The Amos Walker private detective series is one of the best ones currently going, as is also one that a reader who has never indulged can pick up any entry in the series and not feel lost. Loren Estleman has all the moves down by this time for Walker, and "The Witchfinder" is typical of the series. Walker has run-ins with the cops, gets mixed up in a homicide investigation, and comes up against an assortment of low lifes and homicidal killers, your typical day at the office. He's hired by a dying millionaire archetect to find out who "framed" the love of his life eight years ago and caused him to break off their relationship. The story takes an appropriate number of twists and turns, and as usual Walker remains uncorruptable throughout.

Though not among the best of the Walker series (that would be "Sugartown," or "The Glass Highway"), it is still a solid effort from one of the best P.I.s since Phillip Marlowe.

This is my first Amos Walker detective novel, and I must say, Boy am I impressed! I listened to the audio version and the narrator manages to capture Amos Walker's dialog, and the dialog of the other characters with such detail, I found myself taking the long way home just to extend the listening experience!

Amos Walker, is a Detroit Private Investigator hired to discover the 'witchfinder' a person who faked an incriminating photograph of a famous architect's girlfriend. While he is investigating this case, Amos finds himself up against a whole bevy of strange and interesting characters including a hitman, a pornographer, and cops from two police departments!

Amos's one liners were really amusing, and quite unrepentant. If you haven't already done so, pick up the audio version of this book. You won't be disappointed. This book is a must for lovers of mystery fiction, or private investigatory fiction in general.

Jay Bell Furlong is a successful architect who only has a few weeks left to live. Before he dies he wants to make sure that all his affairs are in order. His biggest regret was losing the love of his life, Lily Talbot. Eight years ago, Furlong received a picture that showed Lily and another man in an uncompromising position. Feeling betrayed, Jay broke off his relationship Lily without giving her a chance to explain. Furlong recently discovered that the picture was a fake and that this lie has caused him the love of his life. He hires Amos Walker, a Detroit Private Investigator, to find out who was the instigator that wrecked his chance at happiness.

Amos Walker is a riot. He does not take guff from anyone and he has a quick mind that helps him with his detective job as well as coming up with great one-liners. Estleman explores most of the aspects in the life of Jay Bell Furlong. He introduces several of his relatives and acquaintances and shows how he affected each of their lives. He does not make Furlong to be a saint but he does a great job in developing him as a character.

The plot is well done and I did not feel lost at any point in this book. I have read some of Estleman's short stories and none of them have been very memorable to me, however I digress with his character of Amos Walker. This is the first Amos Walker novel I read and it will not be my last. One reason I consider him a winner was that I was able to understand the character without having read any of his previous adventures. I have read some novels that take readers for granted and assumes one knows everything about their main series character. This particular author does not do that and for that I am grateful.

Unlike previous reviewers, I'm not going to drag on my comments for long, indulging in senseless blabber. In one sentence, while they are telling you yiddi yiddi yadda, I'm saying to you that this book belongs not on the shelf, but in the refuse dump.

Like I do with many books I read, I picked this one up because of issues arising in current events. I harbored some sympathies with the plight of the Tibetans and wanted a better understanding of the issues. (Honestly, I was inspired to pick up a book after watching Brad Pitt's movie about the Nazi mountain climber.) This book provides an excellent history on the involvement and motivation of the United States, as well as that of India. More importantly, it offers a wonderful narrative about naive and unwordly (but nevertheless capable of scheming) Tibetans being drawn into international diplomacy for the sake of their homeland. Much of the book focuses on CIA assistance to Tibetan rebels, which also provides an entertaining sense of adventure: parachuting CIA spies, Tibetan training camps in Colorado, armed resistance in Tibet, and covert operations in Nepal. Unlike fiction, however, history does not always provide exciting climaxes. In this case, with gradual abandonment by the United States, the Tibetan resistance movement eventually just vanished, leaving only the Dalai Lama's government in exile in India. The United Stated does not discuss Tibet much and, as such, our relationship with Tibet is unclear. Essentially, the United States has tacitly recognized Chinese sovereignty but has never actually retreated on its support for Tibetan self-determination. Such ambivalence, following our strong support for Tibetan resistance, can not be describe as anything but betrayal.

