Celebrating Family: Our Lifelong Bonds With Parents and Siblings

Book Description

More than any previous generation, baby boomers have questioned the value of the family bond. They've sought psychotherapy, attended 12-step meetings, and analyzed their parents' limitations. In this age of psychological awareness, is family closeness a thing of the past? Writer Lisa Braver Moss found that while closeness means different things to different people, family relationships are very much alive and often profoundly significant in adult children's lives. Celebrating Family examines what makes a "close family." The book explores how acceptance of foibles, awareness of mortality, common projects, traditions, and even dumb jokes can keep us together despite geographical and emotional distance. How do we handle conflict with family in a positive way? How can family role changes make us closer? Why do we often reconnect with parents and siblings when we have children of our own? Celebrating Family looks at all these topics and more.

Customer Reviews:

REALLY OPENED MY EYES!.......1999-12-02

This book was so honest and warm - it acknowledges the problems families have, but also talks about how and why we continue to have relationships with our parents and siblings - in spite of it all!

Poignant reminder that in family bonds are our own seeds.......1999-04-13

I liked this book for its quiet yet consistent assertion that "happy" families can be as varied as the individuals who comprise them - that "family" can be a changing dynamic as opposed to set mould into which we must reluctantly "squeeze" ourselves on occasion. I also liked the underlying (i.e., not in-your-face) theme which suggested the many ways in which we are fundamentally alike, despite and/or because of family circumstances. As such, there were certain "characters" I didn't want to let go of; I wanted to know what happened next! Yet it's a satifying read in and unto itself.

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Great book for a student of the Eastern Front

Highly detailed insider's account

Drama Between Budapest and Vienna, The Final Fighting of the 6. Panzer-Armee
Georg Maier
Manufacturer: J.J. Fedorowicz Publishing Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | World War II | Military | History | Subjects | Books
General | Germany | Europe | History | Subjects | Books
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HELL'S GATE: The Battle of the Cherkassy Pocket January to February 1944

To the Bitter End: The Final Battles of Army Groups North Ukraine, A, Centre, Eastern Front, 1944-45

Das Reich III 1941-1943

Das Reich II

ASIN: 0921991789

Product Description

2004 hard bound with illustrated color cover, 9x12, glossy page stock, 475+ pages, nearly 1,000 footnotes, 16 pages of photos, 124 appendices and a separate 32 page full color map book. Georg Maier, the former Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations of the 6. (SS)-Panzer-Armee, has written not only a monumental history of his former field army but a sweeping account of the little-known fighting on the southern portion of the Eastern Front in the final months of the war. Maier provides a truly objective overview of those operations by making use of primary sources documents, war diaries and surviving senior commanders to show the reader how decisions were made at senior levels of command and how certain post-war memoirs have only distorted the picture of what really happened in the final few months of the war. As such, it encompasses the operations of four different Waffen-SS corps and, by extension, nearly all of the name divisions of the Waffen-SS: The 1. SS-Panzer-Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, the 2. SS-Panzer-Division Das Reich, the 3. SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf, the 5. SS-Panzer-Division Wiking, the 9. SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen and the 12. SS-Panzer-Division Hitlerjugend. In addition, many of the most-famous Army armored divisions were involved in this fighting: the 1. Panzer-Division, the 3. Panzer-Division, the 6. Panzer-Division and the 23. Panzer-Division. Maier starts his narrative with the brutal and ill-fated fighting to relieve the encircled city of Budapest and the IX. SS-Gebirgs-Korps by Armeegruppe Balck (primarily by the IV. SS-Panzer-Korps). This is followed by the ill-fated Lake Balaton offensive, where the 6. Panzer-Armee comprised of the I. SS-Panzer-Korps and the II. SS-Panzer-Korps, among other formations was bled white combating prepared Soviet defenses in terrain that was completely ill suited for armored warfare. He then chronicles all the fighting to the end in Vienna.

Customer Reviews:

Great book for a student of the Eastern Front.......2006-05-09

Like the guy said above, don't purchase this book unless you're like me, an avid "nut" about the Eastern Front during WWII. It's well written and documented, but you have to really know what's been going on up until this ill-fated and timed offensive.

Highly detailed insider's account.......2006-01-04

This book is a prodigious effort and I must admit that I was looking for it ever since I first saw it in German years ago in a small shop in Rothenburg ob der Tauber run by a former member of the 503rd Schwere Panzer Abteilung. It is primarily a day by day account of the battles of the SS formations and has an apologists stamp to it.

This book was written about a time when the German Army could no longer dictate the tempo at the strategic or operational level of war. However, at the tactical level, they remained highly effective. German formations remained capable of delivering hard blows in response to Soviet operations, but were no longer able to successfully conduct a major offensive operation. The high command, driven by Hitler, remained determined to do so however. This resulted in the grinding down by attrition of available combat power. At the height of their conquests, Germany had greater depth and capacity to make good losses, but that ability had long since vanished in the reverses of late 1943 and 1944. And now, beginning in December of 1944, there is the increasing realization that the conditions no longer exist for operations on a grand scale. This is a fact that Hitler refuses to accept. Carefully husbanded resources are squandered in attempting to force a decision in the face of adverse conditions and superior combat power. This merely creates the conditions for Soviet success at the operational level by writing down German strength and tying up reserves.

