I found many of the stories enjoyable but the author tends to inject his own life into too much of the work which is distracting. The book would be better served by a cursory introduction followed by the many wonderful stories of everyday people (stories that I find much more enjoyable than any Hollywood could produce). Instead the author wraps his own life into many of the stories which creates more of a story about him instead of about the people. It would be better to get this book from the Library and try to skip over the self-promotion.

I have been a fan of David Johnson's newspaper columns for more than 20 years, but I always viewed them as isolated stories. By collecting them in a book -- and tying them together with his own life story -- Johnson shows them as part of a larger narrative. The setting is northern Idaho but the themes -- love, family, hardship, compassion and success -- are universal.

I read this book in just two days! It's enjoyable to read with plenty of light humor, but it also touches on deeper issues like love, family, faith, and personal loss. The author relates the lives of the people he interviews with his own life, and he shows that seemingly 'ordinary' people have something important to share with others. This book gave me a new appreciation for the people I come into contact with everyday.

Actually.....nil stars.

Only buy it if you are the sort of person who buys timeshare, the Eiffel Tower, etc...

For those who are unaware, the "MacCathy Mor" discussed in the book was really an imposter.

The reality of an indigenous Irish nobility is not much understood or accepted inside Ireland itself, much less in the rest of the world. As the victors write the history, too much Irish history has omitted any reference to the fact that Ireland had its own kings and nobles well before the Norman-English intruded on the scene. To this day the claims of persons such as the MacCarthy Mor to royal status are met with skepticism; relevant to this book, one individual expressed this skepticism so openly as to warrent a suit before the Italian courts. This lawsuit offered the MacCarthy Mor to present to a court of experts his credentials as Head of the Royal House of Munster, as Chief of his Name, and as rightful bearer of the coat of arms of the MacCarthy Mor. The Court carefully reviews and expounds on the evidence presented, and the ruling presents in detail the Court's rationale for fully supporting the MacCarthy Mor's claims. This book is a must read for any student of Irish history, modern aristocracy, chivalry, or heraldry. A word of warning, though: this is a legal document, and it reads like one -- don't expect light reading, but do expect to be educated!

If you thought that the Gaelic Nobility died out in 1601, or even 1691, this book is for you. This book documents the present situation of one of the Royal lines of Ireland. It documents the present views of two European powers towards the rights and prerogatives of the current representative of the Royal Eoghanacht Dynasty. This Royal line ruled over the southwest quarter of Ireland for more than a thousand years. The last regnant King was Donal IX, King of Desmond, who died in 1596.

Yet the dynasty, with it's rights and priveleges, survives! Contained in the book are the transcripts of two Italian Court rulings, a translation of a Certification from the Kingdom of Spain, and copies of various supporting documents that were made available for the Italian and Spanish authorities. This book will be of special interest to those who study the Gaelic history of Ireland, and those who claim descent from the MacCarthy family.

I am a sophomore in highschool taking an AP class with this book. It has a lot of information, which I guess is a good thing if you are reading this for your own personal gain rather than being tested on it. However, it is so dense that it is difficult to pick up key ideas. Every piece of information is important on some level, and the tests I take, which my teacher got along with this book, also treat every fact as important. I wouldn't mind reading this book if I wasn't expected to have a photographic memory but it just doesn't do a good job of helping me understand key ideas in history. Well, if you have to read this in your history class I hope you have a good teacher to guide you along in the reading. Otherwise.... I hope your memory is better than mine!!

Excellent book for senior high school-college-undergraduate studies, covering the broad field of world history. The text is structured in such a manner as to suit both brief studies of various areas and times, as well as more in depth, long term programs. A fascinating assortment of primary source excerpts have been included, from earliest human societies to issues facing humanity in the contemporary period. Though the text has a slight Western emphasis, it covers non-Western civilisations quite well.

Be prepared though for extensive reading. The complete set is very large, but shouldn't be an obstacle for those with a passion for both general and obscure history!

Very condensed with regards to what is needed to pass. You will need additional materials beyond what this book has to offer, just to get a better overview of the material. All the material is here but an overview will help digest the condensed format of this CramExam. This book will compliment any good reference materials related to the 632 exam. Good luck! Herb

I read the David Clarke book, then read this book and then made a 90 on the test. I really feel that the Exam Cram book was more geared towards the actual test. The Clarke book provides a lot of background and very useful, but not necessarily test related information. I highly recommend both books for this particular test.