As someone who knows the author and who provided some assistance for the initial phases of the resistance effort, this review will suffer from bias. Nonetheless in my opinion the author has done an excellent job in presenting not only the operational details in the CIA's involvement with the Tibetans, but he has mined the diplomatic sources to provide invaluable background on the genesis of our assistance. Why we became involved will become much clearer as the complex relationships and interests of India, ourselves, China, and others are detailed in the book. Although the Tibetan resistance movement is not much more than a lengthy footnote in the history of the Cold War, nonetheless it an interesting and often tragic event made even more so by the fair-minded analysis of the author and the entertaining style used in the telling. "Orphans..." is a must read for history buffs of this period and our relationships, overt and covert, in this part of the world

Although it's a little light on the 50's and 60's overall this is a good read. Great presentation. Nice photography.

This is one wonderful book. It gives a better understanding of Brooklyn's surroundings. I particularly found interesting the histories of Street-names. Now I'd like to know the histories of all the neighborhoods of NYC: Queens, the Bronx, Manhattan, and last and definitely least, Staten Island, particularly the neighborhood of Grasmere.

One of the most accurate portrayals of Brooklyn ever. Accurate neighborhood borders and fantastic descriptions. I was especially fond of Professor John Manbeck's historic "time line" added to this book. Well worth the price!

After reading this book I was struck with the profound nature of both the "Economic Accommodation I/II" and "Military Nexus I/II" chapters with regard to the current tax cut proposals and the impending war with Iraq. As Galbraith asserts in Economic Accommodation concerning questionable supply-side tax policy, "it must be emphasized, the required doctrine need not be the subject of serious empirical proof." When, oh when, are we going to realize as an overall society that the 80's boom was a deficit spending trick and the late 90's boom was the product of massive business productivity gains from global expansion after communism, computer/telecom technology and increasing consumer debt (not "the maestro"). As Galbraith points out, the long-term implications of these macro-economic policies are scary, but our culture seems incapable of thinking long-term. The Military Nexus section also makes you wonder about the "War on Terror". A conventional military war on an invisible (or nearly invisible) enemy - Hmmm? Excellent book!

I read this book when it was first published and I can confidently assert, after reading a very detailed Congressional Budget survey on income growth over the past 20 years, through both the Reagan And Clinton years, and a throrough reading of the culural trends of the past decade that the author stands virtually vindicated. I suppose only a fairly steep recession will persuade the masses, especially those people of whom Professor Galbraith writes of, something's seriously awry today in many spheres of everyday life and only then might prompt serious consideration to bring the regulatory state back in to remedy these glaring problems. So kudos to Professor Galbraith for an extremely prescient piece of social commentary. Only the most devout free market acolytes could miss the significance of its message!

This and all of Galbraith's books are classic. I noticed his books sometimes have gotten rather negative reviews. These seem to come from the same people who will be voting for Pat Buchanan for president. Galbraith is very much a Democrat. His ideas are "liberal". That does not stop him from being one of the most brilliant Economists of the 20th century. The joy of reading his books goes beyond just Gabraith's ideas. In reading his books one gets to know him. He is the sort of writer who lets the reader into his world. Some people may not like what he says. It is hard to take a look at yourself sometimes. Others will cherish his writing.

Sorry, but I have to disagree with the reviews so far. I my opinion this is the worst book from QUE-Books I have ever read (most of the QUE-books are really good). The author never explains the essential details about HTML, he always strays into simple, unneccessary details or into complicated, unneccessary details, but never gets to the point what is really useful. And if there's the rare occasion something is really explained, it will be repeated at least five times... I don't want to say the author doesn't know what he is writting about, he simply just don't know how to write...

