Love, Acceptance, and Forgiveness changed the way I view church, ministry, and Christians as a whole. As a result of first reading this book ten years ago, and rereading it every year, I have discovered that people need unconditional love simply because they are humans.
The key concept is simply that people need to be loved and deserved to be loved because they were created in the image of God.
Acceptance should have nothing to do with stature or position, but simply with the fact that we are all humans.
Forgiveness should flow freely without strings attached because we can all receive that same gift.
I would encourage all people to read this book, embrace the concepts, and allow it to change the way you opperate as a person. In the simplest terms, in the most concise way to put it, it will challenge you to examine the way you view humanity.

Other than the bible, this is the most important book in my library. I read it on a regular basis and I read it over and over. This is not just another book on church growth. It's a book that gets to the heart of why we do church and how we can do it in a more Christ-centric way. Every pastor, every leader, every christian should not only read it but keep it as an ongoing resourse.

This book should be on the reading list of every Christian. In this day when people are searching for a return to simplicity in everyday life, this book boils all of the programs and rituals into simple terms to show the difference between being "religious" and living as Christ lived.

I wish every Christian friend I have could read it. My husband and I read it chapter by chapter aloud to each other and could hardly put it down until the last page was finished.

I chose to read Big Annie of Calumet because it features a strong female protagonist, who dedicated a year of her life to working to improve the lives of her family and friends during the Industrial Revolution. She is not only a positive role model for young adults, but also her story is inspiring and interesting for all ages of readers. It is another reminder of those who gave so much so that we can live as comfortably as we do, which is the theme of the book. In 1913 Annie Clemenc, the wife of a Croatian miner, led copper mine strikers in Upper Michigan in daily protest demonstrations against unsafe working conditions, long hours and low pay. Her determination, courage and strength were aimed at the powerful Calumet and Hecla Mining Company. Annie was born in 1888, the oldest of five children, to George and Mary Klobuchar, who were immigrants from Croatia. Her father worked in the C & H Mines for thirty years and Mary worked as a cook and maid for a wealthy family. Annie graduated from a C & H school and became a church worker, who helped crippled miners. She also helped the family by doing laundry for other families. Even though they worked hard, there was no guarantee that there would be enough money for food and clothing. When she was eighteen, she married Joseph Clemenc, a Croatian miner. If Annie was lucky, she could earn fifty cents a day scrubbing floors and washing other people's clothing. She had grown up in poverty, living in a shack and wearing secondhand dresses. She would either continue to live in poverty or she would march against the people who kept her in poverty. "In the summer of 1913, she decided to march." The story is set against the backdrop of the Industrial Revolution and the author devoted the first chapter and much of this book to describing the struggle by the working class during that period in U.S. history. He explained that the number of immigrants to this country was the largest movement of people in history. He also explained that a small group of men gained control of the natural resources. Focusing on profit, these men seemed to forget the workers on whose backs they amassed great fortunes. He shows the reader how men, women and children worked ten to twelve hour days, sometimes seven days and week and earning less that ten dollars a week. Women and children averaged five dollars a week and they worked in unsafe conditions. The author tells how Big Annie marched daily against the giant C & H Mining Co. and provoked them to take several actions against the miners. The striking miners were opposed by the state militia, business owners in the town, which was run by the mining company, and by strikebreakers. They faced shootings and beatings and even the courts and gained international attention in the news media. You'll have to read this wonderful book to find out what happened, but it's a wonderful read and well worth your time! A great book for all aged readers! I give it five stars!

If you have a young adult at home, buy this book! Better yet, buy it for yourself, and let the young adult read it when you've finished it. One of only five books nominated for the 2000 National Book Award for Young People's Literature, "Hurry Freedom" is a great and informative read for everyone, adult or child.

The subject is the plight of African Americans in the West-California in particular-during and after the 1849 gold rush. Focusing primarily upon the extremely interesting life and experiences of Mifflin Gibbs, in the '40s an acquaintance and sometimes speaking partner of Frederick Douglass, Jerry Stanley tells in some detail of the fate of those few African Americans venturing-willingly or unwillingly-into California at the end of that decade. To those of us raised a century and a half after the fact, and especially to us raised in the West, California of the 1840s and 1850s conjures up images of "tolerance," "freedom," and even "abolition." The experiences of Mifflin Gibbs and his contemporaries show what misconceptions these images really are. Instead of "tolerance," we read of bigotry as deep as that found in the slave states. "Freedom" is precarious, even for those born free, such as Gibbs; for others, it is often gained only through a California counterpart to the Underground Railroad. "Abolition" proves to be more an unattainable concept than a reality, as California-legally a "free" state-again and again refuses to "grant" any of the fundamental rights of citizenship to its resident, and economically productive, African American population throughout the 1850s. Finally, frustrated by the repeated insults and lack of corrective action on the part of the California legislature, Gibbs and more than two hundred others-twenty percent of California's black population and fifty percent of San Francisco's-emigrated to Canada, where attitudes about tolerance and freedom were a bit more enlightened, and definitely legislated. As a postscript, Stanley notes that Gibbs eventually returned to the United States in 1869, eventually being admitted to the bar, serving as a City Judge and Arkansas Registrar of Lands, and being appointed United States Ambassador to Madegascar. Gibbs' own autobiography, "Shadow and Light," remains in print, and can be purchased through Amazon.com.

Jerry Stanley is a master writer and storyteller, and "Hurry Freedom" contains some of his best work to date, told in an appropriate-but not condescending-style for young adults. Indeed, as noted above, this book makes interesting adult reading. And the situation of African Americans in antebellum California is Stanley's area of expertise (his academic research since his postgraduate days has dealt with this very area), one he covers in this case with well written prose and an abundance of fascinating photographs. Like "Children of the Dust Bowl," "Big Annie of Calumet," "I Am an American," and "Digger"-his prior works, frequent book award winners and nominees, and all available on this site-"Hurry Freedom" is a well constructed expression of Stanley's knowledge and love of his topic.

