This is the most comprehensive and informative state atlas I have ever reviewed. Excellent maps, great charts and clearly written text makes "The North Carolina Atlas" a book that needs to be on the shelf of every public library and in the hands of all North Carolina devotes. Over the last century North Carolina has transformed itself from a struggling southern state to one of the fastest growing economies in the U.S. "The North Carolina Atlas" provides a definitive analysis of the changes that have created this wonderful state.

History, population, urbanization, and economy are transforming forces that molded North Carolina into what it is today. Each of these sections are clearly laid out so that the reader can make a critical analysis of the change and form an assessment of the coming changes that the future may bring.

Especially interesting are the sections that deal with quality of life in North Carolina. Crime, education, health care, water and air quality, cultural arts and outdoor recreation are profiled and supported by scores of maps, charts and diagrams. This is a book I would especially want in my possession if I was considering moving my family and business to this State. Highly Recommended.

As Governor Jim Hunt says in the forward, "North Carolina is at a crossroads in its history." This "atlas" provides not only a wealth of information, but an intelligent perspective on the future of the state as it enters the 21st century.

Subjects matter includes the natural environment, history, population, urbanization, economy, agriculture, manufacturing, transportation, trade, politics, air quality, water resources, crime, health, education, arts, and recreation. I found these topics to be presented in an effective manner and certainly more enlightening than the statistical record one might imagine.

I also discovered, before I placed my order, that I was able to preview some of the book's illustrations at the UNC Charlotte Cartography Lab web site.

I would recommend this text not only to students, researchers and teachers, but anyone interested in a comprehensive and knowledgeable summary of the diverse state of North Carolina.

Reading Hutton is always interesting, as he is such a pivital individual in fencing's transition from the nineteenth to the twentieth century. "Old Sword-Play" gives us a look at fencing's early stages of develpment. For the fencer, it is good to know one's origins. As the author of "The Art and Science of Fencing," and "The Inner Game of Fencing," and the editor/publisher of FENCERS QUARTERLY MAGAZINE, I recommend this book.

It is absolutely essential that you buy this book. Maestro Martinez' introduction alone merits it, but to be able to drink in Hutton's wisdom on historical fencing... hoo boy!

Wow! I expected this to be an entertaining book, but I was not prepared for it to be so amazing. These poems are delicate and ponderous yet precise. It really reveals a light and dark side to Alfred Brendel, famous eccentric concert pianist. This is a must for any fan of Brendel, and a must also for a lover of poetry.

This book contains a selection of Brendel's poems first published in German. They are hilarious in either language, and absolutely side splitting for musical people with an off-beat sense of humor. Whether you are still wondering who really killed Mozart, what happened when Brahms bit his finger or Cristo wrapped the Three Tenors - the expert reveals it all!

Great Seller, fast shipping, good package, thanks!

I originally purchased this book for a class, yet I have found myself going back to it on many occasions. I helped me become a better writer with its many fine examples of poems and short stories. With excerpts from some of the world's well-known writers, this book provides examples of many different styles and techniques that can be valuable to any serious college student.

Taiaiake Alfred presents a thought prevoking and straight forward critique of today's aboriginal politics. Filled with understanding, insight, and challenging thoughts, he states the facts in a clear and honest manner. This book is a must read for everybody, especially those wanting a better understanding of traditional aboriginal politics and thought.

those in "position" will be wise to read this book. movements and opportunities exist 4 everyone. only with self examination of thought and language will we untangle the knots we have in our tangled minds. the writer does a wonderful job exposing some of these entanglements.

"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" is abrilliant, riveting and invaluable expose that details the CIA's involvement in drug-running. Through McCoy's analysis, one can follow the CIA's drug-running trail from right after WWII, through the French Connection in Marseilles, to the golden triangle in Laos and Burma and on into Afghanistan.

"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" reveals the purpose behind the CIA's incolvement in drugs: at least since 1954 in Guatemala, the US has been involved in massive international terrorism throughout Central America. being clandestine, the CIA needed untraceable money and brutal thugs, so the CIA turned to narco-traffickers - like Manuel Noriega (long on the CIA payroll before his demise).

"The Politics of Heroin in Southeast Asia" remains one of the more important, relevant (in light of US involvement in the euphamism called a drug war in Columbia) yet obscure books of the previous quarter-century - a book that ultimately posits the question of whether the CIA, as an instrument of state policy, reflects the values of the American populace. Fascinating reading.

