This is a terrific two-volume study of American foreign policy from the time of our founding.

This book introduces students to authors and artists, but does so in a clear and concise fashion. My daughter found it extremely enjoyable, and also very informative. Mr. McMahon did a wonderful job in focusing on the important people of our time.

This volume consists of articles on children's folklore. The book provides various ways of studying the games, songs, rhymes, and other forms of folk culture that children express. It is an excellent resource for learning to understand ways that children's culture leads insight into the worldview of children. I also am impressed with the ways that the study of children's culture leads one to think about common and implicit aspects of adults' culture that form important ways of thinking about life -- but need to be critically examined. This volume should interest anyone who is curious about kids, but it is also academically-oriented and scholarly.

First written in eighteenth century, The Elements Of Moral Philosophy by David Forduce is a dramatic text embodying man's moral facilities, social obligations, human duty to God, and much more. A profound writing that has passed the test of centuries to offer relevant wisdom in the field of philosophy, this new edition is edited and features an introduction by Thomas D. Kennedy (Associate Professor of Philosophy, Valparaiso University). The Elements Of Moral Philosophy is core addition to Philosophy Studies reference collections.

McMahon's historical fantasy is written with accuracy, wit, lyricism, and great insight. The book follows Gordon McKay's travails in his fantastic plan to create a planned community based around bee-raising in Kansas in the 1850s. He recruits a number of strange characters to aid him in his Quixote-esque quest. An incredible book that hopefully will one day be recognized for its true brilliance. You needn't be a bee fan to appreciate its elegance; I'm not. On a par with other gems like Marilynne Robinson's "Housekeeping".

This book presents its title subjects in a clear analytical style. While it is a textbook, it is quite accessible to the educated lay reader; the prose is nontechnical and can be easily understood without reference to the equations. The numerous diagrams are clear and aid understanding.The first five chapters describe the biochemistry and mechanics underlying muscular action. The next two chapters cover how the central nervous system controls and coordinates muscular action. The final two chapters cover the mechanics of locomotion, with particular attention to how size and shape relate to movement. McMahon presents the most current scientific thinking on each subject, along with a brief history of earlier theories.As a ballroom dancer and engineer, I found the book fascinating.McMahon is a professor of Applied Mechanics and of Biology at Harvard University. Some of the material presented in the final chapters of the book stems from his own research and theoretical work. This work was used by Harvard University to design and build a 'tuned track' to increase runners' speeds, on which a number of record times were promptly set.

This is a delightful book to read ! I found many answers to puzzling questions, and really there were many more riddles than I had previously thought of.

The book is far more than informative. It made me think deeper on how life on earth is organized.

I always wondered if animal shapes where subject to any pattern. Did evolution follow any rules or was it a haphazard process ? Was there any relationship between size and velocity ? Could an organism grow to any size ? Giants can be expected to appear, can I believe unbelievable tales ?

Well, maybe the answer to all above questions is not in the book's scope, but it helps a lot. Actually, I found that top of the scale animals routinely departed from the rule set for the rest of their group. They had simply overrun possible competitors.

Reading it is a pleasure. Even though you'll find some math's in it, this is not a technical book. I wasn't disappointed. It stands as a reference book in my library.

The underlying premise of "Loving Little Egypt" is a little far-fetched but intriguing: a sight impaired young man in the early part of the 20th Century finds friendship (with Alexander Graham Bell, among others), a sense of purpose and self confidence through his ability to manipulate the telephone system of the day to his own means and ends. I read (and re-read) this marvelous novel a long time ago, so I do not recall all its details. But now, so many years later, I am still left with the distinct feeling that I had partaken of something very, very special. "Loving Little Egypt" is not an easy book to come across, so if you find it in some second-hand book shop, be sure to buy it and read it. I guarantee that you will love it, and its characters, as much as I did.

If you want to understand the power of telecommunity, and the fact that it wasn't invented yesterday, this is the book for you. A beautiful blend of story, science, adventure and history. I loved it so much that I deliberately had to read the last half slowly, to keep it from being over.

Loving Little Egypt is a fascinating tale of Little Egypt, a blind young man who finds adventure wandering the phone network with his friends, an early "phone phreak" or a forerunner hacker. A rich emotional tapestry, set off with vivid cameo appearances by Alexander Graham Bell, Thomas Edison, and Henry Ford. The novel resonates for years to come, so I'm puzzled that this book and other McMahon novels have gone out of print. If you can find it, read it.

For better of worse, this slim volume is the only full-length work in existence that deals with the lives and thought of the great British political philosopher "Cato," viz. John Trenchard and Thomas Gordon. First of all, McMahon offers a large amount of information and ideas based upon sources that the average reader does not have access too. Regardless of the veracity of her interpretations, this fact alone makes this book a must have for anyone who is truly interested in "Cato" and their era. However, I do find many of her conclusions to be rather untenable. The basic gist of her work is that "Cato" was not really an enemy to Robert Walpole's government, or government all together, but rather they were actually friends to them. She attempts to demonstrate that they were actually allies with the Whig oligarchy and their mission of preserving the Hanoverian succession against the threat of a Jacobite take over. While she admits that much of their work was focused on Parliamentary abuses of power, she equivocates that this was never centered primarily on Walpole, and that they were only attempting to direct Parliament down the path to their common cause. All of this, I believe, is severely mistaken. Having read "Cato's Letters" in their entirety, as well as healthy samples of "The Independent Whig," as well as several of their other works, it is quite obvioust that "Cato" was by all means an enemy to Walpole's oligarchy, as well as Walpole himself. Moreover, "Cato" was by all accounts a firm radical republican, opposed in principle to monarchy and aristocracy. While they most certainly supported the House of Hanover against that of Stuart, this was only because this was by far the more efficacious for the preservation and possible extension of individual liberty that they sought. Their defense of the British Constitution was based upon their belief that it was the best system that the current moral and political climate of Great Britain could support. Furthermore, their work was filled with thinly veiled attacks on enemies to liberty of all kinds, whether they be monarchs, ministers, or standing armies. Perhaps McMahon erred in taking these comments for face value, and not considering the fact that they were unable to reveal the true extent of their libertarian radicalism in print due to the extent of censorship at the time. Despite the fact that her primary thesis is off the mark, she does however provide an adept analysis of the primary elements of Cato's political philosophy. This, however, is tainted by her usage of this information in relation to her thesis. Nevertheless, the book on a whole is stimulating and interesting, despite the fact that one may come away from it in serious disagreement. For a better understanding of Cato's thought I would recommend, first of all, the excellent Liberty Fund edition of "Cato's Letters," as well as David L. Jacobson's lengthy introduction to his selection of Cato's work, "The English Libertarian Heritage." For those acquanted with these works already, I would highly recommend Michael Zuckert's seminal work, "Natural Rights and the New Republicanism," the last chapter of which is without a doubt the finest and most insightful analysis of Cato's thought that I know of.