Editor Jonathan Levin and illustrator Jim Burke have put together a wonderful introduction to the poetry of Walt Whitman. Although marketed as a children's book, this volume will also appeal to older admirers of the "Good Gray Poet."

Levin has judiciously selected some of Whitman's most memorable poems, and thoughtfully gives definitions of potentially unfamiliar words ("Pleiades," "hieroglyphic," etc.) at the bottom of each page. A five page biography of Whitman at the start of the book is another useful touch. Many of Burke's full-color visuals are stunning, and stand on their own as admirable pieces of art. Particularly memorable are the illustrations which accompany Whitman's address to a locomotive and his compassionate description of a slave's body at auction. "Walt Whitman: Poetry for Young People" is a fine book to share with its target audience.

In many circles, the most often given reasons for the decline of American cities are highways and tax-deductible mortgages. This book is good because it gives a much fuller picture of what really happened. Nobody wanted to live, or could live, in an integrated neighborhood.

A conclusion I drew from this book was that the French (who usually annoy me) handled their urban problems much better than we did. Instead of dropping housing projects in the middle of cities where the projects slowly-but-surely eroded the surrounding urban fabric, the French located their projects outside of cities, where no preexisting neighborhoods were affected.

Even though projects there are as bad as projects here, at least no one was displaced.

The biggest thing this book is missing is an epilogue. Published in 1985, the book is kinda dated.

This case study of Canarsie New York and the 1970's shows vividly how racism is not always a product of distant media stereotypes, but rather real day to day contacts between the races. Professor Rieder, who was my professor last year while I attended Columbia, clearly indicates how liberals, and especially the liberal elites failed. The limosine liberals on the upper east side would vote for school busing in the abstract because they did not have to deal with the consequences. THose lower-middle class whites who saw blacks moving in and property values declines became resently towards the liberal estabilshment. It was these former new deal Democrats who switched to Ronald Reagan in 1980 and, who before that, provded Nixon a great percentage of his "silent majority." As a liberal, and a rich one at that, it made me think of the impact that liberal policies have on the ground.

This is, to say the least, one of the greatest books ever published in regard to the recent political change we have seen. What is it that has led some former left-wing liberal New Deal Democrats to turn into conservative Democrats - and on occasion Republicans - who backed Reagan and Bush and bucked President Carter and pro-union Democrat Walter Mondale? This book points at the issue of the "culture war" in regard to race and ethnicity. The author points at every issue which the Republican Right has used - crime, "welfare," government waste, etc. - and how it all points back toward the issue of race. The author is right in his declaration that liberalism and progressivism must begin to take the wishes and dreams of working class white families seriously - as well as their sympathies.

Racism is, obviously, wrong and immoral. Yet, liberals and Democrats must begin to listen to why people give in to right wing racism. If they do, then they will hear the wishes and concerns of the white working class and can begin to form an inclusive and truly compassion answer to these problems, without the scowl of Pat Buchana, Ronald Reagan, Barry Goldwater or George Bush. Problems - even the racist fears of whites - can be solved in a compassionate manner. Nay, they must be solved in such a manner.

Yes, it is true that most working class folks - even white ones - are self described Democrats. How can't they be? Yet, it is true that on occasion may drift from the party of FDR and unto the right for certain candidates. Why? Racial fears. Progressives must learn to prevent this. This book shows us how we can.

NOTE: I wrote this review for the neurology pearls of wisdom, but the comments generally apply to the whole series. Since I thought the warning about some of the inaccuracies may be important for residents to look out for, I'm posting the review here as well. Please bear in mind this is a personal opinion only, but based on using probably every review text out there.

The idea behind Boston Medical Publishing's "pearls of wisdom" series (not to be confused with the higher quality Hanley & Belfus' "Pearls" Series)is a good one: publish a series of books in the various specialties that consist entirely of questions and answers in the various subtopics within those specialties.
However, the execution is weak for the following reasons:

1. Inaccuracies/mistakes.
I recently looked through the pediatrics text (latest, 2nd edition) at my bookshop (it was one of the few subjects initially available there). During some 20 minutes of browsing, I found 2 definite errors, and one ambiguity. Medicine is one field where I think there should be an *extremely* low tolerance for less than sterling writing. Note: the mistakes I found were not gray areas - they were not in complex management issues where there can be more than one right answer. These were clear cut factual errors that could have been avoided by more careful editing.

2. Poor referencing.
I know the authors state in their preface (which is a standard preface used in all the different subjects in the series!) that their intention wasn't to reference. But I think in this day and age of Evidence based medicine, literature citations are of paramount importance - not only to demonstrate a thorough understanding of the literature on all the topics, but so that readers may reach for the best review/original paper where necessary. In this regard, the "Secrets" series published by Hanley and Belfus are simply outstanding. They reference (often with multiple citations) each and every question/answer!!

3. Coverage
A minor, but not unimportant criticism is the coverage. I found that for the price I paid, the coverage of topics could have been better. If the authors could increase the questions by 2/3, I feel they will have a MUCH better book. Questions should stress more pathology, diagnostics (esp. diff diagnosis and clinical approach), and management.

4. For its shortcomings, the price (about USD 88.00) is astonishing. These books are merely a compilation of questions and answers for exam review, not comprehensive full colour textbooks! I do not understand why it should cost that much, when cost of production should be low - no pictures, no diagrams, no references even. Just one line questions and several line answers. The price is, i feel, unfair.

Conclusion:
Buy it only if:
1. You are prepared to double check every answer/statement against authoritative textbooks and the literature.
2. You can afford to throw your money on a good, but less than ideal product.
3. You want to get your hands on every review book available for revision purposes.

This is an excellent book! The information is in a quick question and answer format categorized by system (i.e. cardiology). This book is perfect for quick learning sessions when on call, as a break while studying, or for complete board preparation. I highly recommend it.

I like this book and the way the author dealt with the "vulnerable" subject on Emerson and Pragmatism. It is strongly persuasive and compact. And the most superb part of the book is the critical geneology the author delienates from Emerson to Stein, though he leaves out C. S. Pierce, who I think is one of the undeveloped and unappreciated thinker among scholars.