A recent survey found that the death of a pet is one of the times when children most want to talk to clergy---rivalled only by divorce. This book asks some difficult questions (what is the church? how do we deal with death?) and offers, in return, God's love. Churches which celebrate the Feast of St. Francis could have someone read it out loud after the service and lead a discussion. This lovely story will appeal to all ages.

This book is wonderful for anyone who's ever had and loved a cat. It does deal with death, and is very sad at the end. A great way to help a child deal with the death of a pet.

My Grade three class thoroughly enjoyed the story of Leo. We were doing a unit on cats and Leo's story was one of the highlights. An excellent book.

I loved this book. I was impressed with Jolie's strength and the way she got
on with her life despite the fact she lost Alvin when he broke up with her.
Jolie had a lot of stress and trauma to deal with at a young and
impressionable age. She seemed to have had some issues with trust but
resolved those issues. I particularly like the fact that Jolie was
non-judgemental towards her young brother and was so supportive of him and
his girlfriend. Alvin is a guy who despite the macho world of professional
sports, showed a wonderful sensitive side towards everyone. Youngsters,
friends and family alike. A number of the problems Jolie and Alvin faced
came from outside forces, out of their control, but despite these, both
ended together happily ever after. A great plus for readers who love
basketball as well as a terrific romance story!

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and the romantic tension bewteen the 2 main characters. It's a great story about love lost through miscommunication, and how fate eventually brings you back to the one you love. Ms. Martin-Arnold knows how to write good romance!!

I recently read "Jolie's Surrender", and I found it to be most enjoyable. I usually do not read romance novels, however, "Jolie's Surrender" has converted me. The novel consist of an extremely well written plot, instead of the usual 'moan scenes'. Although those types of scenes are there, they are well placed, and within the flow of the story. After reading "Jolie's Surrender", and reading the reviews for "Eve's Prescription", I am defintiely going to run out and buy it! I highly recommend both books!

Spirit of the West is a fantastic cookbook, chock full of great Ranch-Style recipes and home-style food. It is the IACP Cookbook Award Winner, and once I opened it, I could tell why! Its filled with some great recipes, tantalizing photos and accompanying stories.

My particular favorites are Quichelna Cattle Company's Rum ribs,Abuelita's Chicken Soup,Flour Tortillas, Way Station Pot Roast with Dumplings. I'm looking forward to trying the biscuit on a stick and Mrs. Swan's White Cake! YUM.

Fans of cookbooks and western cuisine are sure to appreciate this cookbook. The photos are huge, tasteful, and numerous, and the recipes offer a delightful mix of western and Mexican inspired food. Just reading this cookbook makes me hungry. =-)

Give your kitchen a shot of true blue ranch cooking with this wonderful book. This extraordinary informative and practical book will win new friends among cooks everywhere, whether experienced or new to the kitchen. Spirit of the West cooking is to be valued chiefly for its "heirloom" dishes. Treasured heirlooms that come down to us from a day when hard physical labor and a need for thrift made chuck-wagon cooks provide satisfying, hearty, filling meals. Rich simmered soups; old fashioned pot roast with dumplings, hot puddings and wonderful baking recipes will take you on a nostalgic trip to the days when homemade breads were a part of everyday life. The Spirit of the West cookbook has the best of the old recipes, easy to prepare with step-by-step instructions attuned to yesteryear's simpler, more informal approach to mealtime. Once you have tried just a few of the recipes, you will understand why generation after generation of good cooks has shared with confidence and assurance their best cooking. Use the full-color photographs for inspiration; then turn your kitchen into the most welcome place in your neck of the woods.

This book offers exercises, explanation and examples of a transformative approach to radical social change. While I believe it is out of print, I will keep recommending it to anyone who's working on issues of oppression and organizational change within their movement.

Eve's Prescription is a well-written and entertaining romance debut novel from Edwina Martin Arnold.

On their way to a romanctic rendezvous, Eve and her husband, Todd, have a tragic car accident. Todd is successful in saving Eve; however, he succumbs and loses his own life. Since that tragic incidence, 4 years ago, Eve has closed off all sexual, intimate, and sensuous feelings for another man. Instead she spends her time practicing law during the day as a Prosecuting Attorney and the evenings are spent with her elderly, live-in mom, Beulah and her 14-year old son, Sean.