I just have to say this is the greatest book ever written. Why? Because it's MY web site that is featured in Chapter 3, Fig 3.12! It's under the heading of "The Wrong Stuff: What Not to Put on the Web"

I never got any royalty money out of the deal either, whats up with that? Can I sue for defamation of web site? Hmmm... probably not, but since it's the first site I ever made back when I was a freshman in Highschool, and now it's immortalized in print - I forgive him.

Greatest book ever written!

This book was great

Lindsay was an OSS military advisor who fought with Tito's partisans in Slovenia against the Nazis in World War II. His account is a highly-readable thrilling adventure story - climbing snowy mountains with the Germans in pursuit, crossing streams in the night, directing parachute drops, organizing Allied supplies to the Partisans. Lindsay's matter-of-fact prose is effective and adds credibility. He disdains the frequent Allied advisors who are overly pro-Partisan, never losing his distrust of communism. But he clearly has a lot of respect for the Partisans' organizational skills, intelligence, courier lines, and tactics.

Some of the most interesting material discusses the inability of the US, UK, or Soviets to either create or find or support any indigenous resistance groups in Austria. Why? Several reasons, including the inescapable fact that Austrians were not so dissatisfied with the Nazi government, were less courageous than their counterparts in Yugoslavia, and were far more willing to lay low and wait for liberation rather than risk anything at all to hasten it.

The strongest chapters are the early ones, with Lindsay in the mountains of Slovenia, where he participates in the events he discusses. The book becomes noticeably weaker as the war winds down and Lindsay moves to Belgrade and is kept isolated by Tito and is unable to witness much of what he reports on. He does a game job of reconstructing events from other sources, but much of the immediacy and some of the credibility of the early material is lost.

The postwar political struggle for the (now-Italian) city of Trieste is fascinating. Tito coveted the city and its Adriatic access. The Yugoslavs were dogged, single-minded, and happily willing to engage in deceit to seize the city in the postwar settlements. Finally, Lindsay is entirely plausible in presenting the view that only the U.S.'s 1950 intervention in Korea prevented Stalin from attacking and subjugating Yugoslavia in the wake of Tito's break with the Soviet Union.

This is a strong book, not without flaws, but certainly enlightening and useful to scholars of the Balkans and World War II as well as to those who just enjoy a fascinating war adventure.

One of those books that demonstrates how reality is usually more interesting than fiction. Lindsay's account of his activities as an OSS operative in the former Yugoslavia during World War II is a much better read than most Cold War spy fiction. The text is very readable and hightly informative - not only about wartime events in Yugosalvia but also about the policies of the Allied governments and military in dealing with them. The book also provides a good deal of information on a topic that is covered very little in the English language: the struggle of the Slovenian Partisans against the Nazis. Lindsay points out that some of the first territories liberated within the Third Reich itself were in fact in the Slovenian provinces. Linday's observations of Tito and his senior staff just after the end of the war are also quite revealing. The text is, however, weaker where Lindsay does not speak about events he did not directly witness or take part in. Thus, he often cites rather uncritically a number of secondary sources on specific events in wartime Yugoslavia. Even so, the book as a whole is an excellent read and a valuable source of information on the subject and period that it covers.

I read this book specifically because I wanted to see what I could learn about partisan warfare from the military liaison point of view. I specifically wanted to see how many lessons might be applied to the situation in Afghanistan.

While I realize that one can not simply substitute the name "Afghanistan" for "Yugoslavia," I wanted to know if one could draw some more general lessons from our past experience - and who better to write about our past experience in such warfare than Franklin Lindsay!

Certainly the American news media is at a loss to explain not only the current dynamics but more significantly what tasks must yet be completed before we can hope for a stable, prosperous and free Afghanistan. By in large, the American media has not been able to get over the significant cultural differences. They simply aren't equipped.

