This is a history of one town, Rome, New York, compiled from newspapers and other accounts and initially published in 1896. As it originally stood it was an invaluable book for the local history & genealogy fanatic, but was very frustrating to use due to the lack of a complete index. The editors of the new edition have fixed all that by compiling a very complete and accurate index, and boosted the volume's worth even more by adding some period photos and correcting the typographical errors and inconsistencies of the original.

THE ROOTS OF HEALING is a book that explores how the nature of our soul infuses health and well-being. It is a series of questions and answers provided by leading edge thinkers who understand the power of spirit to heal. This book reminds us of our true nature. More importantly, we are reminded of the roots of healing itself - our soul. When our soul experiences well-being, the possibility for physical, psychological, social, and spiritual unity becomes an expression and extension of the unmanifest becoming manifest. Thanks to all who contributed to the future of medicine. Samuel Oliver, author of, WHAT THE DYING TEACH US: LESSONS ON LIVING.

I discovered Boccaccini when he published his book, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis. Since then I've tried desperately to track down his first book, and pre-ordered this one before it was published. If you are into Biblical study that examines the different parties in the Old Testament, and which group wrote what books, I would strongly recommend both these books. Where other scholars support similar premises, Boccaccini gives you the data to back up his theories. He writes in a very smooth scholarly style, that may be slightly over the heads of a lay person, but right on for students into studying the Old Testament and the Dead Sea Scrolls.

Have you ever seen a hen riding a bike? Well, this book is as magic as that. You will see thrue beautiful color pencil drawings different aspects of the life of a woman who loves her pets and that always try to do her best to give incredible gifts to her animals. This story could be classified as Magic Realism for Kids, literary style very common in Latin America. It is a very funny story that by the way, gives a very good idea of the place in which it takes place, a small town in Venezuela.

If you're bound for Tunisia, you won't want to leave without this book. I'm one of those people who thinks there is never any *one* guide that's ideal for a destination -- I always take 2 good guides. And, for Tunisia, the Rough Guide is definitely the first of the two.

It is much, much more comprehensive than any other guide. The Blue Guide (my other choice for Tunisian visits), Lonely Planet Guide (also excellent though with less background), and others literally do not have 1/2 the content of the Rough Guide.

By supplementing this book with one other one (the Blue Guide for in-depth history & cultural information, or the Lonely Planet Guide for a smaller, hipper subset of travel tips) you'll have a great Tunisian stay. Whichever "other" guide you choose, you'll want this one for the COMPLETE story of any destination in any corner of Tunisia.

Whether you're basking on the corniche at Hammamet, Bizerte, or la Marsa; travelling to tourist meccas like the Tunis Medina, Carthage, Sfax, Jerba, el Djem, Matmata and the Sahara palmeries; or taking jaunts to more out-of-the-way spots like Kerkouane or Tabarka... Take this book.

What a fantastic book. Dan Schuster has combined content and illusrations creating a Masterpeice! Definate "must read" for anyone in the information technology field... heck, anyone in the arts too since the graphics are fantastic!

As some of the world's most spiritually poignant and pithy literature, the writings of Rumi can be a challenge to translate. Fragments & Ecstacies is Rumi at his best and translation at its best. It is a journey of absolute love and wisdom set in the simplest of peotic form. A real gem! I think Rumi, himself, would be pleased.

This is a warm and wonderful book that looks at what makes some of the most talented icons of our age behave with such reckless abandon, unfettered by the normal constraints that keep the rest of us under control. Farson pays affectionate homage to these stars who often had their fingers permanently on the self-destruct button. Needless to say, most of them (including Farson) are now no longer with us.

This book has been a source of endless delight for our young children.

In the style of the "Where's Waldo" series, Christian illustrator Daniel Hochstatter has pages of brightly coloured and entertaining pictures. Each page features various various characters or items that the children must find on the page. "Sammy the sheep" and his "shepherd" as well as their companions are hidden somewhere on each page.

Each page also has a theme dealing with one aspect of Christian character, eg "Compassionate Kelly", "Trustworthy Tommy", "Gracious Greg".

We took this book camping, and our campsite regularly became overwhelmed with excited children far and near, as a result of the popularity of this book. After two years of constant use, the pages of our copy are now dog-eared and wrinkled, but our children still turn to it regularly for renewed fun.

Very highly recommended!

The 18 essays in this superb 392-page volume were all printed as articles in the US foreign policy quarterly, Orbis: A Journal of World Affairs between 1986 and 1991. A few pieces are clearly dated. But for the most part, age has not lessened their value. Overall, they provide understanding of a conflict-filled region that violently surged into view with the Islamic terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.

The book is divided into 4 sections. Although scholarly, the articles are easily accessible to lay readers wanting a broad overview of the troubles currently afflicting the entire region.

The first four articles provide a frightening window onto the political realities in Egypt, Algeria, Lebanon and the fundamentalist Sunni states. Emmanuel Sivan considers the shape an Egyptian Islamic republic might take. His sobering sketch is hardly far-fetched: Moderates and secularists like Hussein Ahmad Amin and Faraj Fuda despair that even former moderates like H. Hanafi and A. Abdel Malek now sympathize with fundamentalists. Similarly, Khalid Duran portrays the political dysfunction that overtook Algeria during its 2nd revolution in 1988, when Algerian soldiers killed nearly 500 rioting children and where militant Islam remains a force to reckon with. Hilal Khashan found Shi'i students in Lebanon to espouse surprising political moderation. However, he predicted a Pan-Arab revival north of Arabia, fueled by Sunnis who are apt to support Saddam Hussein and radical anti-Western views. This seems already to have occurred.

Of six articles on the Arab-Israeli conflict, the first four are most interesting. Michael Mandelbaum considers Israel's security dilemma. Mitchell Bard predicts that, near-term, the "emotional, religious and historical sources of conflict" will not disappear. Aaron David Miller posits that Arab "cost/benefit" analysis has recently moderated their policies, though he considers a return to old animosities possible so long as Arab states maintain a war stance toward Israel. And Robert Satloff warns darkly that Washington risked disaster in attempting to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict without considering the influence of fundamentalists in the West Bank and Gaza.

The book also includes five superb articles on the Persian Gulf. Efriam Karsh's 1989 article warned that the Iran-Iraq war badly eroded international red lines during war, including the use of poison gas, increasing the potential for violent Middle Eastern wars. This was born out with Iraq's invasion of Kuwait a year later, and judging from recent events, we have not seen the last of this. Martin Kramer exposes the clash of Muslims against Muslims in Mecca in 1987. Two articles on Iranian-US relations are somewhat more dated, but still relevant. Eliyahu Kanovsky, whom I once interviewed for Forbes, predicted that Iraq's invasion of Kuwait would precede a decline in oil prices. Kanovsky's ideas were so counter-intuitive that Forbes wouldn't print them. Nevertheless, he was right. We should listen.

The final section features only three articles--on the military benefits of US relations with Israel (Steven Spiegel); the April 1986 US raid on Libya (Frederick Zilian) and how the Iran-Contra story broke (Daniel Pipes). The last one is worth the entire price of admission, especially for journalists curious about the mechanical details of THE story of the 1980s. Alyssa A. Lappen