This in-depth academic study researches the central role that opium plays in the economy, politics, and wars of the region. It follows the trial from the highlands of Laos, where the opium is grown and harvested by the Hmong tribespeople, to the Golden Triangle, where it is refined into heroin. Published in 1972, this was the first printed account of the USA's massive engagement in a "secret" war in Laos. It documented the use of CIA helicopters to bring Laotian opium to market in Vietnam (where, ironically, it was sold to addicted US soldiers.) This was done to finance weapons for the army of Hmong highlanders, being led by CIA "advisors", who were fighting the Laotian communists.

There was only one edition of this book; immediately after its first printing, the entire publisher was bought by the U.S. government, and all warehoused copies were destroyed. However, with a bit of luck it can still be found in used bookstores.

I have used this book and Vol 2 in my graduate and undergraduate courses. Having used a variety of texts for teaching and learning about probability and statistics in an engineering context, I would say the two volumes by Ang and Tang have no rivals. Lots and lots of good engineering type problems.

We used this text as the first half of a graduate course in engineering reliability. It presented the concepts clearly and in terms of engineering problems rather than card picking and coin flipping like many other probability and statistics texts. It also provided a thorough treatment of the mathematical basis of the sciences of probability and statistics.

The second volume is also an excellent text, though I have had trouble locating it recently. It treats the issues of reliability and decision analysis in more detail.

"At once meticulously factual and riveting, Alfred Brophy's moving account of a 1921 race riot that destroyed an economically self-reliant, vibrant African-American community clarifies why political action and enforcement of legal and human rights are indispensable prerequisites for black economic opportunity and material progress. Brophy also clarifies why Americans need to find the courage to acknowledge injustices of the recent past and contrive amends to help heal still-unresolved consequences scarring both victims and perpetrators." --Jane Jacobs

"A timely contribution to a variety of important and contentious discussions involving American history, African-American culture, and the problems encountered in attempting to right past wrongs...Brophy reminds us that deadly, cruel, racial violence is not something that only happens 'out there' in the rest of the world but is something that has also happened here in the United States on a massive scale and that just as others out there have fallen short in reckoning with their pasts, so too have Americans." --Randall Kennedy, from the Foreword

"In his timely, well documented and powerfully written book, Reconstructing the Dreamland, Professor Al Brophy vividly illustrates a chapter of America's sordid racist past by focusing on the Tulsa Race Riots of 1921. If we are to transcend the barriers to racial progress, we all must read Brophy's compelling work and use it as a seminal case in our path to avoid conflicts at all costs. Simply put, Professor Brophy's book is the best-written account of the Tulsa riots, and captures the people of Tulsa's resolve to never allow a similar travesty to occur again. Every person interested in racial justice should have this book at his or her disposal." --Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Jesse Climenko Professor of Law, Harvard Law School

Professor Brophy has performed a great public service by writing a powerful, yet concise book about one of the most deadly race riots in United States history. On May 31, 1921, whites attacked black residents of the Greenwood addition of Tulsa, Oklahoma, burning, looting, and murdering. This book is absorbing, upsetting and fair.

Professor Brophy's work is meticulously researched and heavily footnoted. In addition to investigation of the riot by in-depth research of the available legal materials that were generated by the riot, Professor Brophy has relied heavily upon the news accounts and editorials of the two largest black newspapers in Oklahoma at that time, the Black Dispatch in Oklahoma City, and the Tulsa Star in Tulsa. These two newspapers displayed stunning activism and fearlessness in criticizing the actions of whites who committed criminal acts against blacks during the riot, and at other times during that time period. It is interesting that blacks, who had been aroused by recent lynchings of blacks in Oklahoma City and Tulsa, had vowed to forcibly resist further lynching. The Tulsa Riot itself was set in motion by black concern over the arrest of a black who had been arrested for allegedly attempting to rape a white female elevator operator, and was accelerated by white violence in response.

If this murderous event had occurred today, the City of Tulsa would have been liable under civil rights laws. The city issued special deputy badges to virtually anyone who asked for it, regardless of background or qualifications. Some of these "special deputies" were undoubtedly the main criminal actors in the riot, and city law enforcement officials did little, if anything, to stop their crimes. The city's use of these unqualified whites as law enforcement officers, who burned, looted and shot black residents of Greenwood, make an excellent case for reparations for those victims of the criminal activity in Tulsa who are still living and who were affected by the riot.