This is the case for the main event in this book, Operation "Spring Awakening", an ill conceived, ill timed offensive designed to keep Hungary and Hungarian resources in the war and protect Vienna. In events reminiscent of Burnside's "Mud March", the 6th Panzer Army struggled to mount a major offensive after pulling out of a major battle in the Ardennes. The fact that they were able to mount an offensive at all is a testament to their determination and ability. The wisdom of mounting it speaks less so. Heavy weapons, particularly in the case of the II SS Panzer Corps could not be brought forward by LD due to terrain and weather. There was little doubt about the location and timing of the offensive. Once begun, the offensive was characterized as much by the type of head- on bludgeoning that we consider more in the style of the Soviets. And yet there was some degree of success. However, as the offensive had obviously begun to run its course, it became apparent to operational commanders that danger lurked elsewhere, to the northern flank covered by Hungarian forces. Once again, the Soviets seized the initiative and began to dictate the course of events that lead to the eventual final surrender.

The dominant theme running through the book is the internal conflict between primarily General Hermann Balck and a variety of SS leaders, most specifically Gille, commander of the IV SS Panzer Corps and Dietrich, commander of the 6th Panzer Army. This was not the Hermann Balck who successfully commanded on the Eastern Front in 1943. By this period, he had tasted defeat at higher levels of command and was now commanding at the Army level. As the Germans became less able to win above the tactical level, it became increasingly important to avert blame, the price of failure could be high. The author's contention is that this had become Balck's prime concern and he sought to turn the spot light from himself to the SS formations and leadership as success became elusive. The author, as a member of the operations staff of the 6th Panzer Army, has his own ax to grind as well. He naturally seeks to defend the actions of the SS units, with some amount of justification. This conflict, while much the center piece, overlays the larger conflict within German command structures that overlays all operations by this point in the war.

This book is not for the casual reader. The expense alone will screen out much of the potential audience. It is highly detailed and is accompanied by a separate folio of maps - a must for trying to following the tale amid confusing names and the changing situation. I found myself having to stop periodically and carefully review the appropriate map references or in several cases I became completely lost. It is a day by day account of Army and Corps level operations, it draws from first person accounts and detailed sources. To get the individual or tactical perspective, I would recommend reading Hubert Meyer, Otto Weidinger, or Will Fey who are focused on the tactical level. I do not regret spending the money for this book, but it is neither easy nor casual reading. I highly recommend it. Just understand what you are signing up for from the start.

Book Description

Leszek Kolakowski delves into some of the most intellectually vigorous questions of our time in this remarkable collection of essays garnished with his characteristic wit. Ten of the essays have never appeared before in English.

"Exemplary. . . . It should be celebrated." —Arthur C. Danto, New York Times Book Review

"This book . . . express[es] Kolakowski's thought on God, man, reason, history, moral truth and original sin, prompted by observation of the dramatic struggle among Christianity, the Enlightenment and modern totalitarianism. It is a wonderful collection of topics." —Thomas Nagel, Times Literary Supplement

"No better antidote to bumper-sticker thinking exists than this collection of 24 'appeals for moderation in consistency,' and never has such an antidote been needed more than it is now." —Joseph Coates, Chicago Tribune

"Whether learned or humorous, these essays offer gems in prose of diamond hardness, precision, and brilliance." —Thomas D'Evelyn, The Christian Science Monitor

A "Notable Books of the Year 1991" selection, New York Times Book Review—a "Noted with Pleasure" selection, New York Times Book Review—a "Summer Reading 1991" selection, New York Times Book Review—a "Books of the Year" selection, The Times.

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meditations on the struggle between tradition and progress.......2002-04-22

Twenty-four essays by philosopher Leszek Kolakowksi ( Univ of Chicago / Oxford ) comprise the totality of "MODERNITY ON ENDLESS TRIAL", a volume divided into 4 parts:

I. "On Modernity, Barbarity and Intellectuals"
II. "On the Dilemmas of the Christian Legacy"
III. "On Liberals, Revolutionaries and Utopians"
IV. "On Scientific Theories"

The book in its entirety is an examination of the ceaseless argumentation among opposing ideas that has propelled and sustained that part of Western Tradition expressed in "the pluralist society". In his brief forward he submits his essays as-

"semi-philosophical sermons in which...to point out a number of unpleasant and insoluble dilemmas that loom up every time we attempt to be perfectly consistent when we think about our culture, our politics and our religious life...these essays are not edifying. They are rather appeals for moderation in consistency..."

