There is an old maxim: Going to church won't make you Christian any more than going to the garage will make you car.

This book takes that one step further, showing that even those who go to Church with zeal, work with fervor, and strive to be good Christians, often put their works ahead of God. It's a good study of the effects of becoming more goal oriented than your spirituality can handle.

The writing is good, the chapter divisions are well placed, and it makes for thought-provoking reading for any serious disciple of the Living God. Give it a read!

I just finished reading this book, and I have learned so much about Shakespeare that I did not know before. I've come away with a deeper understanding of the man who was so gifted that there has never been anyone his equal among poets & playwrites, yet I long to know more about him. The author has a deep appreciation of his subject and the reader is caught up in this enthusiasm. This is a book that was hard to put down and made we want to re-read Shakespeare's plays, enlightened now with a deeper understanding of the poet. The material in the book cast new light on the plays by giving me a perspective of historical events & cultural background of Shakespeare's times that are reflected in his writings. This is a must read for anyone who is interested in Shakespeare.

If I were to take any books along with me on a LIW journey, it would be this one. The reason for a lower rating is because I was disappointed in a rehash of what to find at the Little House sites that was already published in another of Anderson's titles.

William Anderson has done a fabulous job in painstakingly documenting everything there is to see from New York to South Dakota that has anything to do with Laura Ingalls Wilder's "Little House" series. Ever wondered what happened to Pa's fiddle? Or if the house dug out from the banks of Plum Creek is still intact? This book has the answers. Complete with color photographs, addresses, phone numbers and maps, as well as ample background information, The Little House Guidebook is a must have for Little House fans everywhere. Even if you never get to visit these places, this book will take you there.

Laura!

This is the book on which the Academy award winning movie was based. Listed as for "young adults," I still found it to be a delightful read for summer's train ride to work. The movie, by the way, is rather loyal to the book's story, but improves it in some areas. The book, though, gives the reader more background on Homer Smith (the protagonist) and the subtleties of his character. The author also better explains the reasons for Sister Marthe's obsession with building the church and her effect on the community. The writing flows smoothly and the author does not use the religious characters for proselytizing. I would recommend this book for any secular or non-secular reader of middle grade age and higher.

I'm not going to quote from the book, and I'm not going review this book by telling you who did what to whom. This is what I believe is the jist of this story:

When someone is expected to do something, this someone has an opportunity to be loved by people who sought his work. If the expectation is unreasonable, or highly unprobable to be fulfilled, then this is faith. One who does not disappoint faith is the one who achieves greatness.

This is the story of one such person.

There is a young legend developing on the west side of the mountains. It will, inevitably, grow with the years. Like all legends, it is composed of falsehood and fact. In this case, the truth is more compelling than the trappings of imagination with which it has been invested. The man who has become a legendary figure was, perhaps, of greater stature in simple reality than he will ever be in the oft-repeated, and expanded, tales which commemorate his deeds. Here, before the whole matter gets out of hand, is how it was...

His name was Homer Smith. -The Lilies of the Field

And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will he not much more clothe you- you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, 'What will we eat?' or 'What will we drink?' or 'What will we wear?' For it is the gentiles who strive for all these things. But strive first for the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. 'So do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will bring worries of its own. Today's trouble is enough for today. -Matthew 6:28-34

It's maddening to see so many references to The Lilies of the Field, both book and movie, as "minor." Sure, it's a short book. Yes, the characters and situation are so idealized that it's nearly a fable. No, it does not accurately reflect the state of race relations in America in the early 1960s, nor at any other time anywhere, for that matter. But ask yourself this : how many books have you read in your life that actually made you feel more optimistic about the prospects of the species ? If it's really that easy to create sympathetic characters and write a story that uplifts the spirits, why haven't more authors written them ? Isn't it fair to conclude that the paucity of such stories, and the memorable nature of this one, indicate just how major an occurrence it is when one gets written ?

At any rate, hopefully everyone knows the tale, either from the great film or from a required reading in High School. As the opening lines above indicate, Homer Smith is a nearly mythological figure, a kind of John Henry, Paul Bunyan, or Shane. In an unlikely turn of events, this black Baptist former Army sergeant ends up helping some Catholic nuns, refugees from East Germany, to build a chapel in the New Mexico desert, despite a lack of help, tools, and materials.

Homer Smith brings an invaluable set of qualities to his task, chief among them : self confidence, self reliance, a puritan work ethic, and a healthy amount of pride. Mother Maria Marthe, the Teutonic leader of the tiny band of nuns, brings one great gift, faith :

Faith. It is a word for what is unreasonable. If a man believes in an unreasonable thing, that is faith.

