Serious students of the Old Testament will enjoy searching out the 'truth' along with Walter Brueggemann, Bible scholar. I read this book as background for teaching a series on David for children and adults at my church. There were four sections, with references to the Bible verses they covered.

First, was the 'trustful truth of the tribe'--namely David's was the ultimate story of an outsider making it to the top: from obscure shepard to king of a united Israel. Those who feel themselves on the margins of society can take heart from David's ascent.

Next there is the 'painful truth of the man' as David sins and repents. David is a very human example of what God is looking for in us, which is different from what we are looking for in Him.

The third truth is the 'sure truth of the state' which includes the principles David upheld both as ruler and in our memory, shaping our heritage, and our opinions of rulers since.

Lastly there is the 'hopeful truth of the assembly' with emphasis on how David valued worship and relationship with God, making them the core of his life and being.

I took a slow, 2-week tour through this book; it is not an easy read, but well worth the effort.

This commentary fulfills the goals of the series for the most part. Brueggemann is an excellent writer with keen sensitivities for the text. His attention to narrative issues is especially welcome when applied to perhaps the finest narrative in the Hebrew Bible. Thea aim of the Interpretation series is to provide insights for teaching and preaching, and these abound in this commentary. On the other hand, this is a commentary on both books of Samuel which is less than 400 pages in length. What that means is that not every verse receives attention. The focus is on the larger (more important?) stories. In addition there is little attention to issues of history, text, grammar, and translation. If you want a commentary that provides discussion of every verse, then you will have to look elsewhere, and you will not find a single volume that treats both books of Samuel. If you are looking for good, intelligent teaching material on major texts from these books, then this is the commentary to use. One other factor to consider is that this commentary is getting a bit old, and I and II Samuel have been the target of intense literary interest over the past two decades. Much has happened in the discussion of these books since this commentary was written with which it can obviously not interact.

This book is a compilation of short essays to honor Walter Pforzheimer on his 80th birthday. The essays were written by people that were, or are, in the intelligence field and by authors of books covering this subject (based on their friendship and contact with Walter.) Along with the various essays are tributes to Walter's contributions to the CIA (as a lawyer and historian), the Defense Intelligence College, and as a bibliographer of intelligence literature.

Hayden Peake and Samuel Halpern edited the book (Walter Pforzheimer didn't) and the 1st edition was a numbered run of 400 books by the National Intelligence Book Center (NIBC) which may have printed later editions (I don't know if they did or not) and may no longer exist (I didn't find them recently during a net search.)

Many books cover parts of what is in this book in much broader detail and for longer intervals. What this book does provide is more focused (for specific incidents.) It won't replace other works but it does provide a more personal look at parts and it also provides a look at one man's contribution to the current state of the US intelligence community (love it or hate it.)

They removed my last review, maybe this one will make it. Don't buy this book. Its written by a pack of convoluted thinking leftist bedwetters. if you want a factual book about the U.S. Constitution buy one published by the Cato Institute.

This book is a wonderful resource for someone interested in learning about the constition. This book walks you through the constitution line by line explaining and giving examples from actual court cases along the way. It's a little bit old, but I think it's definitly worth reading as a first look at the constitution.