One of the most horrifying aspects of this tale, a horror story, is the apparent blitheness with which these ordinary people entered into an enterprise that ultimately yielded them hundreds of years in prison.

It goes like this: you meet an old navy buddy for drinks and he tells you he's got a business proposition for you. He admits it's a little illegal, but notes too the chances of getting caught are slim. So it makes good business sense-low risk/reward ratio, opportunity galore, and anyway you've sort of been at loose ends since retiring from the navy. Heck, you've got to be bold and take some risks to get anywhere in this world.

Or it might go like this: you're a young man and you admire and respect your dad. Nothing unusual in that-he's your dad! He was in the navy and he wants you to follow in his footsteps, so you do. And he says he'll pay you good money for classified documents-sure it's a little risky, but if you want to be a Man you have to take a risk now and then. Or, you could live your life as a wimp. It's your choice. So that leads to the most bone-chilling scene in the horror story: Dad smirking and wise-cracking while his son, his own and only son, is gets life in prison. Well, 25 years, but to a 22-year-old, that's life.

Howard Blum did a lot of research for this book: countless interviews, reams of technical documents on law and espionage and naval procedure, letters. But it doesn't read like some legal tract or academic research project. It reads like a B movie script, tawdry and melodramatic, with much attention given to the day-to-day problems of international spies and their families: the alcoholic wife, the wayward children, the ... struggle for respect. And when it's over there is the melancholy realization that the alcoholic wife and the wayward children were the lucky ones, if you can call it that. They avoided the lure of the psychotic monster at the center of the drama. The son was next luckiest. I read that he got out on parole after 15 years.

The 1980s have been judged as an age of backstabbing greed and free-spending avarice where they with the most pricey toys win. The June, 1985 arrest of retired Navy chief warrant officer John A. Walker, Jr., his older brother, only son and close Navy friend Jerry Whitworth on federal espionage charges meshed perfectly with the era's predominantly materialistic values, especially after it was learned that in an incredible 17 years as a Soviet spy, Walker had earned and frivolously spent $1 million, his chief, if not sole motivation. Howard Blum's I Pledge Allegiance is an exhaustively researched and powerfully written chronicle of not only the rarefied, shadowy world of traitors and spies, but a disturbing critique of American social values and how all too easily they are warped to serve selfish if not highly dangerous ends. Walker and associates over the years had handed over tons of highly-classified naval communications material, which, in the eyes of many defense experts, enabled the Kremlin to seriously damage if not completely neutralize our submarine and surface force defense posture if it had so wished. Walker's spying was also believed by some to have led to the unprecedented elevation of former KGB director Yuri Andropov to Soviet leader in 1982 and Moscow's downing of Korean Airlines Flight 007 less than a year later. Blum's strength as an author rests in his extensive knowledge of defense, foreign policy and intelligence matters as well as naval history, regulations and communications. This and his considerable reporting skill, demonstrated in his interviews of Walker family and friends, whose various fears, resentments, psychic injuries and strongly corrosive personal and family problems are drawn out and carefully woven into a chronicle of, as the book's jacket had said, "an American dream gone mad," makes for exciting and informative reading, something even the best works of reportage have a hard time achieving. And, the most gripping thing of all is that every bit of it really happened.

One of the best loved, as well as wittiest, Popes of all time, Pope John XXIII was famous for his insightful quotes. In this book, editor Anthony F. Chiffolo draws upon John XXIII's books, encyclicals, notes, personal letters, reports, speeches and radio addresses to present a very personal, very warm and very human picture of Pope John XXIII. The quotes are helpfully grouped into sections such as "Humility and Poverty," "Suffering," "God's Will," "Justice and Charity," "Peace," "Truth," and "Modern Issues." It is easy to find the right quote for the right occasion. The book offers a unique look into a man who is on his way to sainthood in the Catholic church. One of John's quotes in the book is "The older I grow the more I find that supreme wisdom is found more in the little, simple books." That is especially true about this book, which, though small, provides an excellent insight into one of the greatest figures of the 20th Century.

If you want to get to know John Brown, his family, his life, his problems and his ways, you have to read this book, from his childhood to his death in Virginia after the raid of Harper's Ferry each station of his life is shown in detail (which makes it sometimes difficult to read with pure pleasure). Before I read this book I knew about Brown as a criminal, a fanatic, a murderer may be. Yes, he was... but you have to know what shaped him to be a fanatic and a murderer. His life was a struggle for freedom, and he was beat hard by life. He came on the wrong way or better: He went too far on the right one. This is a very exciting and helpful book! Just read it!