Mother genuinely believes that God will provide, even that Homer has been sent by God, and that He will see to it that the chapel is built. The powerful combination of this mismatched pair's inner strengths serves as an inspiration to the entire community. Hispanic, Anglo, and Black; Catholic and Protestant; wealthy and poor; German, Mexican, and American; they come together to create a unique house of worship. And as the legend of Homer Smith grows in the desert, Mother Maria Marthe says of him :

'That is the chapel of Saint Benedict the Moor. ... That painting of the saint is the work of Sister Albertine. The model was a man named Schmidt who came to us under the direction of God. He built this chapel with his two hands under great difficulties. It is all from him.'

She pauses then and her voice drops. 'He was not of our faith, nor of our skin,' she says, 'but he was a man of greatness, of an utter devotion.'

Just as Homer's devotion to his task and Mother's faith give them a certain greatness, the aspirational beauty of this book gives it too a greatness that defies that parsimonious "minor" classification.

GRADE : A+

i am a spanisch woman (canary island) an how can i get this book hear. thankyou

The poem y'all are looking for is "Ode on Intimations of Immortality" by William Wordsworth.

I do not know if this is the book I am looking for! I saw the movie Splendor In The Grass with Natalie Wood & Warren Beatty and I loved the poem. I always wanted to get the poem from that movie. It is such a moving piece. To get the poem I would either like to purchase the book or purchase the writer's works. I don't know which is better. Maybe he wrote even better poems that I would like. So maybe I should just get the author's works.After I get established or read the books then I will send a review. Thank you. Julia Reid

Leslie's grass roots research into the shadowy life of Civil War guerrilla chieftain William Quantrill has produced a vivid picture of the realities of life on the Missouri-Kansas frontier from the late 1850's until Quantrill's death in Kentucky in 1865 and has resulted in a book which will become the resource work in the field. Leslie spent years as a professional researcher doing background work for other authors writing on various topics, both fiction and non-fiction. Some of his research can be found in the works of James A. Michner, and others. Leslie knows how to dig out the facts of a story. On occasion, I accompanied him as he visited sites in both Missouri and Kansas where Quantrill stamped his name on the history of the War. I witnessed firsthand Leslie's feel for the subject material and his expertise and passion for fact-finding. "The Devil Knows How to Ride" tells Quantrill's story from his Ohio childhood, thru his arrival on the Kansas frontier, to his development as the leader of a band of Missouri men and boys who became the guerrillas who sacked Lawrence, Kansas and caused the Union to divert troops and resources from war operations in the East. While the story of Quantrill and his band has been told and retold, Leslie's research covered many years and addresses questions not heretofore answered: * Was Quantrill a recognized Confederate officer, or did he operate outside the rules and customs of "civilized" warfare"? * How did he achieve leadership, and then lose that leadership role of the men and boys who had at first flocked to him? * Why did he meet his death in Kentucky, and not on the Missouri-Kansas ground which he had terrorized? * What brought his followers to the band, who were they, and what became of them afterwards? * Did Quantrill teach Jesse and Frank James the lessons which led to their infamy? * What effect did his activities in Missouri have on the Civil War? * Was the man inherently evil, or was he a product of his times - fighting for what he took to be a just cause? These questions and more have been previously discussed by other authors who have not returned to the primary source material which is essential to the accurate telling of a biography that has not been addressed for many years. "The Devil Knows How to Ride" has an extensive bibliography, along with photos of documents and personalities not previously published. The depth and breath of the story, which is told in a readable and entertaining style, sets forth previously untold facts which are essential to an understanding of the tragic guerrilla warfare which rocked and shocked Missouri and Kansas during the Civil War. The book is a monumental achievement and a good read! -James P. O'Connor Nov. '96

To write a historical book like "The True Story of William Clarke Quantrill" is not an easy job.
I can fully realize how much time Edward Leslie must have spent to do his research in order to perfectly present life of politicians, guerilla fighters, soldiers and uninvolved citizens during terrible times of Civil War on the border of Missouri and Kansas. I truly appreciate his huge effort and will say without hesitation that not quite often reader can come across such a magnificent work.
This book shows that United States of America, leading economy of the world and symbol of freedom and justice, once in the past was the scene of unimaginable brutal and fierce war. Civilians were killed, soldiers-prisoners of war executed, massacres took place and "no-quarter" manner of fighting was widely practiced. Nobody could be trusted; one never knew who is his friend or enemy.
I am not very much sure what made me to read this book almost non- stop: subject that most people like to read about - killings, war and action, or fantastic description of the era and people having enough bad luck to witness it.
No doubt, I had in my hands masterpiece of a historical book.

