I bought Chris Thurber's book on Friday, and watched him on NBC's Today Show this morning (June 9, 2003). Seeing him in person confirms what I thought: he is a camping expert with a wealth of helpful information for parents and kids alike. I feel so much better sending my son to camp knowing that Chris and Jon's research has helped us prepare in a way that will maximize the fun and minimize the homesickness at camp. Buying this book is a small investment in a positive experience whose benefits, I am sure, will last a lifetime. (I found the perfect camp for my son by visiting the American Camping Association's web page: acacamps.org.)

This book really covers what you need to know before you send your child to sleepaway camp. The part that was most helpful to me was the research the authors have done on homesickness. Before I got this book I was guessing about how to handle my daughter's homesickness, and I came up with one or two of their recommendations. But after I read this book I felt I understood how to handle this with my daughter and also what the camp and counselors can do to help. There's a great list of all the things you can do. And everything the authors said rings true with my experience.

It's well written, easy to follow, and has parts written just for kids to read. There's even a section to tell kids how to get the most out of camp - from general guidelines on how to treat others to good advice on how to deal with living with lots of kids in a small space.

Every parent, camper, counselor and camp director should read this book! Parents will have a more relaxing time while their kids are away, campers will know better what to expect and how to have the most fun, counselors will know better what to do, and camp directors will have fewer problems with kids AND parents.

This is a must read book for any parent who plans on sending their child to camp. The information on homesickness is invaluable and based on studies done by Dr. Thurber. This is not a book of testimonials but is backed up by honest to goodness scientific studies and presented in a very readable and pleasurable way.

Elizabeth Chadwick has written a wonderful book based on Waltheof Siwardsson, Earl of Huntington and Northampton, and his lady love Judith, niece to William the Conqueror. These are real people and real events and the story is written so well that the reader can actually experience the emotions of the characters.

Ms. Chadwick has written a sequel to this story which should be out this year (2003), and she is currently working on a prequel to The Lords of the White Castle.

In 1067, William the Conqueror has become the King of England and Normandy. To secure his hard-earned throne, he holds hostage many local nobles including the Earl Waltheof Siwardsson of Huntingdon, who remains a noble because he did not fight at Hastings. Shockingly, Waltheof finds he desires William's Norman niece, Judith and even more surprisingly they make a match of it even while treachery lurks behind every niche and cranny.

Two decades later, loyalty has become even more complex as William recently died and his two kingdoms divided between his older sons. Many of the Conqueror's followers believe that the middle son should have received nothing instead of sitting on the Normandy throne. Waltheof's oldest daughter, Matilda marries her father's former squire Simon de Senlis. Matilda and Simon want to live and love in peace, but once again treachery and shifting alliances make life as dangerous if not more so than when her father was an English hostage in a Norman court.

Though the story of William and his sons have been told numerous times few efforts match the thrilling saga provided by Elizabeth Chadwick. The story line focuses on people wanting peace and love yet caught up in an age of immense chaos and turmoil fostered by treachery, hatred and betrayal. Real people and recorded information of the period provide fans with an exciting historical novel that is probably as much factual as fictional, all elements interwoven into a cohesive delightful tale that William readers will cherish.

Harriet Klausner

The Winter Mantle is an excellent book. It was actually one of my favorite by Elizabeth Chadwick. As always, Chadwick, seems to weave factual details into a very engrossing story. I love reading her work. I always feel as though I learn many things about medieval history. I enjoy a great story. The Winter Mantle was a winner.

Hello,
My name is Scott Neely and I liked the spot illustrations that I drew for this book. It has an X-Files feel to it and is a great supplement to the role-playing game. Enjoy!
Scott

The Conspiracy X rpg is one of the coolest around, and the Aegis organisation definitely needed a source book of its own. And here it is. It has loads more stuff on Aegis, including some cool new skils 'n professions. The stuff on Aegis rocks, and the advice on operations and tactics has helped my players get further into character. All in all, an invaluable addition to any Con X player's/GM's library.

