Fascinating, though too long. I recommend starting with Taylor's _Liberty Men and Great Proprietors_, which seems to have been less of a "labor of love."

The tale of James Fenimore Cooper's father on the New York frontier in the 1790s is an Horatio Alger story run amuck. Born to a poor Quaker farm family, William Cooper learned the craft of making and repairing wheels before reinventing himself as a land speculator, founder of Cooperstown, judge, congressman, patrician farmer and Federalist party powerhouse.

Alan Taylor's WILLIAM COOPER'S TOWN: POWER AND PERSUASION ON THE FRONTIER OF THE EARLY AMERICAN REPUBLIC is an outstanding biography of an archetypical American character, an extraordinary social history of life and politics on the late eighteenth-century frontier and a brilliant exercise in literary analysis.

This is a wonderful read. Taylor's lively prose, compelling narrative and original, fresh story sustained my interest from cover to cover. I never would have imagined such a dull title could cover such a marvelous book. WILLIAM COOPER'S TOWN certainly deserves the Pulitzer Prize it was awarded.

Taylor not only describes William Cooper's rise from rags to riches and even more meteoric fall but analyzes Cooper's political odyssey in America's frontier democratic workshop.

"As an ambitious man of great wealth but flawed gentility, Cooper became caught up in the great contest of postrevolutionary politics: whether power should belong to traditional gentlemen who styled themselves 'Fathers of the People' or to cruder democrats who acted out the new role of 'Friends of the People.'"

Taylor argues "Cooper faced a fundamental decision as he ventured into New York's contentious politics. Would he affiliate with the governor and the revolutionary politics of democratic assertion? Or would he endorse the traditional elitism championed by...Hamilton." "Brawny, ill educated, blunt spoken, and newly enriched," writes Taylor, "Cooper had more in common with George Clinton than with his aristocratic rivals." "For a rough-hewn, new man like Cooper, the democratic politics practiced by Clinton certainly offered an easier path to power. Yet, like Hamilton, Cooper wanted to escape his origins by winning acceptance into the genteel social circles where Clinton was anathema." Taylor concludes "Cooper's origins pulled him in one political direction, his longing in another."

James Fenimore Cooper's third novel, THE PIONEERS, is an ambivalent, fictionalized examination of his father's failure to measure up to the genteel stardards William Cooper set for himself and that his son James internalized. The father's longing became the son's demand.

Taylor analyzes the father-son relationship, strained by Williams decline before ever fully measuring up to the stardards he had set, and the son's fictionalized account of this relationship.

James Fenimore Cooper spent most of his adult life seeking the "natural aristocrat" his father wanted to be and compensating for his father's shortcomings. It is ironic that the person James Fenimore Cooper found to be the embodiment of the "natural aristocrat" his father had longed to be and that he had created in THE CRATER and his most famous character, Natty Bumppo, was the quintessential "Friend of the People"--Andrew Jackson.

I enjoyed this book immensely and give it my strongest recommendation!

This is the story of William Cooper, the founder of Cooperstown, New York, and of how his son, James Fenimore Cooper, used his father's life and experiences in his novels. Described in this way, this sounds like a narrow book, of interest mainly to specialists. But anyone interested in early America should read this book: it reveals truths not only about these two men but about the whole period. One of the key themes of the book is that the Revolution, which in a sense made William Cooper by pushing aside the old aristocracy of New York, also unmade him by creating an anti-aristocratic politics that ousted him and other Federalists in 1800. A fascinating minor detail: the city fathers, in their effort to maintain a proper tone in Cooperstown in the early 1800s, outlawed stick ball, the precursor of baseball.

Im reading the book Pee Wee Scouts,Pedal Power by Judy Delton,it is a realistic -fiction book.I was reading the book and it wasn't that interesting at first but then it started geting queer.I highly reccomend this book to readers because its funny but kind of simple.This book is mostly about some scouts helping,doing,or saving people,but it gets monotonous some times. I'm enjoying this book because its about theese scouts savig people and its fantastic for me because it tells people from good and bad. And there wasn't nothig that I disliked.

My 7 year old loved this book and the others we have read in this series. He can relate to many of the characters and likes that the kids which all have different interests can still play together even if they don't always agree. We used this book as a group bedtime story for my 3 kids: 3, 5, & 7 and it held all of their attention while provoking questions about saftey that we could talk about. We loved it!

This book gives the most needed information on power system Harmonics along with the necessary background theory. It is a most useful piece of information source on the topic of growing concern.

