Until recently, this book was a staple of basic military justice at the U.S. Naval Academy. Unfortunately, in the years since it was written, several aspects of military justice have changed dramatically. New cases in search and seizure and self-incrimination; fascinating developments in the laws of armed conflict; and the natural procedural "creep" of jurisprudence have all conspired to limit the usefulness of this otherwise well-written text.

Despite the above criticism, Mr. Filbert's book is still heads and tails above the texts currently used at the other service academies. Likewise, its utility as a basic outline of military justice to the novice reader should not be over looked.

I have heard that a new edition is in the works. I am hopeful that it will correct the deficiencies of the third edition.

I bought Filbert and Kaufman's book for my collection of military law books. One of my areas of practice is military law. Yes, like all volumes, the march of time means that you must update your information, but that is true of any area of law. Still, most of the book remains accurate and presents a coherent and readable summary of military law and U.S.Naval Justice law in particular. The international and law of war sections are excellent. I admit to stealing liberally from them for oral briefings with troops. Any commanding officer having this book on his or her shelf has access to an excellent summary. It is a springboard for additional learning. Recommended.

Naval Law is a thorough overview of the fascinating legal specialty known as military justice. As a law student interested in the JAG Corps, I have not found a more comprehensive description of the subject matter practiced by military lawyers. From courts-martial to non-judicial punishment, the reader will quickly recognize how justice and discipline compete in what the United States Supreme Court has called a specialized society, namely the United States military services. -- Jim Sanzi, Boston College Law Student

This book was both fascinating and repellant. It gave me a window into a very male world, and made me ever more grateful that I was born female. Kaufman comes across as unlikable, whiny, arrogant, violent, unstable, rude, and very self-centered. It is of course this focus on himself that made this brutal self-revelation possible; most people would be far too embarrassed to reveal so much about themselves. I found myself wondering how anyone could really be this disgusting and end up a productive, creative, and respected poet--as he has. Obviously, there was more to his life than this memoir tells us. But Kaufman has chosen to skip over the "normal" parts of his life and has given us those which make us think, "I sure don't like this person." Perhaps he is challenging the reader to separate his work from his person (which is pretty interesting, considering he castigates those who do that with anti-Semites Ezra Pound and Ernest Hemingway). And boy, can he write! His description of playing football, for example, was remarkable poetry-capturing the intensity, the violence, the absurdity, and the fascination of a quintessentially male experience.

I really enjoyed reading the book. It is a wonderful story, that reads like a novel rather than a memoir. I work today in the same neighborhood were the author spent his childhood, it is amazing to realize how much it changed, but you see also the same ethnic conflicts, and the struggle of different immigrant groups to set a foothold in their new country. I highly recommend the book, it illustrates the journey of a young man to find a path for his life, which he finally finds it in the written word.

I applaud Mr Kaufman for having the courage to expose the paranoia, racial distrust and cultural instability associated with Post Holocaust Judaism. My own childhood was similar. Though my parents were never in any concentration camp, they ascribed to a similar type of cultural victimology and I was compelled to be a good example for "my people". I empathize with his bewilderment and fear at doing anything which might rekindle his mother's sense of insecurity and marvel at how he managed to extricate himself from such a traumatic background and restructure his life without guilt. I congratulate the author for having finally escaped a self destructive cycle.

I am sorry but this is not the type of book I expected to find when I bought it (I could not see the contents previously). This is not a book about the Essentials of Behavioral Assessment, this is a book talking about some questionnaires for children. Very frustrating! I suggest the authors or publisher to change urgently the title of the book. I think it is not fair calling this book "Essentials of Behavioral Assessment"!