I have used previous editions of this book in my college freshman composition courses. It does what very few composition texts or readers have ever done: the editors recognize that writing (and reading, of course) does not occur in isolation, but within the context of our own and our students' lives. Particularly, it aids students to think about their own writing in light of the cultural, psychological, and political issues of language, literacy, argumentation, and mass media. They include much about minority and non-Western cultures, plus articles and essays from both the present and the past. If you want to enhance your own or your students' understanding of the complex and exciting world of language, this is the book for you.

This book does not focus on one topic, rather on many subjects within the wide category of language. It has eight topics. The first section of this book focuses on Language and Its Study, however, as the book goes on, it focuses more closely on how language is throughout the world. It keys in on specifics such as, why girls talk the way they do and why boys talk the way they do. Other areas of interest I found in this book were the process of sign language and how children learn the words they speak. I thought that talking about the roots of language would be quite uninteresting, so I chose this book because it applied the language to everyday activities and natural occurrences that can happen all around the world since we are such a diverse society.
Overall, I would recommend this book because you are able to pick whatever section out of the book you want to read, not just obtaining the background information on our language but also how we use it in today's world. For a project I had to do in school, I focused on how children develop their words and sentence structures. I added information to my before knowledge of how children learned.
In conclusion, I found that human language is extremely complicated and has many unique characteristics.

This short book is a good introductory critique on the New Perspective view of Paul (Sanders, Dunn, Stendahl, et al). The book is short and uncomplicated so that the average layperson can understand what the New Perspective teaches and what the criticisms are against it. Stuhlmacher is a German moderate evangelical and generally holds to the traditional Protestant understanding of justification. However, I do have some reservations on some of Stuhlmacher's views. On page 62, he states that the "distinction between 'imputed' righteousness...and 'effective' righteousness...cannot be maintained by Paul. Both belong together for the apostle." Thus, Stuhlmacher is blurring (I assume unintentionally) the line between Trent and traditional Protestantism on justification. Also, he takes the "re-creational" view of justification (p. 73). However, he does maintain that the Final Judgment for Christians "will determine not their salvation or damnation but only their position in the kingdom of God and of his Christ" (p. 69). Thus, he separates himself from those who promote a nomistic "Gospel" that is being preached popularly within "evangelical" circles today. Finally, Donald Hagner's contributory essay (chapter 4) is a must read. Hagner examines the New Perspective and sees whether it has Biblical foundations (which it does not). Overall, a good book critiquing a movement that has influenced a significant section of Christianity today.

I use this book to teach a beginning writing class. The variety of essays is quite good; not every one is a winner, but probably 60% are accessible and there are some rarities here that the students have thoroughly enjoyed, including "Dumpster Diving" by Lars Eighner and "A Crime of Compassion" by Barbara Huttmann. There are enough writers the likes of Dillard, MLK, Ackerman, and Orwell to acquaint novices with great writing, balanced with a good variety of more pop-oriented magazine style pieces. The strategies and guidelines for essays are excellent, and a wealth of possible topics for further development is offered throughout. My class prep time is easy and concise thanks to the book's structure and execution.

The great English filmmaker has been the subject of numerous wonderful books through the years--volumes by Spoto, Durgnat, the great interview book by Truffaut. This tiny, modest work--more like a little promotional folder you might find at a film tribute on the "for free" table--certainly does not deserve to be placed among those earlier creditable efforts. With little to say on the subject and a painful prose style with which to say it, this book is reminiscent of a collegiate fanzine. The publisher claims it has aimed the book at the "MTV Generation" by which I get the impression they mean readers having the attention span of three minutes--Beavis goes to the movies?-- which is just a little less than this short book takes to absorb. The book's value, if any, is for someone wanting a convenient little listing of Hitch's works for crosschecking their video collection perhaps. I will close by saying something positive about the book--at under 5 dollars it is certainly the cheapest book on Hitchcock.

I do some writing and lecturing on film and find this book to be an ideal reference source. There are succinct and to-the-point plots, subtext and 'making of' sections for each of Hitch's 50 odd films. It's author Paul Duncan has fitted it all in considering the size of the book, and at this price you can't go wrong! The author has also peppered the text with his own opinions and has the nerve to rate the films - quite accurately pointing out that Hitchcock made bad films as well as good ones. I can see how this irreverent attitude to Hitchcock could get up the noses of some academics, but I found it refreshing. His opinions, I find, are also good starting points for discussions about Hitchcock. At the back, there is a reference section where Paul Duncan gives his opinion about other reference books - something I have not seen done elsewhere.

I read his posts on Black Planet and Mi Gente everyday. He is a self serving person who is allways promoting his books. He constantly posts pseudo-history, but then fails to back it up under challenge. He refers to whites as crackers and claims native americans don't have claims in the Americas because Blacks have prior claims. For this reason I allready know this book will be an extreme case of Afrocentrism, and of no historical educational value. Sadly, he might be mentioning some truths, but he mixes it so much with fantasy, that the truth becomes suspect too.

