This vast tome is a great pleasure to dip into every now and again, besides being an essential refrence work for all writers and language workers. It explains and discusses the origin and history of words, phrases, expressions and idioms in a most engaging manner. Every page contains something interesting or noteworthy. For example, the entry on "Valley Speak" or"Valspeak" as it is called here, refers to the language of teenagers in Silicon Valley, California that has spread around the English speaking world, and is very informative and amusing. All aspects of popular culture are covered, including music: I was delighted to discover how many popular sayings derive from song lyrics. In addition, the book is as up-to-date as can be; you'll find absolutely everything here up to the second part of 2002. I am impressed with its thoroughness and accessible style, and highly recommend it to all those who are fascinated by language and meaning in all its forms, but especially for journalists, songwriters, creative writers and cultural historians.

This introductory text to international negotiation is written with a clarity and conciseness that reflect its authors' years of experience with the ICONS project and negotiation training for students via simulation. Its presentation of a 'checklist' of negotiation characteristics, including actor, issue and process characteristics, allows the reader to explore factors that explain why each negotiation is unique. The added value of this text is its integration of web related links at the end of each chapter to illustrate that chapter's key points citing real life cases. The mix of theoretical concepts and practical experience makes this volume a hands-on reference tool as well as an invaluable primary text for online seminars in the emerging field of conflict resolution. Its explanation of two-level negotiations, highlighting the salience of domestic actors, is particularly relevant given the significance of intra-state conflict in the post cold war environment. In short, this volume's applicability to online teaching may prove to be one of its most striking and innovative contributions to the literature. It is strongly recommended as a text for 'fourth wave educators' interested in staying ahead of the curve via instruction in the Internet based global classroom.

The book of answers. Answers are what this book gives. It's a collection of all the wise and unwise advice ever given. Easy to use, easy to read and easy to remember what it says. If you were stuck on an island, all you'd need is this gem of a book to get through the emotional turmoil. It's a book you'll never finish, but always enjoy!

In this book, Mercer does an outstanding job of debunking the idea that reputation really matters in international politics. He argues that while states are overly sensitive about their own reputations, other states are not concerned about the past behavior of a state. His analysis is clear and well-argued. Mercer then goes on to provide case-studies which reinforce his theoretical claims. All in all, this is a great piece of international relations scholarship from one of the most brilliant young minds in the field.

A very concise research on the direct development of capital punishment from legal and illegal lynchings to today's practice of executions in the South of the United States with focus on Texas. The authors show that the victims of this system have always been people of mediocre education with little or no financial means at all. In addition to that they show how the system of exclusion works: "The source of this southern concentration of both illegal lynchings and state-sanctioned executions is rooted in a cultural readiness to engage in what we would call a logic of exclusion."

The dominant group of people caught in this system were African-Americans, Mexican-Americans, Asians, Native Americans, and southern European ethnic minorities,as well as poor Whites, thus representing a group of "excluded" people from the rest of society.

The study has been done with accuracy and a lot of background knowledge, giving the reader an insight not only into today's legal system and its history in the United States, but also into social conditions and attitudes observed in the period between 1819 and 1990. A very valuable book for everybody interested in knowing about roots and development of Capital Punishment in Texas and the USA. An extensive bibliography at the end of the book gives the reader a possibility to make further studies on the subject.

It is a very good book, written in an easy language and up to date information. Provide numerous guidance for consumers and excellent source even for credit counseling institutions. All the informations eveloves around the hardship issues of debts, repossession, foreclosures, bankruptcy and student loans are related to problems most people have. Excellent book

This book is a must if you want to learn the inside secrets about copywriting and effective advertising.marketing. It tells you everything you need to know and gives you tips on things that you never thought possible. It is ideal for business students and also for students who want to learn about how english is applied to marketing and commerce. It is full of interesting lessons and would be ideal for any person already working in advertising or looking to get into the busines

Prior to Sept. 11, I took a college course on terrorism and this was the only text available at the time. It was accurate and informative then, and remains so today. Jonathan White is one of the foremost experts on terrorism and it's correlation to religion in the United States. If you are entering into the field of criminal justice or public policy, I highly recommend reading this book.