Her friends, Ebony and Yoshi, worry about her and they are forever playing matchmaker but to no avail because Eve is simply not interested in another man. After all she has the memories of 14 years to a wonderful man. But, Ebony still tries and one evening at their weekly domino game, Ebony introduces Eve to Noah... the passionate, sensual, attractive, red, hot, firefighter. Sparks fly when Eve meets Noah but she's not ready to give in to her physical nature, after all, she was in a loving marriage for 14 years and Noah is several years her junior and has a reputation of being a lady's man. Noah has had more than his share of women but none of them have touched the essence of his soul like the attractive and intelligent Eve. Noah is on a mission to get to know Eve better, however, his reputation has preceded him and Eve doesn't desire to be another notch on his belt buckle.

But unbeknownst to Eve is the real Noah. The Noah that few women ever really get a chance to see primarily because they don't seek him for those qualities-he's strong, intelligent, supportive, gentle, decisive and a positive role model that other brothas could take some pointers from. Will Eve let down her guard and open up her heart to Noah? But, oh, while, Eve is debating and being difficult, will another woman primarily in the form of another woman/hoochie mama named Ms. Regina just waltz in and waltz off on a white horse with Noah?

Eve's Prescriptions combines sexual tension, rich character and relationship development to make for a very good romantic genre storyline. This is a book that romance and non-romance readers alike can enjoy. Edwina Martin Arnold has a strong debut and a promising career as a romance writer.

Four years ago, somehow her spouse lost control and drove their car into the river. Todd managed to get Eve Garrett to safe ground, but failed to make it. Stunned by what happened, Eve became a widow raising a ten-year-old boy by herself.

For the past two years, her neighbor Ebony has tried to find a man for Eve with no success. At their weekly domino game, Ebony introduces Eve to a new partner, fire fighter Noah Russell. To her shock, Eve reacts to a male for the first time since Todd died, but she knows that Noah is wrong for her as he is younger and the stud of the moment that every woman in town wants. Noah knows that he feels good whenever he is with Eve and her son, but he has his work cut out if he is to overcome her reluctance to have a man in their lives even if love cements the relationships.

EVE'S PRESCRIPTION is an entertaining second chance at love ethnic romance. The story line is interesting because the secondary cast lightens the tale even though they are quite serious when it comes to caring for Eve. Noah may be a pinup in the women's locker room, but his compassionate side makes him more than a hunk of beef. Eve is complex as she struggles between guilt and her first reaction to a man since the death of Todd. Edwina Martin-Arnold makes a strong debut with a wonderful drama.

Harriet Klausner

Todd and Eve Garrett were on their way to a romantic getaway when Todd lost control of the car. Todd saved Eve, but couldn't save himself. Todd died leaving Eve with their young son Sean to raise.

Eve was an excellent Prosecuting Attorney. She took her work seriously and loved it. She really didn't have a social life. Now that Todd was gone, she just wasn't interested in becoming involved with any man. Eve's played Dominos with her friend Ebony and her husband. Ebony tried to set Eve up with a hunk named Noah. At their first meeting there was a spark of something between them. Eve had heard about Noah's reputation as a ladies man and didn't want to become another conquest for him. She had only been with her husband Todd and they had been married for 14 years. Noah wanted to get to know Eve and was definitely thinking of a lasting relationship with her, if she would just give him a chance.

Eve's Prescription was Edwina's first romance novel. It was a wonderful story about a woman trying to fight her way back to the world of love and romance. Great job Ms. Edwina.

Pyramid building, according to the author, should be placed not in the context of only Ancient Egyptian technology, but rather in that of Near Eastern technology. This book is devoted to understanding the methods used by the Ancient Egyptians to build the pyramids. Numerous illustrations and excellent evidence complete this professional, believable and backed-up discussion, which will be of much use to interested readers.

This work is by someone who understands stonework and is compelling in its suggestions of how the pyramids might have been constructed.

A must read for those interested in this topic.

This book was required reading for one of my undergraduate history classes. I've picked it up once again some 12 years after having read it the first time, and am happy to recommend it as a quality history of Constantine's conversion to the faith.

Jones does not spend a significant amount of time with Constantine's vision of the Chi Rho at the battle of the Milvian Bridge. This is proper because the most important thing about that event is what occurs afterwards.

This is a fair history with minimal amounts of speculation. Jones accurately states that we know little of Constantine's personal relationship with God. We have a historical record that, at first, is a witness of a somewhat ambiguous conversion and then speaks to a sort of "learning curve" where Constantine gets comfortable with his new Christian identity.