This is an excellent book with a well written narrative discussing the history and modern situation of the American Wood Duck and its Asian cousin, the Manadarin. This book is a must read for anyone wanting to learn the natural habits of these great waterfowl. Furthermore, the pictures are simply breathtaking. Highly recommended.

For anyone interested in woodies or mandarin ducks there is not a more delightful informative book available(I know because I have them all I think). Well written, beautiful photography,a real joy to read.

This book is a biography of the British historian Christopher Dawson, written by his daughter Christina. Dawson was an incredible scholar, and his writings are almost prophetic: some of his essays on world history are current today. His biography describes a complex man, a mystical experience that brought him to the Catholic Church, a life in the pursuit of knowledge that was never easy. He held an endowed chair at Harvard's Divinity School. I would reccomend this book for graduate students in the humanities, it can be very inspiring for any scholar-to-be.

Christopher Dawson (1889-1970) was one the premier Roman Catholic thinkers of this century. Dawson's central concern was the relationship between religion and culture. Dawson drew on an extensive knowledge of history, philosophy, sociology and theology to illuminate this connection from the beginnings of history to the modern age.

Although some of his books remain in print, Catholic University of America Press is printing new editions of his most important works. This edition of Progress & Religion contains a forward by Dawson's daughter Christina (1922-2001) and an introduction by the well-known sociologist Mary Douglas.

Progress & Religion, which came out in 1929, is perhaps Dawson's most important work. Dawson argues that at the center of any great civilization is its religion, and this religion animates and gives it a sense of purpose. This is particularly the case with Christianity. "[T]he victory of the Church in the 4th century was not, as so many modern critics would have us believe, the natural culmination of the religious evolution of the ancient world. It was, on the contrary, a violent interruption of that process which forced European civilization out of its own orbit . . . ." [p. 126.] The Western Church vivified society by breaking with oriental spiritualism and showing that "human intelligence . . . finds its natural activity in the sphere of the sensible and particular." [p. 137.]

It would make an interesting study to compare the work of Dawson with that of Robert Nisbet. Like Nisbet, Dawson was learned in the area of sociology and drew upon an extensive knowledge of sociologists such as Le Play, Comte and Durkheim. They both saw Rousseau as one the chief villains. As Dawson said, Rousseau effected a "new Reformation" and was the ideological godfather of the French Revolution. They both wrote extensively on the idea of progress. However, whereas Nisbet was "pious skeptic" (according to Prof. Gottfried), Dawson was a believer and his work contains a greater sense of urgency. Indeed, some of his writings between the wars were quite prophetic.

This book presents many new essays from several ancient scholars. The papers are well-written and on diverse topics. Although the hardcover is expensive, it is well worth the price, since quality commentaries and new scholarship seems scarce. The article on the Demiurge by Jan Opsomer is top notch and well worth the price of the book. M. R. Wright's paper is excellent as well. Look out Cornford, there's some new kids on the block. Included in the back of the book is a comprehensive list of commentaries and translations of the Timaeus, which is extremely useful.

The works of Edward S. Curtis are monumental and beautiful. This book reproduces them with stunning clarity capturing the luminescence of his orotones remarkably well. The text serves to convey the rich meaning behind the photographs. For anyone interested in photography, art, or the story of the Native Americans, this is a treasure not to be missed.

"The Founding," set during the War of the Roses, is the first book of the prolific Moreland family saga. The story opens with the marriage of the ambitious young Eleanor Courteney to Robert Moreland, son of a wealthy York wool merchant. Eleanor, having lived among nobility for most of her life, believes the match is beneath her station and desperately opposes it. The first half of the book revolves around Eleanor's struggle to come to terms with her marriage. As the novel progresses, the family is swept up, for better or for worse, by the tumultuous political tides of the war.
"The Founding" was an enjoyable read, full of colorful descriptions of everyday life during mid-to late fifteenth century England. The author effectively blends her fictional creations with historical events by giving her characters minor roles in the royal households and in significant battles of the war. In doing so, these characters' adventures seem plausible in light of known historical events. The author has also included a family chart, which this reader found extremely helpful for keeping track of the prodigious Moreland family.
I have only a few minor criticisms (the reason for the four star rating). The large gaps in time that occur between chapters can be disorienting for the reader. I also thought the book would have been more satisfying had the author given her characters more depth, rather than emphasizing the same character traits repeatedly.
Despite these criticisms, I felt the book was highly entertaining and am eagerly looking forward to continuing with this saga.