This book is a must-have for all civil war enthusiasts, as well as should be mandatory reading for history classes on our local history. As a native of the town that Quantrill formed his raiders and a civil war enthusiast, I can confirm that Edward Leslie went to great lengths in researching the towns and the terrain that the Quantrill band frequently covered. Unlike previously released books on this subject, Leslie takes an unbiased approach at describing attrocities committed by both sides of the Missouri-Kansas border. As many people cling to the idea that men such as William Quantrill, Bill Anderson and George Todd were simply murderers quenching their own thirst for blood, even General Sterling Price himself viewed the efforts of the Missouri Conferderate Guerrillas to be a necessity for the Conferderate Cause. I commend the author for conveying the facts from both sides of the border and describing this truly dark period of Missouri history

This book originally had the title "Everyman's Guide of First Names" published in 1983 by Dent. I read it twice and I agree that there should be a revised edition for the new millenium.
If you like books on names, get this one!

As an author of historical fiction, I consider this book the "bible" of names. For me, the value is in the fact that it gives the time periods during which each name was popular, which is extremely helpful in my line of work. Also, there have been other reviews panning the name being "New American", but perhaps this is due more to the fact that the book was published by New American Library than any effort to advertise it as a dictionary of American names. Love it, had to buy a new one because my old one fell apart. The best name book I have ever come across.

This is the only name book with "baby" in the title that is worth reading. (It was originally titled "The Facts on File Dictionary of First Names".) The only real competitor this has is George Rippey Stewart's "American Given Names", which will cost you over six times as much.

Dunkling, who founded Britain's Names Society, and Gosling don't just tell you the meaning of the name, but its derivation, when it entered the language, when it became popular (and fell off, and rebounded), why people used it when they did, literary examples, and lots of other juicy bits.

One drawback is that it hasn't been revised since its appearance in 1983, and has missed some of the recent fads. The no. 1 girl's name of 1990 isn't in here at all. (You'll find it on a map of France.) But then, no one predicted the Pet Rock either.

Every literate person should have a name book next to his dictionary and thesaurus. This book costs less than a movie ticket, is more fun, and lasts a lot longer. Never mind the new parents, get it for yourself!

I was disappointed in this book right from the start. To pay [the money I had to pay], I expected to get a hardcover book. Instead, what I found was a flimsy paperback which was as thin as a magazine. Instead of showing scenery from the time Laura lived in places, there were a lot of pictures of plain grasslands of the present time. I turned the page only to find a big picture of a piece of grass! How boring! To my dismay, there were no pictures of Mr. Edwards, Nellie Oleson, Mr. and Mrs. Boast, Mary Power, Reverend Alden, and absolutely no mention of the beloved bulldog, Jack. One advantage in owning this book is that it is much more detailed informative than the "Little House" books. We learn about Laura's younger brother, the fact that the Ingalls once owned a hotel, how Rose Wilder also had a son and died, and shockingly, that Rose obtained a divorce. If you are a hardcore enthusiast for Laura Ingalls Wilder things, then one reason you might want to get this book is because of the pictures from the Ingalls family album. There are lovely pictures of all of Laura's sisters, Ma, Pa, Rose, and Almanzo. The family portrait of the Wilder's is also a plus. Overall, this book was OK. The pictures of Laura and Almanzo's farm, homes, car, horses, and family settings are all good and the information is refreshing. However, the author fails to mention numerous important people in Laura's childhood as well as pictures of them. Instead of putting pictures of friends and family, he puts in way too much scenery from which the pictures were taken in the 1990's, and not from the 1880's.

A beautifully photographed book that gives the reader an idea of what the places in Wilder's books really looked like. These sights are what Laura was envisioning when she wrote her childhood memories.

My favorite picture is the wedding photo of Caroline and Charles Ingalls. Since they are always seen from Laura's perspective, it's easy to forget that they were once a young couple just starting out on their married life together, with no idea of what the future would bring. It was just a thought that occurred to me when I saw the picture. You just know they never expected that millions of people in the 20th century would fondly know of them as the Ma and Pa Ingalls.

I expected a lot from this book, and I got even more than expected. Besides a lot of beautiful color photos, some two pages wide, there is a wealth of family photos. Not only pictures of Laura's immediate family, but the aunts and uncles, and even their Minnesota neighbors, the Nelsons. This book solves the mystery of what the China Shepherdess looks like as well as Laura's China Box. There is even a photo of Dr. Tan's grave. If you can't visit the places in Laura's books, this book will take you there, and also take you where you can no longer go with photos taken by Garth Williams and other photographers of places that no longer exist. There are even photos of paintings done by Harvey Dunn, Grace's husband, based on Laura's family and a painting done by Laura to explain to Grace what a tree looked like. You can see Pa's cottonwoods that survive today as well as the remnants of Almanzo's tree claim. And just as wonderful, the book fills in details not in Laura's books, so you can find out about her baby brother. The only thing lacking is a photo of Nellie Oleson. You won't be disappointed!

