I bought this book for my AP US history summer assignment, and although i've only read the first 10 chapters of this book i think it is very comprehensive and has many quality features. This is definitely a good book for history teachers and students.

American history can best be understood if the fundamental conditions that control both the social lives of ordinary people and the practice of politics are investigated through the decades. This means moving beyond conventional ways of organizaing a book around political events that historians like to think of as "turning points". Social change has a pace and rhythm of its own, and understaning its flow enables us to see poliitical changes in a new light.

The authors have divided American history into three unique periods: Preindustrial America, from the beginning of the sixteenth century to the 1820s; Industrializing America, from the 1820s to the 1920s; and State and Society, from the 1920s to the present. Each of these periods has its own logic and contains special kinds of human relationships that prodice a distinct history of the United States.

I grew up reading political and military history; that's what I was taught in high school and college, for the most part. When I took over my school's Advanced Placement program in US History, I decided that while I could teach the traditional forms of history, such as politics and the wars, I simply didn't know enough social history. Given the fact that social history is the dominant form of history today (and realizing that there simply wasn't that much new to say about politics or wars), I turned to this masterful textbook. My students love this book: it's readable, entertaining, and thorough. I add in the political and military stuff, when it's needed. About the only major hole in the text is some short-changing of the Monroe Doctrine, which is the biggest error that I could see. Teachers have to choose textbooks that address their shortcomings; if you don't know your political or military history, choose another textbook. But if you have the same background I do (and most people over thirty do), then choose this one. It's been very successful in my classroom.

It is a good atlas for a trainee. It includes difficult part of body with a precise label. However, it is not easy to find the one that you want since there are plenty of labels. In addition, I think it is much better if there are few sentences to elicit the information concerning the radiological imaging like certain common normal variants that one could see in the radiological imaging

I highly reccomend this for MRI and CT images viewing. The images are very clear and capture the area of interest very well. Medical professionals will sure can rely on this atlas for normal images.

The BATF has been much in the news but very few serious studies have been published on its history or operations. As a former ATF agent, the author is in a position give an honest perspective from the "inside". However, given the often hysterical accusations thrown at the FBI, NRA, and others, this reader fears that he lost his battle to be objective.

While I've read reviews claiming this book is not well researched, anyone considering this purchase should know that 60 of its 384 pages consist of appendices documenting sources for everything stated by its author. It should be obvious that those dissing the book are probably gunlovers who simply don't like what the author says and proves. I'm an NRA member and a little truth doesn't bother me. I support the 2nd Amendment but I've also known gunlovers who happened to be idiots! Other than that, I found it the most objective treatment of federal law enforcement I've ever read -- including the turf wars between ATF and ther FBI which, frankly, make me sick. Exciting too. As for giving ATF too much praise, this is silly. The author details crimes committed by some ATF agents and illustrates how, for a long period of time, there was gross incompetence at the very highest levels of its management. But if facts frighten you, skip this one.

This is the first book written by an insider to tell the whole truth without self-protection, coverup, anger, or revenge. It's the firsr book to give a true and honest picture of ATF and, indeed, the larger federal law enforcement community. The facts are conveyed via exciting accounts of real cases and events within this agency, all documented thoroughly with a huge appendix giving sources.

I thought Axis Mundi would be a valuable aquisition to my werewolf stories, but wasn't. The mage storytellers will not understand why, whitewolf told that book would be useful for Mage campaigns. I wasted my money... Don't do the same mistake

This is a pretty good book. If you are looking for information on some of the spirits who support the totems of the werewolf tribes, then this book is for you. You won't be disappointed.

However, I was disappointed with this book. The main reason for this is that I thought this book wasn't far reacing enough. According to the Werewolf universe, the Umbra is populated with thousands, if not millions, of different kinds of spirits, each with their own personality archetypes, wants, desires, interests, etc. But this book focuses mainly on the small number who serve the major tribe totems. This small slice of the spirit world is hardly fulfilling.

Another problem is that the book makes no attempt to describe how the spirits interact with each other, how any of the hierarchies of the totems work, or how any other spirits really behave or act out in the day-to-day life of the Umbra. Spirits are described as if their only purpose is to interact with the werewolves and not as if they are each self-sufficient entities.

So this book is good for what it is, but like many other White-Wolf supplements it fails to be all it could be. A much better book would have given more over-arching spirit information on a macro level so us creative-types could use the information they provided to populate our games with interesting individual spirits on a micro level.

This is a must-have for any Storyteller that deals with the Umbra and spirits, for Mage or Werewolf. It is a very information-rich sourcebook, full of guidelines and expanded rules on spirits, and packed with information on the spirits themselves. There is a spiritual history of the Garou that is very informative

Personally, I think this was a big mistake on WW's part. While I like the Akashic Brotherhood and many other things, to make such a big difference between (for example) the Western Technocracy and the Asian Zaibatsu is unnecessary. A great story could have been told with the Asian Technocracy trying to gain a foothold in the established land of tradition that is China and Japan, but instead that was all thrown away in light of "Everything in Asia is cooler." For the other games, it made sense, but for this one, it was baffling.