However, discussion about mitigation techniques for harmonics is not apparently present in the book.

I think this book is necessary for all new electrical engineers graduates, it shows you that the fascinating world of power quality is easier to understand that it seems.

This book has kept me company for many a days when the weather here in Seattle has been less than cooperative. Segur paints a picture of Chicago that is bleak yet strangely attractive to the young struggling artists and workers. Stanley, the main character lives his life in Chicago on a day to day basis that exemplifies what many early 20's adults are like today in a city that is so giant. The constant feeling of being less than something great. A wonderful book for those that have lived in Chicago or still living there, and for those that have gone through their early 20's wandering. It has certainly made me think of moving back...

I read this book in less than a week, which is twice as meaningful given that I am in grad school midterms. It was hard to put down. I read it on the train, walking down the street, and stayed up until 2 am to finish it. The everyday characters generate your interest because they are real people as opposed to the idealized characters that are traditionally presented in magazines, films and TV. In addition, the writing; visual and tactile culinary descriptions are great.

The Wealth of Choices is a very entertaining, highly readable introduction to how the internet will impact individual's lives. I would recommend this book if your have not read on this topic previously and would like to get your feet wet. The clear message that Murray delivers is that, for better or worse, your number of choices and responsibilities is going to explode in the future. He does this through numerous anecdotes in areas ranging from choosing your electricity supplier to choosing your hospital to choosing how to manage your retirement savings. Refreshingly, Murray notes not only the positive aspects of this increase in choices and responsibilities but also the downside (do you really want to spend a day figuring out who is lowest cost electricity provider?).

However, what this book does not provide is up-to-date practical advice for how to deal with the increase in choices. For example, the section on internet shopping is particularly dated, and fails to discuss tools such as price comparison shopping bots. Similarly, I would not base any financial decisions on the chapter on investing in the new economy. Much more thorough information on investing for the novice can be found in sources such as W.J. Bernstein's The Intelligent Asset Allocator, Siegel and Bernstein's Stocks for the Long Run, J. Bogle's Common Sense on Mutual Funds : New Imperatives for the Intelligent Investor or even online.......... This is probably the biggest flaw in The Wealth of Choices-there is no major listing of additional references to get more detailed information on any of the topics.

In short, borrow The Wealth of Choices from the library, get some ideas, but spend your money on more thorough books for a reference that you will return to over and over.

Alan S. Murray's book delves into the well-worn themes of globalization and digitization, but manages to differentiate itself from the rest of the New Economy flotilla by offering up specific, practical suggestions on how consumers and business owners can cope. Many of Murray's major points have been presented more effectively in other books, such as Tom Friedman's The Lexus and the Olive Tree. That said, his advice on health care, education and career advancement in the New Economy is useful and easy to understand. So we at getAbstract recommend this book less for its broad overview of the Internet Economy and more for its common-sense wisdom for daily life in a dotcom world. (One caveat: as a result of the recent technology slump, some of Murray's analysis is already somewhat dated.)

"It's a great moment to be alive. Make the most of it."

The book's basic premise is that the economy has changed so much that you have to change your assumptions in order to prosper in terms of your health and money.

The first chapter, Not My Father's Economy, sets this up by sharing the advice his father always gave him and suggesting that these rules no longer apply.

The second chapter is a quiz that lets you test how well you have adapted to the new economic realities. The quiz is on the main points in the rest of the book, so if you do well in any part of that section, you can skip the material on that subject when you get to it later on. A strength of this structure is that it customizes the book for each reader, regardless of how savvy or out of it they are about the new economy.

Then, he shares hiw own experiences in how the new economy has changed for him in chapter 3. You will meet many famous and fascinating figures, such as the Gardner brothers of Motley Fool fame.

Chapters 4-12 are devoted to shopping, health care, education, work, how to spend your time and attention, investing, starting a business, retirement, and privacy (one per chapter). In these chapters, he gives you tips for each area, on-line sources you can access to keep up-to-date, and suggests key operating principles.

Here's a summary of his perspective on the economy: "Today, the basic market principles of competition and choice have swept into every aspect of American life." "The world has gotten smaller; competition has gotten more intense; choices have become more plentiful." "Globalization, deregulation, and digitalization are turning the entire world into a modern version of the Istanbul bazaar." " . . . The power balance, for the first time in the history of capitalism, has shifted in the consumer's favor." He has trouble defining the new economy, and does so with a series of negatives. It isn't very effective, but a definition probably isn't very important for achieving the book's purposes.

