The most notable aspect of the 1909 Plan of Chicago was that the author's (Daniel Burnham) profession was not exclusively city planning. He was a business man. He viewed his plan for the City of Chicago as the best way to create an exceptional business and civic environment. It worked! Many elements of modern downtown Chicago that make it a truly great, world class city, are a direct result of Burnham's vision. For it is the grand vision that stirs the soul of mankind and allows a "planning document" -- normally a thick document, full of data, which sits on a shelf and collects dust -- to be embraced by an entire community. This is a must read for contemporary city planners, business men and government officials that want to "make it happen" in their communities. MAKE NO SMALL PLANS

This book proves that there is no division between culture and biology, but that both are intertwined. As the authors state: Gene-culture coevolution is "a complicated interaction in which culture is generated and shaped by biological imperatives while biological traits are simultaneously altered by genetic evolution in response to cultural innovation." (p.20)

The authors illustrate this coevolution convincingly, mostly by the case of brother-sister incest.

In fact, this theory tells us how the mind is 'formed', but doesn't explain the origin (come into being) of the mind. The title is a little bit misleading.

It is an original work, because it broadens Darwinism with cultural aspects.
It is also an important work, because it counters the Standard Social Science Model which proposes a fundamental division between biology and culture.
Not to be missed.

Charles Edward Stuart is one of the most romanticized figures in Scots history - more kitch history has been made of Bonnie Price Charlie than virtually anyone else in the eighteenth century.

As Forster makes clear from the outset, he was far from romantic in real life: he beat his mistress, he was paranoid, vain, profligate, often drunk (especially in his late years), politically inept and utterly deluded as to his future prosects. In this narrative, we follow Charlie through all the phases of his odd life: upbringing in Rome, life in Paris, arrival in Scotland in 1745, initial triumph at Prestonpans, the march on England, the retreat, defeat at Culloden, life on the run in the Hebrides, escape to the Continent, then gradual decline and relative obscurity back in Italy. Forster's pen is sure; she has had access to the Stuart's family papers, and her grip on the era and general understnading of eighteenth cenruty Europe is superb.

There are some truly odd things about Charles' life: why, for instance, did he so flippantly abandon Catholicism AFTER 1746, when an earlier conversion to Protestantism would have aided his cause in the uprising - whereas a later conversion simply damaged his chances of winning Papal recognition as King of England? Yet there are inspiring things too: his poise and bravery in 1745, his ability to inspire loyalty, his elusion of his Hanoverian pursuers in 1746 (special thanks here to Flora MacDonald), are to his everlasting credit, notwithstanding his later failngs.

Charles' psychological problems seem to stem from one essential truth: his entire life's predicament (as king-in-exile) was bizarre. The central and irrefutable fact of Charles' existence was that he was, by any legal definition, the rightful and direct male heir to the English and Scottish thrones; yet save perhaps for a few fleeting months in 1745, he was never accepted as such. In other words, since the world refused to behave normally, small wonder that Charles himself never could. In this context, perhaps Forster's verdict, while magnificently rendered, is somewhat harsh.

This collection of Civil War letters has so many merits to make it a good read. The letters between the two brothers and their family were well written, reflecting their education as well as their aristocratic upbringing in the Old South and their strong family ties. They took part in many of the important engagements of the war, and were able to give very comprehensive descriptions, taking you right into the action of a battle, or charging your emotions to feel the exhilaration or trials or dejection they experienced. The eldest brother, Henry, was in the cavalry, riding with the 7th Virginia Cavalry and McNeill's Rangers. But it was Charles; serving in the infantry (later in the Medical Corps), who gives us a rare insight into how the horses fared in the war environment. Both brothers wrote of their faith in God and their prayers for each other. Don't miss this one, especially if you are a Civil War buff.

i saw a copy of this book years ago, if you know where I can get a copy e-mail me at rajones8@yahoo.com. thanx

My pastor gave me this book for my 40th birthday, and he could hardly have chosen better. While Charles's old-fashioned writing style makes for some tough reading (you really have to FOCUS on every sentence!), it's worth the effort. This is a book of enormous truth and wisdom, its pages simply dripping with sweet words of grace and spiritual nourishment. Charles's opening chapter on pride, his reflections on grace and conscience, and on the worthiness of Christ's sacrifice, are foundational, without parallel, simply life-changing. At times I felt like I was only now beginning to understand the true Christian life. Outside of the Bible, this is one of the few books I've read that really made me LOVE GOD MORE. And what higher compliment could be paid to a work of Christian literature? Highly recommended.