After following the 1997 Playoffs very carefully I find this book to be one of my most prized pocessions. Not only did it have all the stats of the playoffs, more importantly it expressed the emotions of the players, the fans and the entire city of Detroit. It also had wonderful action photos from each stage of the playoffs, all in colour. This is a job well done by the entire Detroit News Sports Staff. This hardcover version will be a treasure to any hockey fan, and is a must have for any Die Hard Red Wing Fan.

This two volume set covers medical and surgical retina. It has many fine color photographs and is written on a high level. It seems to fill some of the gaps left by the Ryan Retina series. Drug coverage seems up to date, and treatment recommendations are current

We don't often think of discrimination being directed against whites in the United States, but that was the case for many "Okies" who migrated to California in the 1920s and 30s. In the community of Weedpatch, CA--a small farm town near Bakersfield--the children of the white migrant farmworkers were not allowed to attend school with the other children in the community.

This book tells the story of the man who fought the community and the powers that be in order to start a school for these kids to make sure they got a decent education. His achievements exceeded his ambitions, as the school was a well deserved success. Many of the students went on to greater things, something that would have been hard to imagine before.

"Children of the Dust Bowl" was written for kids, but anyone interested in this unique time in our country's history would enjoy it.

I had to priviledge of being a student of Jerry Stanley's at Cal State Bakersfield, so I am somewhat biased in my praise for him and his work. This book deserves all of it, though. It is an excellent work in living history and well worth your time

The writing in this book is excellent, flowing evenly from page to page. Many of the photographs within are pure art, having been taken by Russell Lee, Dorothea Lange, and others. These two people are the Pieter Bruegel and Thomas Hart Benton (depicting plain, everyday folk) of American photography. This book relates a small chunk of American history, to be sure, but more than that, it relates universal themes of the human condition. Overall, the book relates the brutal conditions of the dust bowl, the migration over the mountains and desert, taunting and prejudice from settled Californians, and eventual attainment of excellence, as revealed by the construction and maintenance of the Weedpatch School, which eventually became a model school in the community. My 5 1/2 year old enjoyed reading every page, and found particular mirth in the unusual daily chore that the dust bowl children did with their cows. The description of this unusual chore is worth the price of the book. What was this daily chore? One way to find out is to borrow or purchase this book.

I am a student at St. Lawrence University, and doing a summer fellowship about the works of John Steinbeck. This book, while written as a children's book, is a valuable look at the Arvin Federal Emergency School, the conditions of the Dust Bowl, American attitudes about the poor, and Leo Hart, the man whose vision for a "broader curriculum" among his students was so influential and inspiring.

Stanley treats the same material in short form in an article in The American West (1986).

In this book called I Am An American that I read is a really good book because it is for the kids at the reading level of 9-12 (ages to). If you wanted to know the story. Well in the story their is a yough boy and his family that were intered with others. Also in this story is based one a true one, it is almost like a biography. As I was thinking about this story I realized that is was a very educational it makes you think about the world itself. When I was reading some other reviews I saw one and it caught my attention and I had to write about it. It was about a girl who had experienced what went on in the book. As I was reading on in this review it said that the girl and her family were interned too, just like the boy in the girl in the review. The girl's name that was interned with her family was Shi Nomura. I think being interned is like you having to pack up all of your things and then moving out of the place where you were and then never returning. I think that is just like being interned because you can never go back. And then I started to read another review and it mentioned that this whole thing happened during World War II, and that was one of the worst wars that went on in the world years ago. They said that Japan and many other countries were over world order. "Freedom has a Tousand charms to show". I used this because the people that were interned probably thought that they were going to be free because it makes it seem like they were going to be free but they weren't, going to be free at all. I think that it was a good book because it tells how badly people were treated, it had said that it was a good book. Some people may say that it was not a good book because it might make kids think that when they grow up they will be treated that way. It also might make it seem that this is still going on. It also might make teens think that the world around them is unfair to different people (races). Then it might make teens feel that some people in the world are disrespectful to different people (races), and should be respect to them no matter what race the people are. And it could make them think that people have no kind of respect for others and instead of being mean to them. It is a good book however kids can read it, get an educational idea of their life and the world that surrounds it. I Am An American can get a teen or a child to start reading at the reading level of 9-12. If you by this book then you will enjoy reading it because it will tell you what went on in the world back then instead of now. If you read this book now you will think that "Life isn't the same".

Your Fellow Adolescent, Shanti Lipscomb

I read this boook because I had a history project all about Japanese Internment. Before I read this book I thought Japanese Interment was only about the Japanese in some camps. I didn't realize the injustice that we set upon these noble and great people. After reading this book I felt enraged at how the Japanese would have to sell or burn their beautiful and valuble items. I think they deserve so much more than a letter from the President. We should have a much better tribute toward them. I have always been proud of living in such a great state such as California, but I am not proud that they were the least tolerant of the Japanese.

It's past time somebody wrote a definitive study of the massacre of the California Indians but this is not it. The author means well but does not know his subject, and especially slights the perspective of today's native California peoples.

Jerry Stanley has written another carefully researched, thoroughly absorbing work, this time concerning the fate of the California Indians, who had to contend with both the Mission Settlement and the Gold Rush. Opening with a description of their lifestyle and culture before the impact of the white man, the book is not only an invaluable resource for the student, but also a compelling read for anyone wishing more information about this sorry time in American history.

Jerry Stanley has written a much needed book on the California Missions and the effect they had on the lives the Native Americans of California. Stanley conducts first-rate research and carefully documents his work. A "must read" book.