For those who like their economics in a qualitative form and in an abbreviated journalistic style, this book will be an excellent source of why the economy has and is changing.

For those who want to know how to get the best deal, this book is invaluable. While all of the other books about the Internet primarily focus on building a business or investing, this one shows how to use the Internet for everyday benefits for everyone. I am sure that many books will follow in this vein, but this is the first one I have seen done from this perspective. He also offers a web site where you can keep up-to-date on on-line sources.

But the real benefit is in helping you see where you may have stalled thinking about what you should be focusing on. The book is highly effective in showing you where to look and what questions to ask. For example, if 88 percent of mutual funds underperform the market averages, why do you own one that is not an index fund? I would give the book more than five stars if I could for this aspect.

The book's main weakness is that you cannot teach someone everything they need to know in each of the areas in a few pages. His reach exceeds his grasp in areas like investing, starting a business, privacy and retiring. Each subject area requires many books to fully understand. You should go find those books and study them. Don't take the advice here too literally.

I also thought that he misunderstands about education. He suggests going for the 'best' education, but seems to automatically equate that with 'brand name' education. Be a little more skeptical than that about the 'brand names' in education. Their product is not what it once was.

After you have read and absorbed the book's lessons, ask yourself how much of your time you really want to spend on making all of these new choices. Then decide which areas you will spend that time on. Even with the tips in this book, you will still find that you will have to ration your attention. I suggest you focus on health care, education, work (or business), and use whatever is left for shopping. But you should decide for yourself!

This book is a collection of stories about mostly straight people who had friends or relatives come out. One thing that happens to straight friends and relatives at someone's coming-out is that the gay person is out and the family or friends go into the closet. This book explores how family and friends deal with gayness and how they come out of their closets, too. There is a briefest of brief introductions that summarizes the stories to follow, and there is a fairly extensive resource guide in the back full of addresses and organizations of every kind for information, support, and advice. If you are a straight friend or family member of a gay person, this is a great resource--although I think you might also profit from books such as:

Coming Out of Shame--written for gay and lesbian people but for a straight reader an important and valuable insight into gay and lesbian people's feelings and emotional difficulties coming out

Stranger at the Gate--if you have conflicted religious views, this autobiography is invaluable

In the end, however, this is a great first step to coming to understand and support the gay or lesbian person in your life. Congratulations for considering buying this book!

i believe this book shows us how we use our natural resources in a good way.

Lucidly written exposition with stress on concepts rather than notation manipulation. Dollar auctions, Arrow's theorem, Power indices were especially interesting reading. Probably the best place for a layman to get the dope on Arrow's impossibility theorem. Does get a bit tedious in some spots with some numerical permutations, but on the whole, I recommend it highly.

another well done piece by dahl. he brings you into the everyday runnings of an american city and lets people see how politics can run and ruin everything.

Even though this book looks like an advanced Tai Chi book in reality it tells you about nothing. Nothing about the back spine management on how to generate energy while you are pushing (or whatever you are doing in tai chi work). There is something on accumulating energy in the position that's absolutely not useful. Even the younger beginner understands the back leg needs to work like a spring without buying this "advanced" book. But the question is not on how the back leg should work, what it is exspected from a book like this is to get tips and training methods on the "back spine and waist /hips work" that's the real point on generating martial power in Tai Chi and Internal Martial Art. The level of this book is so lower that is absolutely not comparable with other Dr Yang's books I've read and reviewed.

To me, YMAA is one fo the best martial arts publishers around...but don't lure yourself, youwi ll never attain a deep level in internal arts with only a book, even if it is the best one. However this book is definitely a good buy, clear, full of insights, with as usual for YMAA a load of theory (and that's a good point). The pictures are numerous, good, but still you'll need to get involved to catch all he subtleties of the demonstrated points. Dr Yang is definitely a genuine master (I personally experienced what he is worth) and even though he tries to pass down all his knowledge, there are lots of areas you will need to endeavour and discover yourself. To finish, I would like to say that doubting Dr Yang's knowledge about Tai Chi is like disputing with Stephen Hawkings on his last book about quantum physics. This book will definitely be helpful to you and whatever your level is, you'll be able to grab and grow one of the many seeds in this solid work.

Dr. Yang has again written a book in keeping with his usual high standards. For students wishing to go beyond the basic Taijiquan form, and learn more advanced levels and techniques of qi flow, the different types of jin, and how to generate them, this book is indispensable. One caveat : as its title suggests, this book is for more advanced students, and assumes that the reader has a foundation in Taijiquan, at least the basics of the form and some basic qigong.