I read his posts on Black Planet and Mi Gente everyday. He is a self serving person who is allways promoting his books. He constantly posts pseudo-history, but then fails to back it up under challenge. He refers to whites as crackers and claims native americans don't have claims in the Americas because Blacks have prior claims. For this reason I allready know this book will be an extreme case of Afrocentrism, and of no historical educational value. Sadly, he might be mentioning some truths, but he mixes it so much with fantasy, that the truth becomes suspect too.

the info was important however the spelling and grammar takes away from the importance and seriousness of the book.

I don't disagree that there were Africans in Central/South America in the distant past and may have, in fact, been the earliest inhabitants of South America. Recently, it was proven that offshoots of the Aborigines of Australia (who had migrated from Africa earlier) made it to South America and lived there for thousands of years. This was proven by real archeological evidence, not wild theories. The ancestors of the Native Americans came and drove them out later in the waning stages of the Ice Age. Later interbreeding erased most of their physical characteristics, but their descendants have been identified in the far southern tip of the continent. They have native american features, but their bone structures do not correspond to other native americans, they correspond back to their Aboriginal ancestors.

The Olmec carvings are also a clue that there might have been other Africans in South America, but there isn't currently an accepted explanation of these carvings.

But...the suppositions put forth by this author are totally over the top. The theory that Africans actually ruled the Shang Dynasty in China is particularly amusing. This is what is known as Pseudo-Science. It should be ranked right up there with Chariots of the Gods.

I read his posts on Black Planet and Mi Gente everyday. He is a self serving person who is allways promoting his books. He constantly posts pseudo-history, but then fails to back it up under challenge. He refers to whites as crackers and claims native americans don't have claims in the Americas because Blacks have prior claims. For this reason I allready know this book will be an extreme case of Afrocentrism, and of no historical educational value. Sadly, he might be mentioning some truths, but he mixes it so much with fantasy, that the truth becomes suspect too.