I bought this book thinking that it would be great, I have the book "Kindred of the East" and I love it, my friends and I really love this game and when I saw the title of this book I thoght "Great, Mage in the East, not only the Akashic Brotherhood exists in this game, so I bought it. I have to say that it is really interesting, but some parts are really boring and it could be a bit more complete.

I was expecting to enjoy Dragons of the East as soon as I picked it up; in my opinion, the only thing the Mage line had done with the far east, to that point, was lousy (The Akashic Brotherhood Tradition book). Anyhow! I was thrilled with this book! I wanted in-depth material on cultures, magickal styles, and factions, and it DELIVERS. The far east now consists of more than a couple of Shaolin temples. THANK YOU!

the author of this (and many other) book needs to have his brain replaced.

James Moore is a well-known Methodist Minister who is in Houston, Tex. now. When we knew him, he lived in Shreveport, LA. He's an excellent preacher, and his books reflect his common touch. His writing makes a person feel she is in the room talking to him. He uses ordinary stories to reflect God's love and care for all of us.This particular book reminds us of the importance of gratitude, compassion, joy and open-mindedness. He uses scripture and personal experience to bring the Bible to life. Any of his books would be well worth reading. I think I've read them all. I highly recommend his writing to anyone who enjoys reading good books.

Nothing new in this book. Lots of politics, which is against the prinicple of "The Work". One can't help to ask the question, why did he write this book? What is he about? The answer is "advertisement". For whom? That I leave to you to find out for yourselves, its easy.

Basically this could be a good book, if it would remain neutral. But Mr. Moore is trying to put down some of the most remarkable
followers of the Gurdjieff work, and by doing so he looses all creditability in writing a book about Gurdjieff. It is one of the biggest mistake, to try to copy Gurdjeff. He had a specific task, and pouring mud into clear water is not only negativity, it is harmful! This comes out of ego, and Moore is not doing anything to bear some of the suffering of .........

I'll just say briefly that this book is the best biographic text of Gurdjieff available, and while it is a bit prolix it is not purple, as someone claimed. Actually I find it almost novelistically readable.

Nothing new in this book. Lots of politics, which is against the prinicple of "The Work". One can't help to ask the question, why did he write this book? What is it really about? The answer is "advertisement". For whom? That I leave to you to find out for yourselves, its easy.

If this book would remain neutral, I would give it 3 stars, but the fact, that Moore has to produce something, that is not allowed in the work, i.e. nasty and subjective gossip, reduces the value of this book to zero stars. Journalism is not what the work is about, and James Moore fell into this trap.

James Moore achieves with this book not only to give
a many-sided picture of Gurdjieff, but also of his search
for truth, the main ideas of what he taught and how he
accomplished it as a teacher.

In addition you will find a detailed chronology of Gurdjieff's
life, clarifying notes on many subjects, full references
to the sources of the book and a select bibliography.

Mr. Moore's background in the Gurdjieff Work has given
him direct contacts with many people who knew Gurdjieff
or his teaching well. This has given him the possibility
to write of many things that can not be found in any
other books.

I like the contents and the way he writes!

I have purchased several guides for painting houses in the "home improvements" category. They were fine for learning about painting a house, but I'm hiring painter, so I don't really need that information. What I need is help choosing the right color. Obviously I don't want to make a mistake. I already know that I want a yellow house. But none of the colors I have tested look right. They are all too bright or dark even though they look pale on the paint chips. When I saw this book, I noticed the phrase "choosing paint colors" right in the title, so I assumed it was the answer. But, I felt every bit as stuck at the paint store as I did before reading the book. My expectation was that I wouldn't have to start going through paint chips anymore, but the information in the book wasn't specific enough to be useful to me. The book did not meet my expectations.

I thought this book would give me photographs of painted houses and their paint colors. Instead it gave detailed information on the paint process itself with scant few houses where the whole house shows. Its mostly pretty photos like the rooftop of a house with a weatherwane on it, or a window with a window box of flowers under it. Where are the painted houses? I can't figure out what color to paint my house using this book.

Obviously, since this book is printed by Benjamin Moore Paints, there will be a certain amount of self-advertising following it's advice on choosing the proper paints and equipment (like the recipies on the back of soup cans).
However, this book was a good primer (pardon the pun) for anyone who is compentant enough to paint the insides of a house, and is just starting to tackle the outside of their home.
I found it chock full of useful advice, but lacking in enough procedural details to be called a "step-by-step" guide.
It'll say things like "Strip and sand the exterior trim before priming" and I'll say things like "HOW?!?"