A complete book containing all the information I really ever need easily accessible. Most reference books dealing with the breakdown of foods usually leave something I need out. As far as I can see this book has it all. A very welcome addition to my library.

Aptly edited by the collective efforts of T.M. Charles-Edwards, Morfydd M. Owen, and Paul Russell, The Welsh King And His Court is a massive compendium of essays filled with meticulous discourse of the Welsh royal household and the governmental roles of those officers charged with upkeep of horses, sleeping quarters, meals, etc. Primary source texts are presented in English translation, and the essays are written at a college reading level. The Welsh King And His Court is a scholarly text that combines deep thought with multi-level analysis of historical politics. An intriguing and recommended historical study, with a very helpful glossary, abbreviation list and index.

I thought nothing could surpass my previous favorite reference book -- the first edition of Kors and Peters' tremendous work. It should be no surprise, then, that it is this, the second edition, that now occupies the seat of honor in my collection.

This collection of source documents is, in my opinion, the best available for the study of European witchcraft persecutions. The documents included are specifically edited to highlight relevant sections. I find this extremely valuable; I'm not always up to searching through the writings of Acquinas to find a particular passage.

This expanded, second edition provides even more of what I've grown to rely upon: a coherent collection of source documents tracing the development of witchcraft in medieval psychology, through the "witchcraze" in early modern Europe, and concluding with the skepticism developing in the 17th Century.

If I'm ever stranded on a desert island, I hope I remembered to bring this book with me.

It is a tragedy that this book is out of print. The first few pages of this novel are as funny as writing can get. Those who only know Portis by TRUE GRIT would be shocked to learn that he is primarily a comic writer, and THE DOG OF THE SOUTH and MASTERS OF ATLANTIS are his funniest. The scene in which the protagonists describes how he always wets the corners of his cocktail napkins so that the napkin will stay attached to the bar rather than stick to his glass and thereby make him look like a dork is priceless.

Trying to describe Charles Portis' classic novel The Dog of the South is not easy, since this book doesn't fit nicely into any category I've encountered before. The book is sort of a cross between Confederacy of Dunces, and maybe a more accessible (and enjoyable) Pynchon. The narrator, Ray Midge, is a 28 year old fussbudget from Arkansas who has trouble settling down to a real job, and whose wife Norma has recently left him for her first husband, Guy Dupree, a hapless radical arrested for threatening the President. Midge wouldn't be THAT mad except the lovers on the lam took Ray's Ford Torino, and left him Guy's [run down] Buick filled with Heath wrappers, and reeking of dog.

This relatively sparse outline of a plot sets a wonderful story in motion, as Midge follows the trail of his wife's credit card receipts to follow them to Central America, ostensibly to get his car back. Along the way Midge meets a zany ex-doctor, named Symes, a loony Louisiana character who seems to me right off the pages of John Kennedy Toole's masterpiece Confederacy of Dunces.

It is difficult to explain the plot and the characters, it is simply a parade of oddball characters and circumstances. Ray looks out the window at some pelicans, and one gets hit by lightning. He makes polite conversation to a kid, asking him "How many states have you seen?" and the kid inexplicably snarls back "More than you!" Every meeting and social interaction takes a somewhat unexpected, but strangely believable turn so there was something to enjoy and chuckle about on every page.

The novel is also full of wry observations and bits of wisdom, like when the narrator warns readers to turn glasses or mugs with handles to the left, as if you were left-handed, since the side of the cup you are sipping has come into contact with fewer human mouths. Portis' outlook is offbeat to be sure, but there's a zany truth to much of it.

This was my first encounter with Portis' work, much of which is in the process of being re-released (the book was written in the mid 70's), and if Dog of the South is any example Portis is a writer who begs to be rediscovered by modern readers looking for a comedic road trip story.

It's great to see Portis' finest novel getting a little attention at last. Pity it took everyone 20 years to notice that Dog of the South is a masterpiece. Here are the Seventies as they were lived outside Hollywood:an American "Era of Stagnation," a stagnant pond in which tiny creatures like Ray Midge, protagonist of this novel, move in little circles. Ray is a bore, a weapons-nerd and military-history pedant, a tiresome "selfish little fox" in the words of his dancing ex-mother-in-law and "an effete yeoman" in his own estimation. But he is also the voice to which Portis assigns some of the funniest and most beautiful sentences ever written. Ray's failed attempt to live out an heroic tale of vengeance is the story, and it's a great story; but it's Portis' extraordinary prose that will stay with you long after you finish this novel. My brothers and I, who had read this novel dozens of times, used to conduct whole conversations consisting of memorized sentences from the novel. It's that good.