If you want to know who's who of the 20th Century, this is the book for you. It has brief paragraphs outlining the lives of various persons who have made a great impact on our previous century. Although it appears to be slanted somewhat to Europeans, that could just be my American viewpoint. It is a great introduction for students of famous world figures. A recommended addition to any library.

This interesting, but badly flawed, book provides an in-depth look at one "civil action"; a lawsuit by citizens of Woburn, MA against W.R. Grace and Beatrice Foods, which alleged that TCE (trichloroethylene) dumping at sites owned by the companies contaminated two town wells and caused leukemia in local children.

The entire nation has spent the past decade gripped by one blockbuster case after another (OJ, the Nanny, Monicagate) and having read hundreds of cases in Law School & dozens of legal thrillers & watched numerous trials on Court TV, I can confidently state that the legal system is a unique generator of human drama. There are always good guys and bad guys, victims & perpetrators, oddball lawyers, brilliant jurists, arcane legal machinations, big bucks prizes or maybe a death sentence, and so on. So what A Civil Action cried out for was something to separate it from the pack. Why should this one case interest us? What lessons can it teach?

Sadly, Jonathan Harr does not step up to the plate & accept this challenge. He has provided an excellent narrative of the events in a complex case, filled with human drama, but he conspicuously fails to put it all in context. Here are some of the issues he should have analyzed:

1) The Big Enchilada: should the case ever have been allowed to go forward in the first place?

Let me just start by saying that the behavior of the corporations in Woburn was reprehensible & they should be subject to criminal & civil prosecution for dumping & for attempting to cover up their dumping. However, the case that Schlichtmann & Co. brought alleged that the dumping had specifically caused leukemia.

As Dan Kennedy, a journalist who has written extensively about the case & been quite sympathetic to the plaintiffs, said in a 1998 story for the Boston Phoenix: "The scientific state of the art was (and still is) probably too primitive to allow him to prove, by a preponderance of the evidence, that Beatrice and Grace were at least partly responsible for contaminating Wells G and H, and that the contaminants, in turn, caused leukemia and other illnesses."

Or, as renowned quack-science debunker Michael Fumento stated in Forbes: "In 1982, when Schlichtmann sued Grace, information on the solvent TCE was relatively sketchy. Now we have the results of numerous rodent studies in which the animals were dosed with thousands of times the amount of chemical that humans might receive in their drinking water. Of the 35 rodent studies in the Carcinogenic Potency Database developed by U.C. Berkeley biologist Lois Swirsky Gold, none has found a TCE-leukemia connection."

In light of the impossibility of establishing a link between TCE and the leukemia cases, it seems obvious that Judge Skinner should have granted the Rule 11 motion that Beatrice Foods brought & should have sanctioned Schlichtmann for bringing a frivolous suit.

This case was simply not the appropriate vehicle for punishing Grace & Beatrice & vindicating justice.

2) Is a jury capable of dealing with the technical issues raised in such a case & is it appropriate to have a jury deal with the emotional issues raised?

The section of the book on the jury deliberations was especially troubling. The level of confusion displayed throughout the trial by even expert witnesses raises the question whether anyone actually understood what was going on, but the jury clearly had no idea what they were supposed to be doing & ended up rendering a thoroughly confusing verdict in the first stage of the trial. If civil cases this complex are to be brought to trial, which they surely will be, it seems that it would make more sense to have them be bench trials or to appoint Special Masters with the technical background to decide the fact issues.

Luckily we were spared the spectacle of the second portion of the trial, where Schlichtmann would have paraded "victims" before the jury in an attempt to win a big money judgment. Of course, it is a horrible thing when any child develops leukemia. And if there's a local polluter, it's tempting to want to make them pay, but it may not, & in this case would not, be in the best interests of justice to do so.