The Foundling begins a series that blows the mind with its historical accuracy. Unlike many other authors, Harrod-Eagles shows the good side as well as the bad, and each character is different. A depiction of real life and what the women (and men) had to go through during that time is written in great detail.

A must read for history fans!!

This is a well constructed book. You really feel for the main charchter and her family. You can feel the force that drives her to make something of her husband and her family. She suffers a lot especially from unrequited love. This book is excellent and the historical detail and accuracy is amazing. This book, the first in the dynasty, was a great starting book. It made me want to go out and read all the others which were just as good.

I have always been fascinated by novels of ideas. I do not think that putting ideas into a narrative is easy and "Knowledge of Angels" is successful in bringing back to life the lively debates of the Medieval theologians. However, when it comes to philosophy the story is weak. It builds on a now somewhat outdated Enlightenment idea of Reason being natural and self-sufficient. Here we have a Prince who comes from an unknown place (a sort of rationalist Utopia of the 18th century) and ends up disputing with Medieval scholars. It is as unbelievable as a story where Plato is tele-transported to the British Library in the 19th century to have a discussion with Karl Marx. On the whole, however, I recommend the book as it is well-written and a good read

Knowledge of Angles by Jill Paton Walsh is one of the best books of our time. Its richly illustrated plot was truly unique. We read this book for a high school English class and both agreed that it was one of the best books we've ever read. The story of a wolf-girl slowly interwines with that of a man unjustly persecuted because of his beliefs. A young girl, raised by wolves, is captured by men and brought into the human society. A kindly boy finds help from the Cardinal who in turn decides to perform a religious experiment with her. She is brought to a secluded cloister where she is to be kept without any mention of God in her presence. In this way, the Cardinal tries to find out if there is actually a high spirit, that seems to guide you. This careful experiment soon leads to surprises, that would best have been left unknown. The story of a wrongly persucuted man makes "The Knowledge of Angles" even more amazing. Palinor, a king from an unknown "perfect world" fell off a boat and swam to a nearby island. He is immediatly thought to be an athiest because he neither knows that God exists, or knows that He doesn't. Palinor was put into prison, then released and taken to talk to the Cardinal. His arguments are so convincing that he even has the Cardinal somewhat doubting his faith. The two stories come together to create a very important theme, one of love, hate, God, and sympathy.

Jill Paton Walsh's "Knowledge of Angels" should havewon the Booker Prize. It is arguably the most outstanding yetaccessible of the five novels that made the shortlist in 1994. Set in the medievial ages, KOA is a brilliant and highly intelligent fable of ideas. Controversial perhaps, but timeless. Even today, we continue to debate the question of whether the concept of God is innate to man or acquired through the intellect and the socialisation process. In the middle ages, certainly during the times of the infamous Spanish Inquisition, it was heretical to espouse the creed of atheism. The crime was punishable by torture and death. The story of Amara (the wolf child), brought up and suckled by wolves before being returned to human society, was to be the great experiment by which learned scholars of the day sought to prove the existence of God. Palinor, the castaway who hails from a world where people live by the principles of humanism, finds his life endangered when his unconventional ideas threaten the orthodoxy of the day. Paton Walsh's novel isn't even specifically about religion or humanism. It is about the need for human society in its search for truth to understand the confining nature of paradigms, to continually challenge conventional wisdoms and reinvent itself, and to practice tolerance if the search for truth is to be served. Astonishing, yet not. "Knowledge of Angels" is a beautifully crafted and highly entertaining novel of ideas that should be read by those who love good literature. I can't recommend it highly enough. END