, and it gives effective counsel. There is something beneficial for everyone... leader, wounded Christian, or loved ones of people in either group.

I wanted to write a rebuttle to a review below, from Bjorn Candle, as well as a short review. I feel bad for the poster below who said her church was torn apart. I feel though that she has not read the book. The authors do not advocate destroying ministries, gossiping, slandering, talking behind people's backs..etc. In fact, it is against those things they are speaking. You are encouraged to speak the truth, not gossip behind closed doors. Either the readers of the book felt abused and went off in anger, or the church was incorrect in it's teachings and needed to end. Unfortunately, as this book points out, many times in a spiritually abusive situation, the real problems are not adressed and those who point out a problem are labelled the "problem" or troublemakers. I don't know what really happened in her church, but I would urge her to read the book before writing a review.

I've been abused in several different church settings. Many of the things this book points out have happened to me. This book was freeing. I do not feel compelled to go back and confront anyone in old church systems. I just feel like I now know who I am in Jesus and I can move forward in His freedom, not in the bondage of works and appearance.