When I started training in Family practice I searched for a large reference book to study from. I choose this text because it was written so well. The Language is direct, the explanations are clear and the advice is well founded. Now that I am in training the book is not as helpful as I hoped. Most of the time I find the treatment on any given topic too shallow for what I have to learn. I belive this is the result of a compromise between size and completness. I now wish I had saved my money and bought three textbooks - Harrison, Williams and Nelson as opposed to trying to find one book to cover all of internal medicine, obstetrics, and pediatrics.

This book is designed in a practical and understandable approach to family practice. It is an excellent text and a comprehensive reference especially useful for a nurse practitioner/graduate student in family practice. Not only does it provide treatment and management of common medical conditions but also includes psychosocial aspects of caring for clients and their families.

David Johnson has captured, both here and with his other volume, The French Cavalry 1792-1815, the spirit of the French cavalryman of the Napoleonic era.

This is a lively tale, anecdotal, and full of the sweep and grandeur of the period, but not always thoroughly accurate.

It is a great read and can be done, unfortunately, in one sitting. I would have like it to be somewhat longer and better researched. There is a plethora of good references, but once some have been put on paper, the authenticity just sometimes isn't what it should be.

The author reminds me of R.F Delderfield in his enthusiasm for the period and the subject matter, and in his method of writing, which is excellent.

The personalities covered are sometimes those which don't get the coverage they actually deserve. My favorite part of the book was the story of Marulaz after the wars and his run in with a Royalist of dubious ceracity. The old cavalryman's solution to the problem was Homeric.

The author has caught the temper of the times and the attitude of the cavalrymen and those hard-riding horsemen who 'stabled their horses in every capitol of continental Europe.'

This book is highly recommended, warts and all, and will have a treasured place on your bookshelf as it does on mine.

An excellent overview of napoleons cavalry and its leaders as the title states. Well written, some interesting insights, personal anecdotes and fluid writing style makes this a cut well above average. I held back one star from this five star work as the subject could certainly have been 4 to 500 pages given the wealth of the subject.

The book does a so-so job of detailing President Johnson's War on Poverty, especially in regards to administration and how little rhetoric matched reality. Not anything special or great, but a decent history on the topic in everyday language, not scholarly prose.

David Zarefsky's book offers readers an opportunity to examine the connection between speeches and their rhetorical situations. Through his insightful and clear prose, Zarefsky traces not just the events that Johnson grappled with during his five years as president, but how those events were shaped by Johnson's own words.

Johnson, in securing short-term advantages with his earlier speeches, ends up weakening his future rhetorical possibilities. By declaring "war" on poverty and mustering executive clout behind broad visions, with little regard to specific detail and possibility, Johnson's early speeches sets the policy bar too high and consequently makes the liklihood of success too low. As a result, later speeches are delivered in an atmoshere marred by failure and retreat--forcing Johnson's words and policy into an empty advance, and ultimatly leads to bitter defeat. Far from just your average "Guns vs. Butter" thesis, Zarefsky makes bold and trenchant claims admirably buttressed with salient detail and scholarly dignity. Zarefsky's book makes a noble companion-work to other books in the ever-enlarging Johnson canon--easily surpassing the more anecedotal account of Califano and the spuriously supported Beschloss dime-store volumes.

Always well regared in academic circles, Zarefsky's book earns him a rightful place in the Pantheon of popular Presidential Scholars, right alongside Schlessinger, White, and Wicker. It would behoove all to make room on their bookeshelves and in their minds for this apropos work, which reminds us, in these days of heigtened hostility and rhetoric, how very vital words are in shaping reality and society. Hats off DZ!