This text is used as a college textbook in my Bible and Theology Batchelor of Science program. As such, I expect a college level text to be challenging reading. However, even for the best reader this book is tedious, unless reserved strictly for use as a resource. Unfortunately to use it as a resource, a good index is necessary. This book has only an index of names and an index of authors available, making the indices hardly worthwhile.

It does have some great charts as sidebar content but without an index to them they may be missed. Illustrations are in black and white or blue and white. Color photos are reserved for the book jacket only.

The book, while maintaining a fairly conservative theological approach holds rather closely to a JEDP theory regarding the formulation of the Old Testament. This may be confusing to some who were taught to believe that Moses wrote the books of the law. No alternative theory is given that I could find.

If you are purchasing this book for a resource, there may be one which is better indexed and more visually appealing. If for casual reading or basic instruction in Old Testament history or literature, please choose something written for this purpose. You will not be satisfied by this book. My readability score for this book is zero!

This is a wonderful text for the student of the Old Testament. The authors are very detailed in their descriptions of each Old Testament book. Not only do they provide a fairly lengthy section in each chapter about the historical setting of the book, but they also provide a review of the message, certain criticisms, theology, date and composition, and certain scholarly events surrounding the text (i.e. hypothesis, theories about the text, etc.). Moreover, the book is filled with photographs, maps, charts, and many other visual aids. The authors have also provided the reader with geographical aids via descriptions, maps, etc. Another important element about this book is the authors' handling of Hebrew poetry. The authors give a description of what Hebrew poetry is, how it works, how to read it, and what its purpose was in context. So as you can see this is a very detailed book. If you are wanting a text that focuses solely on the Old Testament, is detailed and very descriptive, then I don't believe you will find a better text than this one.

Old Testament Survey quotes the New Revised Standard Version in order to take advantage of the most recent biblical scholarship. While previously scholars thought there was a first, second and third Isaiah OTS makes a stong case for the unity of Isaiah (chapter 22). OTS follows the general modern consensus that Ecclesiastes was written 700 years after King Solomon died and thus was not written by Solomon. The comments are interesting and accompanied by photos and maps. If you enjoy this book you may also like THE COMPLETE GUIDE TO THE BOOK OF PROVERBS by Cody Jones. Many of the mysteries and riddles of Proverbs are explored with some surprising new answers. Among them is the identity of King Solomon's ghostwriter who was one of the "officials of Hezekiah" mentioned in Proverbs 25.1. Six translations of Proverbs in parallel aid understanding and numerous drawings and photos give you a sense of the culture of the time.

After all the rave reviews, I couldn't wait to start this book. What a disappointment it was. I found the characters shallow and totally unlikeable, the plot impossible to follow, and in general....just a boring book. I read to the end but now I don't know why I bothered.

Superstar author William Bernhardt here assembles a cast of fellow mystery stars to provide an entertaining legal tale that shows the positives and negatives of collaborative novels.

First, the positives--Collaborative novels are hot! Few things are as intriguing as multiple popular authors under one cover. The reader is able to sample the works of authors s/he may not have read before along with old favorites.

All of the authors included in this book are top-flight stars. Bernhardt starts this novel with a bang, laying out the murder mystery and primary characters in light fashion. Each subsequent author then adds to the plot and adds a new twist of his/her own. In the final chapter, Bernhardt then wraps up all the loose ends of this convulted tale, solves the whodunit, and ensures a happy ending. The plot moves along well and the book can be easily read in a day or two.

The negatives?--Many of the same things that will make some people love this book. Because each author has unique style and views of where the plot should go, the tale can flow very unevenly. Characters likable in previous chapters become villainous in later chapters. Details presented in earlier chapters become inconsequential later in the story. This will disappoint readers more accustomed to a favorite author. Perhaps a previously agreed-upon plot outline may have minimized some of this confusion.

Overall, however, collaborative novels are written as novelty -- fundraising for the Nature Conservancy in this case. While this novel isn't superior in its quality, it is a whole lot of fun and it has definitely introduced me to some mystery writers that I may not have sought out otherwise. This book is well worth the time.

While ostensibly a "legal thriller" about the death of a tycoon, in reality this book reads more like a zany combo of chase movie/murder mystery, with a lethal cross-dressing assassin targeting one character after another. The authors then throw in adulterous rich people, a secret organization avenging corporate misdeeds, a giant pet rabbit with a hi-tech secret, and a defense-attorney heroine with a secret benefactor. A group of famous mystery writers each wrote a chapter of this book, whose profits benefit the Nature Conservancy (hence the title), with each chapter throwing in a new plot twist and ending in a cliff-hanger, until the hilarious end. Might make a lively TV movie, and definitely makes for a fast, fun read.