And so I read Lindsay's book looking for far more than a ripping good adventure - and found it! While I can't claim to "understand" what to expect next from Afghanistan next, that is due more to the lack of good information. What I have now is a list of questions I believe critical to the overall success American foreign policy. I have a starting point. I have a framework, and I credit "Beacons in the Night" with helping identify for me the various key dynamics associated with fighting a numerically superior enemy and securing effective control over a large and diverse population.

America look out! The ground we trod has been crossed before. Listen and learn - the pitfalls are huge, but we can indeed succeed. Yugoslavia stands to serve as a beacon toward success - and a stark warning against failure.

What research! What an education! What a great introduction to the topic! What solid and enjoyable writing! This book was everything I'd hoped it would be - and more.

I recommend this book to anyone who wants a glimpse at the light at the end of the current terrorist-tunnel. This book isn't just history - it's an unflinching preview of 21st century warfare. ~Robert

this is one of the worst books i've ever bought. if you have ever read Fangoria magazine you would have gotten better pictures and more information on mr. carpenter. how can a book like this not go into detail about carpenters famous movie scores! the book is not complete for they don't even mention the made for tv movie ELVIS he made with kurt russell.better information could be obtained from dvd production notes.somebody please write a fitting tribute to a great director.

Perhaps the greatest research and analysis of any filmmaker (let alone of Carpenter himself) I've had ever the joy of reading. Muir certainly gave me a completely different perspective of Carpenter's films. I actually found myself going back and re-watching scenes of his films I've watched a million times in a new light (After learning of Carpenter's motivations for "Escape From L.A." in this book, I went from seeing it as a so-so sequel, to terrific remake!). I can't reccomend it enough to anyone who, like myself, would call Carpenter their favorite director. His reviews and insights are both honest and insightful (his critique of the Carpenter produced "Halloween III", a guilty pleasure of mine, had me roaring with laughter). Don't balk at the price, it's absolutley worth it as it is packed full of fascinating information. If you-re a die hard Carpenter fan, you'll be missing out if you pass this up.

Muir's comprehensive analysis of the works of John Carpenter moves even the dilettante to review them with a more appreciative perspective. Muir reveals interesting sociological and psychological themes within Carpenter's works that compel the reader to truly re-evaluate Carpenter's talent.

The book was obviously written by an author who "knows his stuff" and appreciates the full value of the subject matter. This is what makes reading this work enjoyable and entertaining. I recommend this book to any fan or critic of the works of John Carpenter.

John Currid's "Ancient Egypt and the Old Testament" is his stab at shifting the dabate on the historicity of the Hebrew Bible toward the affirmative and away from the revisionists. While he did not succeed in changing my mind, he did offer some informative literary and liguistic analysis on possible points of Egyptian influence in specific sections of the Bible.

His opening chapters, where he compares Mesopotamian, Canaanite and Egyptian myths, are the most problematic. His method seems fundamentally flawed, especially in what appears to be his assumption that ancient religious views were monolithic, standardized and national, rather than diverse, varied and local. One myth and its deities succeeded another as kingdoms and empires formed and dissolved. In his comparison of Biblical creation theory with the water-based Mesopotamian versions, he very strangely ignores what the Bible actually says in Gen. 1:2 about God hovering over the waters which already existed in order to push a creation ex nihilo view, which all 3 Jewish Torah commentaries I have consulted repudiate. And then when discussing cosmology, he ignores Genesis, which is quite in line with other ancient middle eastern views , and cites Job and Isaiah. Lastly, when he says that the relatively minimalist view presented in Genesis could not have derived from elaborate Mesopotamian schemes, he seems to be forgetting the reformist impulse which the Bible clearly represents. In our own history, the eleborate Catholicism of the middle ages eventually gave way to puritanisms of various types. According to his theory, Protestants should be even more baroque than Catholics!

In any case, given that any state in the ancient Near East conducting relations with it neighbors would of necessity have had scribes versed in both Egyptian and Mesopotamian writing systems in order to communicate with them, it seems like a no-brainer that ancient Israel would have had access to the ideas of both cultures. Additionally, Egypt dominated and meddled in Palestine for cenuries. How could influence have been avoided?