Constantine's first attitude toward the Christian faith seems to be that of a minimal insider. His first act was to cease persecutions and enact laws that tolerated the Christian faith. Interestingly, this emperor of an uncertain conversion (you get the impression he didn't know what to do with his faith) immediately began to intervene in Christian relgious affairs. Unfortunately, his conversion may have been too much of a "good thing" for the Christian church. Jones develops this theme well.

It had been Roman imperial custom for the emperor to decide what was pleasing to the gods. In this sense, Constantine seems to have struggled with this role in a Christian milieu. As compared to the pagan religions, Christianity had a well established hierarchical priesthood. And this, as Jones relates, is a powerful dynamic in Christian history - a struggle to find the right accommodation between Church and state.

Jone's work is a very good history. It is brief but packed with interesting data regarding not only Constantine but the early struggles of the Church in refuting error. Any student of early Church history or european history for that matter would enjoy this work.

in the course of Roman history, Jones aptly threads the line between historical analysis and narrative. He assuredly begins the book with a brief, yet astute history of Christianity in the Roman empire and carries through to the legal decrees establishing Christianity as the most favored religion of the empire. Yet, he does not forget to speculate on the plebeian reaction to Constantine's refusal to sacrifice to the Capitoline gods after his ascension to the throne.

This book is a wonderful place to begin the exploration of Christianity's role in the Roman empire.

This small, well-written volume does an admirable job of recreating the volatility of the theological-political cusp which the Roman empire found itself in the early 4th century. The primary instigator of this momentous transition, the Emperor Constantine, is rendered in a balanced, but somewhat muted, portrait. Beginning with an excellent explication of the root causes of Roman social and political difficulties in the 3rd century, Jones focuses quickly on the religious milieu of the times. In a few well-crafted paragraphs, he clearly illustrates Christianity's parallels and divergences from the other contemporary popular cults. This is combined with a somewhat bland recounting of Constantine's path to power and reasoned speculation concerning his famous pre-Malvian "vision," acceptance or rejection of which will largely depend on personal taste. Sounds good to me, though. Where the book really shines, though, is in its detailed portrayal of the bitter fractious disputes within the Church, and how they mercilessly frustrated Constantine's wish for theocratic unity. Seventeen centuries later, the Emperor's rage and consternation are still fresh in his letters.

A.H.M. Jones' exhaustive and resourceful two-volume work on the "Later Roman Empire," is a definite recommendation for anyone seeking a deeper perspective of the times, although for informal reading it is not suggested. Over three hundred years are covered elaborately in twelve-hundred pages, and also the appendix itself is roughly five-hundred pages, though much of it will not be intelligible to general readers, since much of the information in it is preserved in the original Latin. Jones' work is a fountain head of research material, broken into two parts: the first is a basic overview of the religious, political, and military conditions of the empire; and the second part, which is more bulky and detailed, is an overview of the social, economic, and administrative aspects of the empire. With this, and J.B. Bury's two-volume work on the "Later Roman Empire," one may boast of holding two of the greater achievements in scholarship on this particular area of study.

This mammoth work guides the reader through all aspects of the later Roman Empire showering facts and sources upon him. It is better, perhaps, as a source of reference than as bedtime reading, for its sheer size and density of fact would exhaust all but the most avid and concentrated historians of the period.

The most useful aspect of it must be the incredibly detailed source references, which comprise the fourth volume of his work. This enables those who have not the time or energy to wade through the entire book to use it as the definitive piece of reference for the period.

I bought this book because of the enthusiastic reviews it received on the Amazon.com website. Having looked through it, I am thoroughly disappointed. The author is apparently either unaware of the great novels dealing with Benedict Arnold, beautifully and accurately written in the 1930's by Kenneth Roberts,or has chosen to ignore them. I find this totally unacceptable, since much of what we know about the march to Quebec, the retreat and near loss of the Northern Army on Isle Aux Noix, and the Battle of Valcour Island came to light in "Arundel" and "Rabble in Arms". Martin apparently wanted to write an academic version of Arnold's life, but his failure to cite Roberts renders the Martin book intellectually dishonest. Further, that Martin could have failed to mention Roberts' collection of diaries entitled "The March on Quebec" is truly mind boggling. If it would be possible to give the book zero stars, I would do so for it doesn't deserve the one I had to give it.

Martin's biography demonstrates the complexities of Arnold's mercurial character, but falls short of the completeness needed to become the "authoritative Arnold". The author syphons through 2 centuries of myth to find the true Benedict Arnold: a complex human being with amazing military talent, caught over and again in a web of politicking which he neither understood nor approved. Arnold's treason becomes more heroicly tragic than dastardly. Indeed, the reader cannot help but see similarities of today's "look out for my own best interests" philosophy in business, sports, and politics. It would seem Arnold may be the ultimate example of American individualism.

