"The Irish Question" is an excellent tool to help one understand the political events taking place in Northern Ireland today. Being of Irish ancestry, I had a strong personal interest in separating fact from fiction in what I had been told about the politics of Irish history. This book could be considered dry in style if one is not interested in the history of Anglo-Irish relations.

"The Irish Question" chronologically follows the social and political history of conflict in Ireland ending in the later part of the twentieth century. After reading this book, I felt that I could more confidently form an opinion on current events in Northern Ireland. I thoughly enjoyed this book and I recommend it.

I also found the book "The Potato" fascinating in its historical account of a food source that played such a crucial role in the lives of the Irish (and many other western nations) in the 18th and 19th centuries.

This book about John F. Kennedy's foreign policy focuses on the United States' confrontation with the Soviet Union over Berlin 1961, the nearly cataclysmic events in Cuba, and the deepening U.S. involvement in Indochina, which culminated in the overthrow and murder of the prime minister of South Vietnam just weeks before President Kennedy, himself, was assassinated. Is it appropriate to emphasize "wars" in a book about foreign policy? The answer, of course, is: Yes. Author Lawrence Freedman, one of Britain's leading authorities on the Cold War, does not expressly invoke Clausewitz's famous dictum that war is the continuation of politics by other means, but every reader knows that diplomacy and military power often are inextricably linked. On few occasions in American history has this been more true than during the "High" Cold War, the dangerous period between the first Berlin crisis in 1948 and the Cuba missile crisis in 1962. Freedman's fascinating, if occasionally frustrating book, examines the relationship between foreign and military policy at a time when U.S. and the Soviet Union confronted each other, directly or through surrogates, in venues throughout the world, several of which could have, by a single miscalculation, led to nuclear Armageddon.

If John Kennedy genuinely deserves of the judgment of history as great, it is because of the remarkably cool judgment during the missile crisis. According to Freedman, Kennedy followed this advice in a book written by British military historian and strategist Basil Liddell Hart, which Kennedy reviewed shortly before his election: "Never corner an opponent, and always assist him to save his face." The Soviet Union may have been foolish, if not reckless, to send nuclear missiles to Cuba, but, once they were there, the only way Nikita Khrushchev could remove them was through a political bargain which allowed his country to avoid international humiliation. If Kennedy had not allowed Khrushchev to save face, some sort of military confrontation, if not general nuclear war, would have been inevitable. Kennedy's decision not to take the advice of his more hawkish advisers was one of the great profiles in courage in the history of the American presidency.

Kennedy defused the Berlin and Cuban crisis, but the war in Vietnam was well on its way to disaster when Kennedy died. Would anything have changed if he had lived? It is, to be sure, impossible to say. Shortly before he was assassinated, President Kennedy met with George Ball, a senior State Department official, to discuss Vietnam. When Ball spoke of the possibility of a war involving 300,000 American troops and lasting five years, Freedman reports that Kennedy reacted with "asperity," stating: "George, I always thought you were one of the brightest guys in town, but you're just crazier than hell. That just isn't going to happen." Freedman notes that Ball was uncertain whether the president was "making a prediction that events would not follow this line or that he would not let such a situation develop." In any event, we now know that George Ball was, indeed, one of Washington's most astute policy-makers, that Kennedy's assassination prevented him from determining the course of American policy in southeast Asia, and that the American commitment in Vietnam reached a peak of over 500,000 troops and lasted nearly 12 years before it ended in failure.

I admire Freedman's cogent presentation of the Kennedy-era military crises in just over 400 pages. That includes a brief, but most welcomed, digression into the rift between the Soviet Union and the People's Republic of China in the early 1960s. The relaxation of the United States' confrontation with the Soviet Union during the Kennedy administration simply cannot be understood without reference to Sino-Soviet relations. I must candidly concede that, if Freedman had pursued other, similar digressions, the text would have approached 600 pages, and I then would be critical of its length. Nevertheless, I disagree with some of his choices. Every book must begin somewhere and the introduction to this one starts with a short summary of Kennedy family history. Most readers are familiar with the most salient points: The overbearing Joseph P. Kennedy was almost pathologically ambitious for his sons; after the eldest, Joseph, Jr., was killed in combat during World War II, the mantle fell to John, who had spent his early manhood as a playboy; after the war, JFK was elected first to the House of Representatives and then to the Senate but distinguished himself in neither body and was generally dismissed as a handsome, glib lightweight. Instead of rehashing that, Freedman should have devoted more space to Kennedy's role in the "missile gap" controversy of the late 1950s. It was one of the issues which brought Kennedy to national prominence, and it is significant for the fact that, by the time Kennedy was elected in November 1960, if any missile gap existed, it favored the United States. Consider this scenario: Within weeks of taking office, several of President Kennedy's key aides, principally National Security Adviser McGeorge Bundy and Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara realized that the U.S. was superior to the Soviet Union in the missile race; having lost the missile gap as an issue, but under pressure to make good on Kennedy's campaign promise to increase defense spending, the administration decided to take a more aggressive stance elsewhere. The Soviet Union clearly provoked the 1961 Berlin crisis, but "Kennedy's wars" in Cuba and southeast Asia resulted from the new administration's deliberate effort to confront the international Communist menace wherever they found it.

