This is a truly fascinating and engaging work. The meaning of indepence from Great Britain is much more profound that one would think on first thought. With this idea in mind, Morgan penetrates to the fundamental ideas and characters of each three men. For both Washington and Adams, I must say that he is right on target. His account of Jefferson is also good, although I cannot help but wonder why Morgan spends some much time and space castigating the man for what he views to be his short-comings. Regardless of the actual merit of his criticisms, he clearly strays rather far from the subject of the work. Nevertheless, the piece as a whole is gem.

Edmund Morgan is perhaps the most readable American colonial historian. Best known for his books on the Puritans and colonial slavery, Morgan here presents three lectures on what three founding fathers thought about independence. George Washington, John Adams, and Thomas Jefferson are three very complicated individuals, and no short lecture is going to completely explicate their ideas. But Morgan brings his typical verve and clarity to the subject, and speaking as a AP history teacher, I found them to be well worth my time.

I first encountered Morgan's wonderful book in a college history class (thanks, Dr. Bourdon!), but this is no dry academic tome (personally, I think that there is no reason an academic book has to be dry, anyway). The book's three essays--one each on the named presidents and their points of view on the struggle that produced this nation--are both insightful and pleasurable reading. For the casual reader, there is Morgan's gift for anecdote. His description of the personality conflict between Adams and Benjamin Franklin is hilarious, as is Adams' timeless description of the tedium of legislatures (some things really do never change!). That said, there is also serious analysis of these three men, and what each contributed, thought, and said, written with a critcal but respectful tone. It's hard to say which essay is the best, but those who despise Thomas Jefferson for hypocrisy should certainly read his section, and learn about his genuine, if tempered, idealism--a trait we could use more of in the 1990's. This is an excellent choice for anyone who wants to broaden and deepen his or her knowledge of the origins of this country.

Jamaica has a distinct attitude and unique character unlike any other Caribbean island you are likely to visit. The people of this country are proud of their history, sportsmen, and artistic and musical genius. Yet the inequity of wealth, growing poverty, governmental corruption, and grave social tensions have created an attitude within Jamaicans that can be brash, sassy, rude, and often in-your-face. This is especially true around the big, all-inclusive resorts, which exacerbate the inequity of wealth.

A good guidebook should give you more than just star ratings on hotels and restaurants - it should help the savvy and curious traveler learn about the culture, politics, and people as well as tell you where to find the best beaches and hottest night clubs.

"Jamaica: The Rough Guide" is a good source for travel in Jamaica, although some content is lacking.

The authors have adequately covered all the basic information for visiting Jamaica. The accommodation and restaurant sections are ample enough to help the reader make a decision, but I found the ratings systems in guides such as Fielding to be easier to comprehend and use. A significant shortcoming is the lack of web sites or e-mail address...today, most hotels have e-mail and web sites that make booking a reservation easy and cheap. Since the guide is a 1999 reprint, this information should be included.

There are some very interesting and occasionally fascinating tidbits of information found in sidebars on the pages of this guidebook. For example, "Sexual Stamina Potions ensure a sexual libido in Jamaican men" and "Ackee: the national dish kills up to 10 people a year."

Overall, "Jamaica: The Rough Guide" is a valuable guide and will help you understand this wonderful country. It is an adequate guidebook as it pertains to recommending hotels and restaurants. Recommended >

The Rough Guide covers the gamut in no-nonsense, tell it like it is terminology. This is not a guide designed to explain how wonderful Jamaica is -- the reader gets a good sense of the great opportunities for fun and adventure Jamaica provides, as well as enormously valuable tips on how to deal with some of the less pleasant aspects of traveling there. The book makes no bones, for instance, about the constant presence of hawkers and ganja pushers no matter where you are -- and it gives travelers a good idea of how to stay safe and happy on vacation. Where the book lacks is in its profiles of hotels and restaurants -- the Rough Guide favors info on how to get around, local culture, unusual local haunts, etc. The editors do welcome input from readers based on their experiences in Jamaica, though. I highly recommend buying this book well before you go to Jamaica, and be sure to bring it with you!