3) How can we tolerate a legal system which allows the contemptible behavior of virtually every character involved in this trial?

To give just a few examples, & assuming Harr's portrayals are accurate:

Beyond the issue of their continual time-wasting objections and unwarranted motions, it seems clear that the defense parties & attorneys hid evidence from Schlichtmann during discovery.

Schlichtmann appears to have been completely irresponsible in ending pre-trial settlement negotiations with Beatrice Foods.

The judge appears to have allowed his personal feelings about the genuinely annoying Schlichtmann to influence how he handled motions and objections.

Anne Anderson, and a couple other plaintiffs, appear to have been petty, greedy & ungrateful in challenging Schlichtmann's billing after the settlement.

Then there's the attorney who sought a referral fee & Trial Lawyers for Public Justice which sought 800k after bailing from the case.

& people ask me why I don't choose to practice law?

Finally, I have one major problem with the manner in which Harr produced his story. At the end of the book he reveals to the reader that he had virtually continual access to Schlichtmann & company during the trial & only afterward assembled the defense's side. As an initial matter, it seems to me that he should have told us this at the outset. And the reason for this brings up the larger issue; in a case that was as emotionally compelling as this one was, dead kids, bankrupt plaintiff's lawyers, etc.., is it even reasonable to believe that Harr's account is impartial. Shouldn't we assume that someone who was that close to the plaintiff's side throughout would develop some emotional investment in their case?

Ultimately, while I enjoyed the book, I found it's lack of analysis a major flaw and I think that it's greatest value lies in it's exposure of the pathologies that plague the American legal system.

GRADE: C+

The book A Civil Action by Jonathan Harr was definitely one of the best books that I have ever read. The novel was extremely fast paced and factually oriented which made it all the more powerful. This novel brings to light some of the great injustices that go on, unnoticed, in the world around us. It raises the issue of environmental contamination and the power that large companies have over common people. It raises the questions of how many people have to get sick or die before someone will stand up for what is right. The book delves into the complex world of the justice system and how the real issue can get lost or distorted in the mounds of legal rules and regulations. It exposes a corrupt justice system where the real evidence can not be heard and the judges and lawyers try to confuse the jurors into siding with them. "The judge was, in effect, asking the jurors to create a fiction that would in the end stand for the truth." The novel also encompasses the idea of individual change and shows how one man can turn from a selfish, arrogant jerk into a person truly concerned with the welfare of others. By the end of this book the reader is absolutely infuriated with the whole situation. It really makes the reader think about how and where things started to go wrong and why such things are being allowed to take place. This book really opens eyes as to what is going on in the world and makes people think about if it really is possible for one person to make a difference. The issues raised by this book are ones that I will not soon forget. This book has delighted and infuriated me more than any book I have ever read.

A Civil Action is the true story of the case against the W.R. Grace Company and Beatrice Foods regarding water pollution in Woburn Massachusetts in the 1980s. Several children had died from Leukemia and many families had serious health problems.

There's more to a case than just the trial. There are dispositions and fact finding and motions and counter-motions and appeals and financial considerations and constant frustrations. There are things to learn about water, soil, geology, medicine. Facts are not always clear or written in stone. There are experts who disagree. Bills to pay. Worthy combatants. And a judge whose word is God and whose judgment is questionable.

The writer, Johnathan Harr, was with this case from the beginning. He sat in on the meetings with the families whose children had died. He was present at all the dispositions and motions. He researched all technical aspects. And, later, interviewed everyone including the jurors, office staff, opposing attorneys, as well as wives and lovers. He traveled with the lawyer, Jan Schlichtmann and his partners to their negotiation meetings, spent much time in their offices, shared meals and hours of discussion and then more discussion.

He got it all. The personalities. The issues. The facts. And he wrote a book that really makes a difference in the world. Like it or not, the issue of environmental pollution is here to stay. We need to understand it. And his skill at writing made it more fascinating than any novel. Highest accolades to the writer. I give this book my highest recommendation.