As to the body of the book, Currid zeroes in on particular
stories and forms, such as Potiphar, plagues, incidents involving serpents, war itineraries, widsom literature and prophecy. Here the book becomes more interesting to the reader who is curious about ancient words and their meaning, and ancient customs and views. It's not by any means comprehensive, but I'm not sure that would even be possible.

Currid's work is reliable and is fairly well substantiated with regard to the facets that he addresses. His conclusions are not unwarranted, and are in fact viable. Endorsement by Kitchen does, in fact, speak volumes on this matter (the reader is encouraged to search books under author = K. A. Kitchen; his mastery of Egyptian material is duly noted in the world of Ancient Near Eastern Studies--for acknowledgment of his scholarship in Egyptian chronology, see, for instance, "The Present Status of Egyptian Chronology," W. A. Ward, BASOR vol. 288, pp.53-66). Currid's credentials (e.g., his Ph.D. from the University of Chicago!) in this field are certainly *not* negligible, and cannot be authoritatively questioned by a "teacher of OT history at a (sic) major university."

Some important issues he leaves unadressed, however, include but are not limited to: (1) the relation of the Hyksos to the period of Joseph's sojourn in Egypt, (2) the relation of the Tabernacle of Exodus 25-40 and Egyptian religious shrines, (3) the Amarna texts discovered in Egypt and their bearing upon the geopolitical structure of Canaan around times of Joshua and Judges, etc. This does not seriously affect the worth of this book, however. It is highly recommended to both those who would agree with him and who would disagree.

Finally, it should be noted, that the several endorsements below (by previous reviewers) of D. B. Redford's work are not only ill-advised, but are, in fact, very clear indicators of the reviewers' lack of scholarship (and credentials) in the area of Ancient Orient--of course, this is to be expected, since they do not specialize in this area of study. Redford's work, while certainly a good compendium of data, has been recognized from its inception as a work fraught with errors.

Reviews for the reader to consult (of Redford's book) include: (1) K. A. Kitchen, Biblical Archaeology Review, 19, no.1:6,8; (2) Stephen E. Thompson, BASOR (Bulletin of the American Oriental Schools of Research) vol. 294 (May 1994), pp.102ff ("The greatest weakness of this book is undoubtedly the carelessness with which it was produced"); and (3) Rainey, Anson F. "Remarks on D. Redford's Eg., Can., and Isr. in Anc. Times." BASOR vol. 295 (Aug. 1994), pp.81-85 ("There is no doubt that Redford's book will be consulted by many teachers of bible, biblical history (!), and ancient Near Eastern history. Most of those teachers will probably not be professionally trained to pass critical judgment on Redford's interpretations; and since his is virtually the only such monograph in English on the market, it will doubtless be taken as the most up-to-date 'authority.' Therefore, this reviewer feels an obligation to raise certain points and to protest Redford's overconfident assertions with regard to [those points].").

Currid's book provides a valuable study of how the world of ancient Egypt illuminates the pages of the Old Testament. The author evenhandedly presents a variety of views found in the Bible, Egypt and other parts of the Ancient Near East. Currid successfully shows many firm points of contact between Egypt and the Bible on a variety of levels such as creation, the ten plagues of Egypt, the bronze serpent of Numbers 21, etc. This fresh, yet schoarly work, helped me study the Old Testament with a new, deeper understanding. A must read for those of us interested in learning more about Egyptian themes in the Pentateuch. Thank you, Dr. Currid.

I am a diehard Battlestar Galactica fan and I would not waste the (money) to read this uthor call the show a "guilty pleasure". He did not do one interview for the book, instead over 200 pages he sounds like he is whining rather then analytically breaking apart the series.

This book has no legitimate pictures of any of the cast, only scans (and might I say poor quality scans at that) of Battlestar merchandise. Besides the horrible price, Mr. Muir also wrote an overpriced book on Space: 1999 and he goes around claiming to be a BG expert and a Space: 1999 expert as well.

