The Whig Party is perhaps the most obscure major political party that has existed in U.S. history despite the fact that it elected two presidents, Harrison and Taylor, and was a key player in events leading to the Civil War.

But this book is not about the Whig Party, per se. The author finds that the general Whig philosophy and culture transcended the Whig Party. He explores the breadth of that thinking by profiling a dozen of the leading Whigs of the day from the worlds of politics, religion, business, and the legal system.

The Whigs could be considered an oddity in the Age of Jackson, which extolled the virtues and equality of the common man. The Whigs were a throwback to colonial times and to a country-party tradition where society was considered to be hierarchical with elites rightfully governing and controlling the society. To the Whigs, society was a balanced organism with its constituent parts accepting their places, while the Democrats were not unwilling to point out opposing interests among, say, producers versus non-producers. Not surprisingly, a majority of the well to do and other prominent citizens were Whigs in the mid-nineteenth century.

The author points out that the Whigs had little regard for party politics. For them, the political realm should not be a contest among those with differing conceptions of society. It was for politicians to reinforce and improve the social order. While the Jacksonian approach to social and economic affairs was generally one of laissez-faire emphasizing personal liberty and territorial expansion, the Whigs stressed self-control and government-orchestrated qualitative improvements in the country. Henry Clay's American System, the main platform of the Whig Party, called for federal government subsidization of internal improvements, tariffs to protect northern industry and planters producing for domestic markets, and a national banking system to control currency and supply easy credit. In addition, the Whigs were proponents of public education, benevolent societies, asylums, etc.

The author suggests that the broader appeal of Whiggery was mostly moral. Whigs felt a moral obligation to redeem or reform themselves and others including the greater society. This moral dimension of Whiggery was very much driven by the evangelical movement of the day. However, there was a tension between social-conservative Whigs and those whose focus on morality made them more inclined to back social reform. It is not the author's intent to fully explore antebellum history, but it is clear that slavery was the issue that drove a wedge between northern and southern Whigs and led to the party's demise by 1856. The reform-minded, northern wing of the Whig Party could not countenance the extension of slavery that the Democratically-controlled Congress backed with the support of conservative southern Whigs.

The author emphasizes John Q. Adams and Henry Clay as those Whigs most exemplifying the core values and programs of Whiggery. But the vast majority of northern Whigs found themselves in the Republican Party by 1860. Abraham Lincoln, a prominent Whig dating from the 1830s, best represents the Whig transition to Republicanism. He retained virtually all of his earlier Whig predispositions, but he emphasized the equality of men as first articulated in the Declaration of Independence. Though highly secular in outlook, Lincoln practically sanctified the principles of the Declaration which appealed to the morality-focused reformers of the era. In addition, gone was the paternalism of the Whigs. Lincoln extolled the virtues of free labor and emphasized the possibilities of social mobility through hard work.

The author notes that the cultural predominance of small-town America, the paternalistic factory owner, and the ethic of hard work - all prominent in the Whig culture and ideology - were mostly swallowed by the urbanization and industrialization of the late nineteenth century. The classical learning and the persuasive oratorical skills of the Whigs largely disappeared. The Whig Party, though having played a significant role in antebellum politics, only existed just over twenty years. Although Whiggery seems quaint by today's standards, it is not possible to understand the forces leading to the Civil War without taking into account the impact of Whig thinking. I say put this book on your shelf next to those by Foner, Potter, Holt, Donald - among others.

The postwar Japanese political economy can't be grasped unless it¡¯s put against the international context: the postwar politics of ¡¯55 system doesn¡¯t make sense, with ignoring the factor of the cold war; the rapid growth of ¡®50s to 60s might have been not viable, if the US had not rebuilt Japan as the bulwark in Far Eastern Asia; the bubble economy of late ¡®80s was ignited by Plaza Accord the US touted. In this regard, this volume places Japan in the international context whereas the 1st volume of the series focuses on domestic settings. The coverage of the book is like this:
Part I: Covering the world system of the late 20th century and the position of Japan
Part II: dealing with Japan¡¯s trade policy, comparative advantage, and financial internationalization in ¡®80s.
Part III: about domestic context of foreign and trade policy
Part IV: tackling the role of Japan in the world
I have to point 2 weakness of this volume:
1. the overall quality of articles is not as good as that of vol.1. the 1st volume of this series is the classic in this field. But they haven¡¯t counted this volume as such.
2. just like the vol.1, this volume is also filled with the positivism of ¡®80s which is outdated with no doubt. It makes the points of the book less persuasive.

The best part of this book is its organization. As a reader,having no background in subjects of politics nor Japanese American History, I was able to clearly understand the point of view of those people who were against Japanese immigration and how their actions effected the decisions to use internment camps for the Japanese American people during WWII.

Although this is not a book I consult everyday, I do love the author's attention to esoteric detail. I believe he has meditated with the essential oils long and hard and gotten to know the spirits of them in depth. Not for everyone, but this book is a delight for people looking for a deeper, esoteric understanding of essential oils. Recommended!

.... I'm always one to like books like "Power Quotes", they are always interesting, and let me tell you something....this book has them all and nicley cross referenced too. It has helped me out already on the first day I got them with my reports.....If I could tell you one thing, it would be to buy this book, it will help you a lot, I think I might go read some more so I'd better go....Bye now.

Excellent summary of radiotherapy planning with good initial information for the radiation oncology trainee. Practical and informative in a well-rounded manner with many relevant diagrams and images. Thoroughly recommend it to anyone who needs a good overview of radiotherapy planning.

This romantic comedy by Daniel Conway was absoloutely superb. The character of baby Alexandia was my favourite as she was a talking baby with a strange disability, she has wheels instead of feet. There were other interesting characters such as Bessy the poisenious mark that could talk and fly.

Even though this book was fantastic it was great.

I study Medicine at Bologna (Italy) and I have a passion for Ophthalmology. I think that Albert & Jakobiec's Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology is a very fine work. This textbook has the correct range of structure and topics, although some of them are in need of integration, i.e. Surgery, Ophthalmic Pathology, Optics (involved exposition), Lens and Strabismus.
Every chapter is similar to a Scientific American article, but just not easy to read and sufficiently comprehensible. Therefore, the book is not appropriate for use by medical students and residents; yet the six volumes cooperate to make clear the physiopathology of many ocular diseases, chiefly because the Authors are very authoritative and experienced. There are few pictures, so I think it is necessary to buy a valid atlas (Spalton) to compensate for such lack. The strengths of the current edition are: Retina, Uvea, Eyelids, The Glaucomas, Conjunctiva and Cornea.
In my opinion "Principles and Practice of Ophthalmology" is a great work for Ophthalmologists who want to widen their knowledge.

This is a well written scholarly book dealing with a narrow subject. While not denying Aquinas a natural law position, he convincingly shows that the traditional emphasis on Aquinas' natural law position is misplaced, and that a careful reading of Aquinas demonstrates that prudence ought to be given a more central position in Aquinas' thought. Given the genre, the author manages to do this without being tedious.