This book sheds great light on a terrible event, and is highly recommended.

David W. Lee
Edmond, OK

In his other books, and especially in Process and Reality, Whitehead's prose can be so dense as to discourage all but the most determined readers. But Religion in the Making, while occasionally technical, is Whitehead at his simplest and most elegant. Reading this book, written just three years before P&R, will show people who have been exposed to "process theology" that Whitehead's own beliefs about God were really much more simple and poetic. The great Cambridge-Harvard philosopher's spirituality boils down to a single sentence in the midst of Religion in the Making: "Expression is the one fundamental sacrament."

It's good to have this work of Whitehead back in print. This is an excellent contribution to our understanding of religion. Judith Jones gives a fine introductory essay showing the metaphysical roots of Whitehead's concept of religion.

There is a certain poetic fusion connecting the five novellas found in this fine book of short stories that is like a disconnected dream you might experience upon waking. Carlos Fuentes delivers his verbal barrage and assault upon everything that has created the modern Mexican. He delves into his historical replays with witty insight, carefully ripping apart the sacred past with tongue in cheek imagery that is funny and thought provoking at once. After reading some passages you will go back and read them again for the sheer eloquence and beauty of the masterful use of language. Fuentes says things in such a way that even things that should offend you are so profound in their simplistic articulation that you have to chuckle. Fuentes delivers his message in suttle ways but with an impact that gets under your skin, enveloping and seducing you in his recreations that are colorful and walk off the pages taking you on a wonderful journey as only he can. Even tough the stories are unrelated they somehow feel like the greater part of the whole. I found all the stories to be different, completly entertaining with the exception of one. This is probably my own personal taste but I had trouble getting into "The Two Numantias," quite possibly because of my not being as familiar with the subjects. However, when Fuentes is talking about La Malinche, Cortes, Chapultepec, Cortes , the Spanish conquerors and the Aztecs, often in hyterically hyped imagery, the results are as familiar as frijoles and tortillas. Carlos Fuentes often writes in a hyper sexual mode as is evident in "Apollo and the Whores" where the sexual escapades are rated xxx but have an erotic texture that somehow make them less raw; besides his hilarious and outrageous narrative dominates and makes you laugh at the outlandsih scenarios. This book of five short stories is definitely recommended for someone not familiar with Carlos Fuentes. As one of Mexico's most brilliant and prolific writers, Fuentes demonstrates why he is one of the best Latin American writers. If you are unfamiliar with Fuentes this might be a good place to start since the stories are short and give a good indication of his writing style; if you don't like a particular novella you can always skip it. However if you do like Fuentes and want to read more than I would recommend "Christopher Unborn," "The Death of Artemio Cruz, " "The Good Conscience," or more recently the epic books "The years With Laura Diaz" or "The Buried Mirror." I'll end this review or suggestive prodding of you to read Carlos Fuentes by borrowing verse from a Fuentes scene involving two singers, one singing in Nahuatl another in Castilian."We've only come to dream, and the words flow far from the valley, into a distant sea where the silent rivers of life come to a halt. The narrative continues and the singing ends without ending: "My flowers will never end,
My songs will never end.
I raise them up,
I am only the singer......."

Something magical connects the five distinct stories which comprise 'The Orange Tree'. They read like the jumbled fragments of a beautiful, disorienting dream. Fuentes offers glimpses of remarkable events - the firey fall of the Aztecs, the sexual death of a fading film star, a Roman siege - and makes their ugliness beautiful. All the while, he weaves a delicate web of connective tissue, turning 'The Orange Tree' into a remarkably cohesive tapestry of Latin American history and culture. Surreal, haunting and elegant, this book reads like a vision.

The Orange Tree is a book of unusual beauty. Fuentes, once again playing the historian, presents a reiteration of Latin American history which is utterly convincing as a piece of pure mythology. This perhaps lies in Fuentes' uncanny ability to assign either perfect charm or horrifying ugliness to so much of what he describes: the spectacular fall of the Aztec Empire; the complex seige of a Spanish city by the Romans; the dreamlike arrival of Columbus to a ambivilant paradise.

The five novellas of The Orange Tree offer the reader voices which seem to speak from beyond life and history. We are presented tales of death and suffering in a context so huge, so ambitious, that Fuentes has destroyed the barriers of history and constructed a reality all his own. The lavishness of his vision is hypnotic.

Read this book with abandon; allow its mythology to consume you.