While Martin's work is well written, interesting, and highly readable, it is far too incomplete to be anything other than a suplementary source. Martin ignores key activites in Arnold's life, most importantly his time spent as commandant in Philadephia, and also ignores the romance and marriage to Peggy Shippen. Col. Andre is mentioned in only a cursory manner. The treason itself is barely touched upon. The book essentially ends after the Battles of Sarasota, when Arnold was badly wounded. What emerges is an interesting but incomplete portriat of General Arnold.

This book would be a great Volume One, if Martin were to continue the biography by addressing these other events in Arnolds life. But for one who is interested in learning about Arnold for the first time, this book is best left on the shelf for after a more thorough biography.

I began this book with the preconceived notion that I think most American's have that Arnold had absolutely no redeeming qualities. This book dispels that myth but at the same time offers no apology for Arnold's treason. The extent of James Kirby Martin's research and analysis is the book's strongest point. Up until Arnold's treason, his contributions to the American Revolution were substantial yet largely unappreciated. Martin documents in great detail the heroic and selfless actions taken by Arnold in the early part of the war, and then dissects Arnold's disillusionment with the independence movement and descent into betrayal. Arnold's distaste for the independence movement centered on the Continental Congress, where decisions were made to placate regional interests and to appease petty egos rather than to reward meritorious conduct on the battlefield. The ironic thing is that Arnold had the unwavering loyalty of the one person who counted: George Washington. Arnold was unable to appreciate this. Washington, like Arnold, had his many detractors in the Congress, yet Washington, unlike Arnold, was not consumed by it in the end. This book is not an apology for Benedict Arnold's attempt to hand West Point over to the British. Rather, it is a compelling acknowledgement that Arnold was a complex individual who had many virtuous qualities and who poured every ounce of his being into the quest for independence until he was consumed by his disillusionment. I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all persons who are interested in American History. James Kirby Martin challenges what we learn about Benedict Arnold as children, yet never requires us to conclude that Arnold's treason was either laudable or excusable.

I am an absolute fanatic for history, particularly of the ancient and medieval time period. However, there are some books that, however interesting the subject COULD be, simply squeeze all the juice and sparkle out of history. This is one of them. It is bland, tedious, a maze of dry facts and endlessly reiterated names, which leaves you scarcely the wiser about what Augustus did, except for the summarizing paragraphs. I have seldom encountered a book so dreadful, boring, and impossible to read. If you love history, do not, I repeat, do not, waste your time trying to read this grey and flavorless droning.

As other reviewers have iterated, this book is a little dry and bland, yet it is also valuably thorough and complete. The first few chapters detail the upbringing and rise of Octavian (later Augustus) through politics and service to Rome under the banner of his adopted father, Caesar. The next chapters detail the governmental and constitutional process by which he gradually assumed absolute power over Rome in a way that seems to conform with Roman constitutional precepts.
This governmental section is fairly complex and can be a little confusing, as its use of uncommon Latin legal terms and concepts little known to the reader not well associated with Roman constitutionalism makes it extremely difficult to understand if a solid knowledge of Roman republican government is not already known by the reader. To grasp the full meaning of this section, prior knowledge of the period and subject will prove helpful, and the source list given by Jones in the book is thorough and gives some good ideas on where to find such information.
The final chapters are divided between different subjects changed or effected by the rule of Augustus, such as military, finance, religion, social policy etc. These chapters are well written in skillful brevity and give a valuable allotment of insight into the true importance of Augustus' rule and into Roman life at the end of the republic and beginning of the principate. The true value of this book is realized only in these final chapters, for it is in these that Jones skill as an interpretive and analytical historian take root. The earlier chapters feature less such masterful history, but they do give a thorough though dry overview of a major subject. Thankfully these last chapters make up for this and make the title a brief and valuable option for anyone looking interested in Roman or governmental history.

Jones does a good job of painting a portrait of Augustus from Julius Caesar's death to Augustus's own death. What Jones reveals is that Augustus was a wise ruler who tried to conceal his absolute power by putting on the trappings of a Republic, a man who prevented people from worshipping him while he was alive to prevent resentment from the nobles. Jones also shows how Augustus played a part in the great boom of literature and art during his reign (Livy, Horace, Virgil, and Ovid all lived during Augustus's reign). Although his cautious nature prevented him from being a great military leader like his adoptive father, he nonetheless ended many civil wars that plagued the empire before his arrival.