I have been to Jamaica many times since 1972, doing research as an anthropologist, which includes reading everything I can about its people and culture as well as traveling about and living in various communities. I picked up this book shortly before my most recent trip, hoping to get some hints on places to stay as it's been awhile since I've been back. I read it thoroughly as I traveled extensively around the island for 18 days. And I'm quite impressed. It is an extremely informative and accurate guide to the history, culture, things to see and do, places to eat and stay. The hotel reviews are brief but to the point. The advice is sound. The maps are very helpful. The only criticism I can make is that in at least two cases I found the directions to be wrong. I am most impressed with the fact that the book can really get you out of the tourist areas and into the real Jamaica. It is a great guide for those who want to EXPLORE the island and come to know it well. This takes time, a car, and money, though. Finally, I'd like to add that the book is just the right size, easy to carry, and has a very sturdy cover and binding, so it'll survive more than one trip. I suppose the greatest compliment is that a Jamaican friend wanted me to give it to her after she discovered it had information on her own town that she didn't know.

A very useful book for advanced ESL/EFL teaching. However, it lacks when it comes to listening exercises - there are none. The cassette should have more than just the introductory dialogues.

You can learn and expand your range and understanding of idioms with this book! Each unit, total of 24 units, deals with idioms concerning attitudes : perseverance, acts of kindness, natural ability, etc. You can learn idioms in step-by-step procedures, such as warm-up, situation, analysis and explanation parts and others. Read and enjoy it.

John Galvin guides the reader through Boston politics in the fifteen years preceding the Revolution, 1760-1775. Mr. Galvin focuses on the three men he contends were the most influential in the events in Boston in the pre-revolutionary years (Thomas Hutchinson, James Otis, and Samuel Adams).Very readable and a good source of behind-the-scenes activity that led to the beginning of the American Revolution.

Author John R. Galvin explores the personalities of three key figures whose actions and discourses constituted the roots of the American Revolution. Galvin's admirable scholarly discipline and his keen analysis deserve praise. His scope is very precise: it begins and ends with the period where Hutchinson, Adams, and Otis were interacting. Readers interested in Hutchinson, Adams, or Otis should read this book to gain a deeper insight into their personal philosophies and into the political struggles and challenges which made or defeated them, and which ultimately constituted the unyielding backdrop of their social existence and historical judgement. Readers interested in mid-18th century Massachussetts or American politics will learn much about the many groups and organizations of the period.

Although I think this is a good book, I thought the emphasis on logistical descriptions was too severe. I had to struggle through portions on unit descriptions that were a myriad acronyms and batallion numbers. The antecdotal descriptions of special forces events are far better served by topic specific novels. For example, "Black Hawk Down" by M. Bowden did a much better job of setting the ferocity and importance of the events in Somalia, as well as a better description of the special forces involved, even though that was secondary to the plot. I learned more about the SEALS from reading Marcinko's non-fiction Rogue Warrior novel than I felt I digested from this book. I also thought the author was too focused on Psychological Ops., whose role as a special force, is well, boring. In sum, although a sterling account on the descriptions of the special forces units and their specific goals, the lack of real-event development, such as Stephen Ambrose makes this a hard book to finish.

I really enjoyed this book since it is a real departure from the usual collection of "there I was, ankle deep in hot brass" stories that characterize writing on special operations. It has some of that, but in the main this is a thoughtful look at the evolving nature, purpose and application of America's "secret warriors." The author's real focus is the underlying philosophy of special operations and the way that they fit (or compete) with more conventional military methods. This is a unique book, recommended for anyone whose interest in the topic goes beyond the "gee-whiz" level.

The is probably the best book of its type available to the general public. It is based on a lifetime of association with the field and it has its quota of war stories, but most of it is a merciless look at the capabilities, merits and demerits of US elite forces. I am a retired special ops officer and, even if I don't agree with all the opinions expressed, the facts are straight. It contains the kind of material normally reserved for classified briefings. This book is unhestitatinly recommended for anyone with even a passing interest in the subject.

May be a good starting point....The United States in 1800 by Henry Adams. First Six Chapters of Vol.1

Adams' work here ranks with Macaulay and Carlyle in terms of telling an intricate history through the private letters and conversations of the players involved. From the first pages where he describes the America over which Jefferson presided, Adams clearly defines idealogies and principles as they were defended and practiced by the Federalists and Republicans of the day. Throughout Jefferson's two terms, the president was forced to abandon favorite principles and to defend others that were ulimately (if not immediately) untenable. Through skillful hands we watch how moods changed and policies switched, and how the main characters attempted to reconcile their inconsistencies. Jefferson hoped to expose the wrongfulness of Federalist policies, yet wound up forwarding the same tenets in his management. The President who rose to such a height of popularity and power left the office as disgraced and as generally disliked as any Chief Executive before or after. A masterful work about eight important and formative years in the early republic.

