This book should still be in print. Consider yourselves lucky if you own a copy. Keep it for posterity! My wife picked up a copy for $1.50 at a thrift shop - she had no idea of its worth, neither did I until I read it! One man's trash is another's treasure. I treasure it.

Graham states in the preface "...I have attempted to portray something else which does not depend on the latest decisions of the United States Supreme Court ...the endeavors of the Framers, a set of timeless principles ..." Graham meets his objective, and more.

To meet his objective he goes as far back in history as the Magna Carta, he includes real cases that resulted in the formulation of English common law and Blackstone's commentary on it, he includes much of Virginia's pre-Convention Constitution and brings us to the period of the Constitutional Convention. Then he explains, in detail, every issue faced by the Framers. How those issues were resolved by background understanding, rhetoric, compromise and, often, consensus. He explains the struggles faced over "the awful question" - including (speculating over?) what "might have been" had certain people, places, and things not intervened. He explains the post formulation period in terms of events up to and through the awful Civil War and finally the Reconstruction.

Concerning the title of the book, Graham has the founders understanding of "confederacy" - he states it well. It is sans the emotional connotation some place on that term today.

Graham, as he admits, "stands a defender of the South in the American Civil War, doing so as a son of Minnesota, because, after a careful study of this whole problem, I must concede that John Calhoun and Alexander Stephens better understood the design of the Philadelphia Convention than Andrew Jackson and Abraham Lincoln". As he claims Graham made a careful study. As a defender he is not in anyway defending slavery, he adamantly opposes it, then and now. He merely defends the South based on their right to secede. Whether he intended to or not he also wards off attacks of the righteous (my term not his and I am a son of Iowa, the North) as he points out how slavery would soon have ended without the calamity, including 600,000 lives, of the Civil War.

The book's only drawback, as far as I was concerned, was due to my own lack of a classical education - I have no understanding of the Latin. So Latin judicial terms used frequently throughout were both an annoyance and a reminder of my lack of that education.

I am fortunate to have a copy of this great book. Graham instilled in me a further understanding, and a concomitant increase in my admiration, of those who participated in the formation of our Constitution - both pro and con - and some members of Congress, both North and South, in the periods up to the Civil War and subsequent Reconstruction. He also convinced me of, what I can only call, the evil intentions of others, most notably Stanton. And he neither worships nor despises Abraham Lincoln - he merely points out "the good and the bad" as those terms relate to the Constitution. Graham is not a "debunker"!

Graham lived up to the promises conveyed in the title "Principles of Confederacy", the sub-title "The Vision and the Dream & The Fall of the South", and the preface.

This is the same book, I believe, that was published in Australia, at least, as "Punishment and Profit" by the same author. This may give some other hints if you wish to locate a copy.
Pub: 1970
LOC card No:77-129921

Assuming this is the same work, it is a fascinating document of early colonial life from a recent arrival's point of view. A particularly unusual newcomer at that as Bigge had the task of reporting to Bathurst on the current inhabitants.

The title as published in Australia is, in my view, a good description of what Bigge was asked to look at in Australia. Gov. Macquarie was the subject of a fair amount of criticism for the cost of administering the colony. This was also being triggered by jealous outbursts of local settlers that wanted the convict labour for their use as opposed to the public works that were being carried out. As these public works meant that the convict labourer was, to use the contemporary vernacular, "living off the store" and therefore at the government's expense, these criticisms found a ready ear in Whitehall.

To develop an understanding of what was really happening, Bathurst ordered this inquiry to which Bigge was appointed.

What is perhaps of more lasting interest than the results of the actual inquiry, is the historical record of the various colonial factions and conniving between them that would have made Machiavelli blush. I suspect that these petty jealousies and factionalism had a lot in common in colonial life in other remote colonies.

It is interesting to note the effect that this inquiry had on the local ruling elite (aka the "Merinos") of the time and the increased intensity that this external element in their lives put into these power struggles as one or the other lobbied for influence.

A good book for those interested in this period in Australian history.

A very in depth and intriguing view into the life and lifestyles of the children and grandchildren of the "grandmother of europe", Queen Victoria. If you are after something easy to read and digest but not too in depth,on a wide variety of royals, then Van der kiste is the author for you. I find his books to be very interesting to read as well as informative, which is a hard combination to find. Very good reading! Im on to his next book.

A modern look at quotations from the Sherlockian Canon, done in an amusing and interesting way. Each group of quotes on a subject is then put under headings such as: "HIS CHOSEN AEROBIC ROUTINE," "JUST ONE OF THOSE DAYS," and "PLEASE CONFUSE ME WITH THE FACTS."

The original Sidney Paget drawings are throughout the book, and the cover looks suitably Victorian/Edwardian. It's a small volume, but it contains, as the back page says: "THE WORLD ACCORDING TO HOLMES."

Keep it close by, as a reference tool, or just a book to thumb through. It's worth it!

A good read-aloud story to introduce Alaskan wildlife and the changing of the season. The raven illustrations truly represent this magnificent bird.

This excellent collection of essays is absolutely indispensible to anyone with a serious interest in understanding Heidegger's thought at its formative stage. I heartily recommend it.

The publication of Heidegger's earliest lectures and essays from the 1920's has marked a turning point in Heidegger scholarship, and certainly promises to be the inauguration of a genuine revolution. The essays in this volume touch on many of the most important lines of thought articulated by Heidegger in his early years, more or less leaving no stone unturned. The essays by Gadamer, Van Buren, and Grondin are worth the price of the whole volume.

Peter John Raposa takes us on a adventure on how it feels to sudddenly be out of control of ones body. His anxiety consumes his every thought and daily activities when he first experiences a heart arrythmia (benign skipped beats). I found this book by accident, looking for advice on how to cope with the same condition. PJR conveys his feelings, fears and eventually his acceptance and coping techniques through easy to read pages. Highly recommend this book. Also references other books and nutrition.

Rip Van Australia is a series of short and witty rants (one line to 2 pages), arranged alphabetically, on what's wrong with Oz and/or the world and how to fix it, interspersed with irreverent wisecracks (e.g. `Ballet: why don't they just get taller girls?'), much in the style of Ambrose Bierce's _The Devil's Dictionary_.

Written by John Singleton and Bob Howard during the years of the Fraser government - before Singleton took the ALP's 30 pieces of silver (adjusted for 2000 years of inflation) - some of the specifics are out of date, but many are even more relevant now than they were then. It is an excellent introduction to libertarian issues, and it was in the bibliography of this book that I first discovered Rand and Rothbard.

If you can lay your hands on a copy, I highly recommend it; if you find two, please contact me and I'll take one off your hands :-)

an eleven yr. old boy runs away from Frace and becomes a stowaway on a ship on it's way to America. From there he meets an indian tribe who save him and... I can't tell u the whole thing!

I've been reading this book to my 9-year old son at night. We both enjoy this story and find it hard to put down.

This book has a cute and imaginative storyline. Parents will find themselves enjoying this book as much as their children.