I doubt that Kennedy's Wars will change many minds about John Kennedy's legacy. His partisans will continue to view Kennedy's unexpected and untimely death as one of the great lost opportunities of the 20th century. Critics will find in this book further ammunition for their position that Kennedy must be judged by what he did and based on his charisma and soaring rhetoric. Nevertheless, this book must be read by anyone who wants to understand why the 1000-day Camelot era was one military crisis after another.

This is another great Littles" book. However, the buyer should beware that it is simply an abridged and illustrated version of "the Littles to the Rescue." If your child is too young for chapter books, this would be a great starter that will make the transition to the chapter Littles books easier. In our case we had already read The Littles to the Rescue" chapter book, so this was a little disappointing. The page ought to point out its relationship to to the original.

By the way, "the Littles Go Around the World" is a similar treatment of "The Littles Go To School." Just so you know!

The Littles have some more mystery to solve. Now the Littles are small people and the Biggs are big people. The Littles live in the walls of the Biggs' house. They take what they need form the biggs. when the Littles are haveing a surpnse party for Granny Little. The day of the party came. it was on the Biggs roof. They all shared a cupcake they went swimming in the gutters. They all had a ball even Granny little. I think you should buy this book because if you like birthdays you will like this book because it is someones birthday. read this book to find out whose birthday it is.

This is another great "Littles" book. However, the buyer should beware that it is simply an abridged and illustrated version of "the Littles go to School." If your child is too young for chapter books, this would be a great starter that will make the transition to the chapter Littles books easier. Any kid who read several of these will look forward to reading about the Littles' adventures in more detail in the chapter books.

In our case we had already read The Littles Go to School" chapter book, so this was a little disappointing. The page ought to point out its relationship to to the original.

I do not like science fiction books, as a rule. I read this one because I knew the author. It was really hard for me to read, the beginning was slow. But after awhile it wasn't so bad. So if you like science fiction, it's good. Although it's not straight science fiction, it is laced with spirituality. I thought that element was neat.

The Sacred Quest is a great read for people interested in learning about the study of religion, as it explores the meaning of the "sacred" through different mediums, including the nature and definitions of the words "sacred" and "religion," the appearance and language of the sacred in our daily lives. The authors also explore the many different types of sacred communities and rituals, which gives the reader a "crash course" into many different world religions and cultures. Another interesting aspect which the author delves into are the questions of evil and morality, although I found these two sections to be a little confusing and awkward to understand. Overall, the author does a great job of explaining the terms and ideas presented, and I would recommend this book for anyone interested in learning more about this fascinating subject!

This book is interesting for a number of reasons. First, it is a story which has a history of its own, written decades ago and re-published in an updated version exhibiting the artwork of the original hardcover. However, it is the story of the legendary John Hornby which grasps the reader, and catapults him back into a time when true adventurists and explorers still existed. The book does a wonderful job of making the reader feel that he is with Hornby in the Arctic, living in a hole dug into an esker, walking blindly through a blizzard, or starving on a river bank in the middle of Arctic 'summer'. A must read for those who enjoy stories of adventure in desolate places.

This book not only offers a well-written, informative overview of Jacob Lawrence's life but also offers snapshots of historical events that were part of his times and of his people's past, which he recounted in his powerful paintings. The book uses Lawrence's art beautifully, showcasing its brilliance while also using it to help tell the often-compelling story of the artist's life; excellent opening quotes in each chapter (from various cultural figures throughout Lawrence's lifetime) also subtly enhance the meaning of the text. Worth it for the art reproductions alone, and a story that shows how an artist and a person can be an interesting product of culture, society, and innate genius.

I'm currently a 2L and last year, I used a plethora of study aids. I found this book to be the most helpful for Torts class. The book explains the history behind the subjects and then what the substantive law is. It lays everything out very logically and is organized in a way that makes sense as well. While it doesn't have any comprehensive case summaries, if you truly want to understand the law of torts, you can't go wrong with this book.