Let me put it this way: anyone who includes Galactica: 1980 and gives it any credence at all can't possibly love the series all that much. In any good book about BG it is an appendix at most. Cheesy interior designs don't impress me all that much.

I think you should pass on this book and wait for the anticipated new unofficial book that is being planned for 2003. Check out battlestargalatica.com, they just announced it on December 20, and it looks like it will be half as much as this and have interviews and better pictures.

This book is a detailed anaylsis (with some author bias) regarding Battlestar Galactica, but not its [dumb] offspring, Galactica 80. It goes into many things from the creation of the show to an episode guide to a look at the many legal problems and issues with Star Wars.

I like the author's take on the Star Wars vs. Galactica mess. He does have a point regarding copying. If Kurosawa and the creator of Flash Gordon used Lucas' logic then all the profits from Star Wars should go to them...

His analysis of each episode is actually pretty good. He doesn't shy away from calling a number of episodes dogs especially the cowboy in space junk. Not everything that Glen Larson did regarding Galactica turned to gold.

My only problem was that he over emphasizes the importance of both BG and Space 1999 in SF TV. I think that in terms of visuals, BG and Space made a difference in SFX and how they were done on TV (no more Salt Shakers and styrofoam sets!) As for writing? No, because it wasn't all that good. If both shows had better writing then they wouldn't have been canned after two years, but that is just my opinion.

This is a very interesting, thought-provoking book about Battletar Galactica that is perfect for easy reference and has become a permanent fixture near my TV. The author knows the ins-and-outs of the series and writes well about it, and has clearly given his "analysis" a lot of thought (whether one agrees with it or not). He has a good eye for details and knows why the series was sometimes great/sometimes not - capturing the essence of a flawed classic. Overall a provocative read - not studio (or fan) propaganda.

The book is very interesting. Mr. Galbraith reports that history of Economics was very different in U.S.A. because of unexplored frontiers and free land. Also he says that Welfare economics doesnot become irrelevant due to the policy of free trade and balanced budgets. He also reports that competition in industries is a rare occurence due to their tendency of concentration. He has due regard for economists like Milton Friedman although he is evidently admirer of Keynes. Being witness of economic history for three quarters of the twentieth century his observations carry the merit of truth and wisdom. A very interesting book indeed.

I have been a fan of Mr. Galbraith's work for over 12 years. I stumbled across his work when I was completing a paper that had more to do with a social topic rather than economics. I find Mr. Galbraith to be both the devil's advocate, the objective ear, and the voice of clarified reason all at once. I like the historic approach he takes in this perspective. Without history and the scaffolding of information, it makes it difficult for one to understand the newness of individual economic fads. Each generation tends to think everything as we know it has always been this way. It is important to understand how human growth and ingenuity helps to shape and reshape all ideas, and I like his attention to the intangible of 'ethics'.

Galbraith presents an amusing, insightful and slightly opinionated view of the history of economic thought. Conservatives may dislike his occasional goring of their sacred cows, such as Adam Smith and Milton Friedman. Particularly Smith, one of the most commonly cited experts by those who have never read his works and have only a limited perspective on economics. Several quotes from the writings of Adam Smith are used to illustrate that he was no believer in the kind of free market economics touted as his legacy. Liberals are likely to enjoy the mild but entertaining debunking of these prophets of the religion of laissez faire economics. Aside from the asides, the book is an even-handed overview of the foundations of modern economics. It provides learned insight into the major figures of economics and a few minor ones. A clear perspective on the theoretical and often shaky underpinnings of the sometimes dogmatically supported theories underlying economics is presented in historic context.

I read this book immediately after reading Robert Heilbroner's "The Worldly Philosophers", generally considered to be the classic of this genre. The Heilbroner work provides more historic but less philosophic context for the theories of the primary figures in economics. Overall, the Galbraith book is more thoroughly researched and thought provoking.