FINALLY, THE BOOKS THAT PRESENTS THE HISTORY OF THE FORGOTTEN AND HIDDEN BLACK AFRICAN-AMERICAN CIVILIZATIONS OF AMERICA BEFORE COLUMBUSThis book has sent shockwaves around the world. It has been written about in hundreds of journals, newspapers, magazines and books. The book History of the African-Olmecs is a must-have particularly for African-Americans in the U.S. and Blacks in other parts of the Americas as well as West Africa. The reason for having this book and passing it down to future generations is because it reveals a history of Black America that was and still is deliberately hidden as part of a great mistake made during the 1400's. That mistake was the belief that "descendants of Ham," found in the "New Lands," were to be enslaved. The first Blacks to be enslaved in the Americas were Africans who had lived in parts of the Caribbean and South America for thousands of years. Their enslavement was sunctioned by the Church and was preplanned during the mid 1400's. Another little known fact is that some of the first slaves were also American Indians and they were shipped to West Africa's Portugese plantations as well as to parts of the Caribbean.THE GREAT ANCESTORS OF AFRICAN-AMERICANSThe Olmecs are the highlight of this book, although many other civilizations and nations are discussed. The book takes a thorough look at who the Olmecs were and presents Olmec civilization as coming from West Africa, Egypt and Nubia as early as 3000 years Before Christ. In fact, the book sees a very ancient cultural connection between these areas and the transfer of people and technology to the Americas from Africa and the building of a relationship with the American Indians of Mexico. The African-Olmecs belonged to the Mende linguistic group of West Africans and were known as the "Xi" (Shee) People. The book also presents Olmec culture and its facinating and great similarities with West African, Nubian and Egyptian civilizations. In fact, the chapter dealing with religions presents with one of the most compelling pieces of evidence. That evidence is the describing of religious artifacts being held by the statuette of an Oni or Priest-King in West Africa (Nigeria) in ancient times and the same identical artifacts found held by a statue from the San Agustin Culture of Columbia as well an Olmec statuette found in Mexico. How could these artefacts, used for religious practice be held in the same way unless they were created by the same people, who practiced the same religion. That religion was thunder worship, according to the book. The religion still practiced by those who practice the Yoruba religions in Nigeria, Cuba, Brazil, the Southern U.S., Shango in Trinidad and Tobago, and elsewhere. In fact, the finding of many axes in Olmec sites as well as figurines of small children very closely connects with African religious practices. The chapter on this connection is one that must be read and understood, for even today, the Yoruba religion is one of the most important religions on earth.One gets goosebumps when this type of very important information is presented with a large variety of references. The book also examines some of the very ancient peoples whose remnants existed in the U.S. before the Westward expansion. According to the text, Lewis and Clark met some Black Nation in the Mississippi Region before it was sold at three cents an acre to the U.S. by the French, who were leasing lands belonging to the Black Washitaw Nation, the ancient, tall Black "giants" of African originsmentioned by the Indians. The Washitaw (Ouchita) or Washo still live in the Louisiana area to this day.The books also mentions the naturalist Rafinesque and his list of many Black nations he encountered in the West. The Yamassee of Florida are mentioned in the book, "A History of the African-Olmecs." The wars fought by the Yamassee against both American Indian and European slave raiders in the Carolinas is discussed. This will be shocking evidence to many African-Americans, who are not aware that there was a very large Black population of free Africans who had existed and built culture in the South for thousands of years. Yet, due to the Pontifax of the mid 1400's the European powers did not recognize them as nothing but eligible for enslavemtnt. The plight of the Black Californians is mentioned in this book. These are people of African origins who existed in California long before the Spaniards or some of the American Indians. They were targeted for enslavement, according to the book and those who enslaved them were the Californios and other Spanish ranchers. Yet, their fought a long war with Spain, Mexico and the U.S. until the mid 1800's.These pre-Columbian African peoples existed all over the region of North America, Central and South America as well as the Caribbean, as the book reveals.The book, "A History of the African-Olmecs," discusses the great prehistoric trade routes that led to the African establishment of centers of culture from West Africa and the then fertile Sahara to the Americas and from Egypt, Nubia, Ethiopia, East Africa to China in prehistoric times. The books also examines the ancient Chinese dynasty of Africoids and Black Oceanic Negroids, called the Shang Dynasty. Their connection with Olmec Mexico is also discussed in this great book. In fact, the Black Olmecs who originated in West Africa were called the "Xi" (Shi) and one Chinese Dynasty that had a significant Black presence in China was called the "Xia," (Shia) In the book, the connection is also made between the prehistoric African connection with ancient China, the great Black dynasties and the presence of Blacks in China, and the calamity that led to the migrations of a combination of Blacks and Mongoloids from China to Mexico after the fall of the Shang Dyasty. Researchers such as Sitchin, points out that the Olmecs established the first calendar directly from an ancient Egyptian type about 3113 B.C. and that by that period, they were already in the process of building culture in Mexico.A History of the African-Olmecs will bring about enlightenment to those who have had a cloud in their path. It will open the eyes of those who always felt that something was missing and that the truth had been kept hidden. It will show that some of the very people who were brought to the Americas as slaves, their relatives had been established in the Americas for thousands of years. In the case of African-Americans, Africans in the rest of the Americas, Africans on the Continent and Africoids in the Indian Ocean/Pacific region, the book "A History of the African-Olmecs," will show that they much historical amnesia exists but now, the truth can be regained. The book, "A History of the African-Olmecs," is surely one of the greatest books of the last fifty years. Any book that uplifts and inspires as well as reveals what has been a long hidden and lost chapter of the history of a people deserves to be classified as among the greatest pieces of literature.John Shakespere

The contents of the book could be summarized rather short: if those nazis had listened to me, we could have won the war. no feelings of remorse, no political responsibilty. general Deichmann appears to be one of those military leaders that made the tragedy of ww2 possible.

One must have caution when reading an Alfred Price book. Some of them are great, some of them are junkie. This one here belongs to the second category!

After the Second World War German military personnel were interrogated by Americans about their experiences on the Eastern Front. The reasons for this was to provide intelligence for a possible war against Russia. These studies must have recently been made public as there are a number of them released in book form.

The author of this book or more correctly the author of a series of documents in 1953 which were made into a book is a former Luftwaffe Lieutenant General.

The book is a rather dry discussion of a number of aspects of using aircraft in support of an army. Most of the book is devoted to talking about reconnaissance planes and is rather dry. The rest of the book looks at the use of aircraft for the direct support of army operations. The author indicates a number of things about the tactics of the Luftwaffe in the war. He indicates that the biggest success of the German Air force in the war was the use of planes to prevent movement of troops to and away from the battlefield. The use of places to attack infantry positions in general was not as successful and he is critical of the use of larger aircraft in this role. The editor of the book in fact makes an interesting point about allied operations in Western Europe after the Normandy invasion. By that time the allies had complete control of the skies and "tank killer" aircraft roamed far and wide. It seems that although during the war claims were made that vast numbers of German tanks were destroyed by aircraft the reality is that very few were. This strengthens the authors view that the main role of aircraft was to prevent the supply of troops and their movement.

Towards the end of the book the author bemoans the fact that Germany created an air force that was designed to support its army. In Britain and the United States a strategic air forces of heavy bombers was created with the role of destroying the productive capability of the enemy. The author argues that to destroy a factory will destroy far more tanks than can be done by an equivalent use of force on the battlefield. This view was something which was echoed by other Luftwaffe generals including Galland. The reality is however that the Germans had created a strategic air force they would not have defeated France in 1940

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