Musicians, writers, artists and fans alike should read this candid biopic into the lives of John & Yoko during the prime of their lives and populariy. They were involved. They were controversial. They were naive. They were important and outspoken... and most of all, vulnerable. Anthony Fawcett was more than sympathetic... he was privileged to find himself involved at a time when the magic of John Lennon transcended who he even thought he was. Forever dispells the silly myth that Yoko, Linda or anything other than John's decision broke up the Beatles.

It is easy to misunderstand such a subtle philosopher as Kierkegaard. From his cryptic style and pseudonymns creeps a message heavily veiled, and best understood by a select view. Both "existentialism" and "irrational" become easily misused buzz words far too often applied to Kierkegaard. This book argues that such has been the case with Alasdair MacIntyre in his book AFTER VIRTUE. Fortunately, those who seem most on the mark in their interpretations of Kierkegaard have been gathered here in this collection of essays defending Kierkegaard against MacIntyre's claims that Kierkegaard is an irrational fedeist. KIERKEGAARD AFTER MACINTYRE is a brilliant and responsible exposition of the depths and intricacies of "the father of existentialism" by, whom I believe to be, the most "well-versed" Kierkegaardian scholars. Most helpful in this book was the light it shed on the influence both Kant and Artistotle had on Kierkegaard's conception of the self and decision-making, and the importance of understanding what are Kierekgaard's thoughts through all the pseudonymity...especially when it comes to his writings on the Judge and the Aesthete in Either/Or.

The book is highly enjoyable with concise essays that make their points while citing the various passages of Kierkegaard. One can easily check their refences if one is skeptical of the context. And what I enjoyed most was the fairness of the book. MacIntyre himself ends the collection of essays, and has the last words in response to the book's claims that he has radically misunderstood Kierkegaard. A good read and a definite must for anyone who wants to stay on top of the issues at hand in Kierkegaardian scholarship.

Much can be said about the spectacular photography. But to capture the real beauty of the golf clubs, you need to read the text. For all of us who have enjoyed a pint in a dirty bar, this book captures the essence of the gentility of the game.

This book is a must have for anyone who is seeking truth. The information leads you to a brink of brand new enlightenment.Nile Valley Contributions... is the beginning of the real story...

Socialwk@mail.com- email me if you come across another must have such as this

Alexandrian versus Antiochene Theology :
The Alexandrines based their Christology on john 1:14 amending it mystically with 1 Tim 3:16. They explained the Logos-sarx union with the soul-body analogy to illustrate the substantial union, an ontological oneness, between divinity and humanity in Christ. The rival theology of the Antiochenes employed the soul-body analogy to explain how the Divinity and humanity united in Christ without loosing their full integrity.

Cyril of Alexandria:
st. Cyril of Alexandria, the Christological champion for Orthodoxy, developed and exalted the theology of the famous school of Alexandria (Catechetical Didaskalia) He was trained by his uncle Theophilus of Alexandria, followed faithfully the Tradition of Alexandria from Clement, and Origen to Athanasius and Didymus, the blind. He was a great biblical expositor, and his christology is Bible based.Thomas Weinandy, debates that Cyril is the first, if not the only patristic theologian to employ the soul-body analogy properly, for different Church fathers conceive the union in Christ depending on their carrier philosophy, platonic, Stoic, or Aristotelian.

On The unity of Christ:
This book is the last of Cyrils theological essays discrediting Nestorius and his Antiochene christology, and contains his most mature teaching on the mystery of union that baffled the theologians since the fourth century. It was written in the form of a dialogue, to explain the Hypostatic Union in Christ.
(R. Yanney: Coptic Church review; vol 19, No 4)

Translator/Editor:
Fr. john McGukin, is professor of Early Church History, Union Theological Seminary, NY. He is a patristic scholar, and theologian. He wrote seven books and numerous articles, and is an expert on Cyril and Alexandrine theology. The translation is in a lucid language, with an elaborate introduction on Cyril's life and Christology. An in depth treatment of Cyril dogmatic theology, which has been revived in the last decades.

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