Even though it was written in the 1880s, this is the best history of early American diplomacy yet written. It is important to mention that this is primarily a diplomatic history, and it certainly reflects the author's interest and family history in foreign affairs. Adams has meticulously researched all matters of State and diplomacy, but he has reserved the topics of culture, economics, and education for far more subjective analysis. It becomes obvious early in the text that Adams is highly deferential to Great Britain, and the young American republic is constantly compared and trivialized, in contrapuntal regularity, against the great European powers. Adams has a lot to say about America's poverty, provincialism, and anti-intellectualism when compared to England, France, and Russia. American culture cringe pervades the text. While frequently accurate, he drives the point to excess: America becomes somewhat of a play-thing for the imperial ambitions of Europe. We're treated to page after page of material on the British ambassadors. In short, this is probably the kind of American history we would have expected Henry James and T. S. Eliot to have read, the kind that gets all the facts and dates right but can't conceal the author's sincere desire to be English.

The 2nd print is very close, but no cigar. After the computer coloring hack job of the first print, Marvel redid some of the issues, as there were originally printed 30 years ago. Unfortunately, there are still some pages, here and there, that still have this bad coloring work. On top of it, I now see some colored pages from the 80's special edition reprints making it an inconsistent mess.
Hopefully by the time Marvel releases the 3rd print, ALL of the coloring for this collection will be brought back to its former glory.

Just as the Original X-Men's run was hampered by ridiculously low sales, Marvel tried to salvage the title by conscripting two greats -- Roy Thomas and Neal Adams -- to come up with some butt-kicking tales. And this they did! Adams can tell a story by himself, really, with his spectacular pencils. His sense of perspective, lighting and presence is truly phenomenal. Unfortunately, even he and Thomas couldn't prevent X-Men from lowering into the depths of reprints, despite their herculean effort.

In these collected tales you'll witness the Living Monolith, Havoc, the Sentinels, Sauron, Ka-Zar and the civilization-destroying Z'Nox. Overall, this is well worth the $$.

A Great Collection of Unccany X-Men issues! Neal Adams was a popular comic book artist during the early 1970s. Uncanny X-men#57-65 was his first professional work for Marvel comics. He inspired many of the later artist like John Byrne, Marc Silvestri, and Jim Lee to draw the X-men. Many people do not remember him because he was popular during the Silver Age of X-men. During that time, Many popular characters like Wolerine, Storm, Rouge,Gambit, and Nightcrawler, did not even exits. The X-men's roster was the original team, Cyclops, Jeany Grey, Iceman, Beast, Angel, Havok and Polaris. Buy this book if you were a fan of the X-Men and Neal Adams during the early 1970's! Buy it! Neal Adams inspired many of today's artist like John Byrne and Jim Lee to become the popular comic book artists they are today!

Utopia is a classic masterpiece that conveys More's vivid imagination of the Island of Utopia. Although most of the characters are fictional, it is intriguing to learn about the true values of European societies during the 16th century, when More actually wrote the book (although many scholars believe that the exact year was 1515). Truthfully, the book is quite easy to understand. All More tries to do is convey his own views of how society should be through Raphael. Moreover, the use of imagery in Book I is quite fascinating, including the constant references to Roman and Greek myths and beliefs. It is also quite remarkable to see that the story begins to be more and more interesting after More and Giles come back from dinner. To make a long story short, I think it is a great book because of the actual time it was written in since most pieces of literature written at that time were either lost or destroyed.