In recent years there has been an extended debate about Enlightenment thought. Though many scholars have concluded that there were several "Enlightenments," some continue to make generalizations about the Enlightenment and some speak about "the Enlightenment agenda." After discussing the cult of the deathbed scene in eighteenth?century Britain and France, the author looks at three currents of Enlightenment thought implicit in the deathbed "projects" of David Hume, Samuel Johnson, and Jean Paul Marat. Although Hume and Johnson hold profoundly different views of religion, their political thinking has much in common. Their reformist thought differs radically from what might be called the transformist thought of Marat, who hoped the French would become disinterested citizens whose civil religion was patriotism.
The book also looks at the response of James Boswell, Edmund Burke, Adam Smith, and Edward Gibbon to the deathbed projects of Hume and Johnson, and it discusses how their political thought differs from Johnson's and Hume's. It also considers the complex relations between reformist and transformist thought in Britain during the last three decades of the century, showing how the views of the two reformist groups and of such transformist writers as Richard Price, Joseph Priestley, and Thomas Paine were affected by a number of political events, from the Wilkes crisis to the French Revolution. Though the book focuses on AngloScottish Enlightenment thought, it often refers to the French Enlightenment, and the chapter on Marat looks at the connection between transformist thought in Britain and France.
The author argues that Enlightenment thought was more varied and?in its reformist currents?less hostile to tradition than many observers have allowed. Enlightenment thought was less a cluster of ideas than a debate about a number of questions, especially the following: how to contain religious and secular fanaticism (or what was called enthusiasm); what are the effects of luxury; and what is the nature of the passions. There was, as J. G. A. Pocock says, "a family of Enlightenments," and "there is room for the recognition of family quarrels..."
Why look at deathbed scenes to chart the currents of Enlightenment thought? Because an interest in deathbed scenes was widespread in eighteenth?century Britain and France. The final days of Hume stirred up a controversy that lasted for at least a decade and the final days of Johnson also attracted a great deal of attention, but Marat's death had the greatest impact of the three. His assassination gave impetus to the Jacobins' attempt to eliminate the influence of the church and greatly expand the influence of the state. Marat's project to transform France failed, but so did the projects of Hume and Johnson. Hume argued that religious belief was based on the foolish fear of death, yet religion remained a strong force in Britain. Johnson hoped for a return to God-fearing religion, yet the educated classes continued to prefer a more benign brand of Christianity in which God's benevolence was stressed far more than his judgment.

Though The Title is a bit stodgy, the read is excellent. It is filled with precise history ,concise observation, and thoughtful analysis.The subject of the "heroic" deathbed scene,on canvas,on stage,in poetry and literature is both enthralling and thought provoking. The treatment of the Age of Enlightenment, when viewed through the prism of the deaths/ deathbed scenes of Hume , Johnson and Marat, is wonderful. Brain Candy!

I have used exam cram books for all the exams I have done (7 so far) and this book was the worst one. I was very impressed with the others but this one is too shallow and misses out too much information. When I did practise tests there was a lot of stuff I had not come across in this book.

Am afraid I can't recommend another book as this was the only one I used. Even though this was not the best book I have used I still passed the exam having never commercially used IEAK.

Just passed 70-79 this morning with an 812 (not the highest but a pass is a pass!). Used this book, Cram Session, and the IEAK Deployment Guide. While the book covers ISP and does explain things adequately, the deployment guide is almost everything you need to prepare for the test. Don't bother with the Transcenders if you have to pay for them, as the Deployment Guide and Cram Session should be enough. There were no surprises on the test.

...the simple fact of the matter is that this exam also happens to be one of the most pedantic of Microsoft's MCSE+Internet exams, truly reaching the level of academic exercise. As per the official exam requirements sheet, the sheer amount of material to memorize in the form of menu-locations, the number of applets, the Active Desktop architecture, the IEAK, .CDF file formats and syntax, etc, is quite staggering indeed, on a par with memorizing a whole new OS which, let's face it, is what the IE+Desktop combo is for all practical purposes. The Exam Cram is certainly one of the better offerings I have seen, easily beating the pants off the MS Press IE Tech Support training guide. However, given that it is a cram-book, there is material that is glossed over, namely software distribution channels and the .CDF file architecture, which one will need to know for the exam. Other than that, a very good supplement for the pre-prime-time wrap-up and review. As far as the exam itself goes, is it a useful exam? Is there material covered from one which an administrator or networking consultant can derive utility from? Absolutely yes, no question about it. Is there some cool technology under the hood which can be utilized? Yes, indeed, again. What I am apprehensive about, however, is the amount of memorization of minutiae necessary to pass the exam vs. real-world situations. A disciplined networking professional (i.e. one who reads regularly and one who can't afford the time to memorize every specialized detail she/he comes across) can (and would) look up most of this info on (or preferably before) any gig. Given the omnipresence of simulation software today, wouldn't creating builds with IEAK given a set of specs/recs in a sim-lab on the PC, analyzing and troubleshooting it, and reducing the number of "pedantic" questions be a far better real-world assesment exam? In the meantime, stock up on the Ginkgo and Ginseng supplements and hunker down.....

Short, hateful, totally biased lacking both understanding of history and of Islam. One could just as easily make the same kind of case about any religion or ideology by ignoring perspective and fairness. Books like this increase hate and fear but certainly not truth or understanding. read Esposito's recent "Unholy Wars" instead.

This is an eye opener for those wishing to see what is going on. Well written, and to the point. Written just after the attack of 9-11. Recommended read.

David always goes right to the point..
His writing is exciting and his research profoundly deep.
Pat Leeper