As a social critique of Enlgish and European society, this book is very effective. It is also beautifully written. But it should not be read as the depiction of what society should be like. Thomas More, a wise and brave man executed by orders of Henry VIII, knew that Utopia shouldn't be taken very seriously, and that is exactly why he used the word Utopia to name his famous island. Utopia, in latin, means "in no place", that what can not exist. The problem is that this simple fact was not understood by many. And so, "utopianism" was born. The preposterous belief that there is a universal and definitive form of organization for human societies led to disasters like Nazism and Communism. By organizing everything perfectly (according to who?), these systems become the negation of the very essence of the human being: its innate imperfection and its need to be constantly changing, always on the move. It is simply impossible that some political, economic and social system resolves once and for all the troubles of humanity. Problems are exactly what make humans progress and reform constantly. Besides, the State has proven indispensable for survival, but also limited in what it can accomplish (in Utopia, the State provides everything for everybody). Stagnant societies degenerate and disappear, or remain to live from the charity of dynamic societies. Closed, perennial social systems, simply don't work: there is abundant proof in history, ancient or recent. "Utopia" is an excellent account of human shortcomings and a good tale, but it is not, nor was intended to be, a recipe with solutions for the world. Aldous Huxley and George Orwell have shown us what might happen in a supposed Utopia. The Communist world was worse. And Anthony Burgess clearly shows us in "A Clockwork Orange", that in "perfect" societies, the only way to practice freedom is violence. Let's not be perfect.

It's unfortunate that it seems as if most of these reviews were written by people whose only knowledge of More has come from the (mostly incorrect) opinions they have formed after reading this book. I don't think one can truly understand its import until he or she understands where Moore is at this point in his life and what he previously wrote ("Life of Pico", for example) and what he wrote later (while in prison, perhaps). No, he wasn't expressing his views through Raphael. In fact, it's clear that Raphael is an opinionated fibber (i.e., he discovered Utopia after Vespucci's fourth voyage? There were only three and Morus knows it...) and his account is purposefully filled with contradictions. There's more to it! More is raising issues, trying to make the careful reader think (and shame on some of the other reviewers for not being careful readers). And once you've read this book, read enough More (ha!) to understand what was going on in the bigger scheme of things, such as More's relationship with the other Renaissance humanists of his time and Henry VIII.

I have to admit this is one of the best and easiest to read of all the books dealing with life from the Pre-cambriam to the present. More than half of Rich's book deals with aquatic flora and fauna, which is basic for understanding how life began on land. The other half of the book involves the flora (plant) invasion on dry land preceeding to present day angiosperms, also included is the development of terrestrial fauna (animals) until the Pleistocene period. Diagrams and photo's(blk/wht) are more that abundant thoughout each chapter, making identification an easy task. There is even a chapter on fossil collection! It has it all! This is a must have book for any geology student interested in paleology or for that matter anyone interest in fossils. The purchase of Rich's book would be a worth wild investment.

This is the one of the most comprehensive and interesting books on Fossils I have ever read! A great source book and a definite must for a fossil enthusiast, teacher, or seeker of knowledge. Simply excellent!

It gives the reader a solid foundation of paleontology and fossil knowledge on which to build upon. It may not have all of the most recent theories and discoveries because the last revision was in 1996, but it is easy to read and well illustrated. It can be understood by anyone, and contains a wealth of information. It covers the entire 3.5 billion-year history of the fossil record in its 760 pages and is an excellent reference book that I keep returning to time and again.

As a former police reserve officer, I spent years requesting CSI with little understanding of just what they do. This book goes well beyond lifting fingerprints and other routine tasks that police officers are typically limited to. I now have a better awareness of the capabilities of CSI and conciderations about how to protect a scene and how CSI can be used to investigate certain crimes. I also have a greater appreciation for CSI personnel and the difficult job they have. I liked the book and believe it would be helpful to anyone in law enforcement.

This is a very good introductory Criminal Justice text. It is easy to see that the authors targeted the general introductory cj students and those interested in exploring the field of crime scene investigation. Basic terms and proceedures are presented in clear everyday science based applications. This text uses understandable charts, graphs and photos to enhance crime scene applications. This text is clearly not for those who are working at the graduate level, but it clearly meets the needs of the student who is surveing forensic opportunties. Good job

I found this book to be a solid introduction into the varied and complex field of CSI. It presented a balance between basic and advanced techniques. The authors state this book was written for students considering CSI and those currently in the field and I agree. It provided a refresher in some areas and exposed me to new concepts in others. I also liked the community-policing feel of this text as it relates to addressing the needs of victims. The book is easy to follow and contains many photographs. I recommend it to anyone considering a job in CSI or to enhance their skills. I also read the first edition. This one seems to be much improved.