True to form, Kolakowksi consistently refuses the knifepoint threat of "either/or" ultimatums, exploring the mutually antagonistic yet symbiotic struggle between tradition and progress. Select quotations from his essays will not do the author justice but may perhaps give some evidence of his train of thought:

"It would be silly, of course, to be either `for' or `against' modernity tout court, not only because it is pointless to try to stop the development of technology, science and economic rationality, but because both modernity and antimodernity may be expressed in barbarous and antihuman terms".
( MODERNITY ON ENDLESS TRIAL )

"Ultimately we may say the Europe's cultural identity is reinforced by her refusal to accept any kind of closed, finite definition and thus she can only affirm her identity in uncertainty and anxiety... The choice between total perfection and total self-destruction is not ours; cares without end, incompleteness without end, these are our lot. Thus, in the doubt which Europe entertains about herself, European culture can find its spiritual equilibrium and the justification for its pretensions to universality"
( LOOKING FOR THE BARBARIANS )

"It is difficult to protect democracy by democratic means; difficult, but feasible on condition that democracy has the resolute will to defend itself. Tolerance is not necessarily indifference; the pluralist order is obviously founded on the recognition of particular values, and is not `value free' or neutral; also, the indifference of the law presupposes no neutrality of values; it is anchored in a social philosophy. In order to defend itself, the pluralist order should voice those values ceaselessly and loudly. There is nothing astonishing or outrageous about the fact that within the pluralist society, the defenders and enemies of its basic principles are not treated with exactly the same indifference; it is quite possible to treat them differently without harming citizens' rights or the principle of tolerance. A pluralism that acquired from its own norms carelessness about its existence and made it a virtue would condemn itself to death."
( THE SELF-POISONING OF THE OPEN SOCIETY )

"I admit to speak in defense of the conservative spirit. However, it is a conditional conservative spirit, conscious not only of its own necessity but also the necessity of the spirit which opposes it. As a result, it can see that tension between rigidity and structure and the forces of change between tradition and criticism, is a condition of human life- a thing its enemies are seldom prepared to admit...Culture, when it loses its sacred sense, loses all sense. With the disappearance of the sacred, which imposed limits to the perfection which could be attained by the profane, arises one of the most dangerous illusions of our civilization- the illusion that there are no limits to the changes that human life can undergo, that society is `in principle' an endlessly flexible thing, and that to deny this flexibility and this perfectibility is to deny man's total autonomy and thus to deny man himself... If it is true that in order to make society more tolerable, we must believe it can be improved, it is also true that there must always be people who think of the price paid for every step of what we call progress. The order of the sacred is also a sensitivity to evil- the only system of reference that allows us to contemplate that price and forces us to ask whether it is exorbitant."
( THE REVENGE OF THE SACRED IN SECULAR CULTURE )

"The general conclusion of these remarks might sound somewhat banal but, not unlike many banalities, worth pondering. It says that the idea of human fraternity is disastrous as a political program but is indispensable as a guiding sign... It is likely that two kinds of mentality- the skeptical and the utopian- will survive separately, in unavoidable conflict. And we need their shaky coexistence; both of them are important to our cultural survival. The victory of utopian dreams would lead us to a totalitarian nightmare and the utter downfall of civilization, whereas the unchallenged domination of the skeptical spirit would condemn us to a hopeless stagnation, to an immobility that a slight accident could easily convert into catastrophic chaos. Ultimately, we have to live between two irreconcilable claims, each of them having its cultural justification.
( THE DEATH OF UTOPIA RECONSIDERED )

In this collection of essays Leszek Kolakowski displays not only intellectual acumen but a certain level of humility expressed in clear, jargon-free thought. And, as a "bonus", the justifiably serious tone of the book is given relief in a couple of parody pieces, which reveal the author's sense of dry humor.

Book Description

This digital document is an article from First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life, published by Institute on Religion and Public Life on March 1, 2000. The length of the article is 999 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

Citation Details
Title: Leszek Kolakowski Modernity on Endless Trial (1990).
Author: Robert Royal
Publication: First Things: A Monthly Journal of Religion and Public Life (Refereed)
Date: March 1, 2000
Publisher: Institute on Religion and Public Life
Page: 56

Distributed by Thomson Gale

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MODERNITY ON ENDLESS TRIAL
Leszek Kolakowski
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPXTNG

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MODERNITY ON ENDLESS TRIAL
Leszek Kolakowski
Manufacturer: University Of Chicago Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPZBWS

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Modernity on Endless Trial.

Manufacturer: 0
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000ICE1D2

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The nature of science: The history of science in western culture since 1600
David M Knight
Manufacturer: A. Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

General | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0233968148

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The nature of science: the history of science in Western culture since 1600
David KNIGHT
Manufacturer: A. Deutsch
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQ0YLK

Book Description

One of this century's most popular psychology scholars, Robert A.Johnson was among the first to present Carl Jung's rich but complex theories with simple elegance and grace,opening them to an entirely new and hungry audience. His masterful works--including the best selling He, She, Inner Work, and Owning Your Own Shadow-are known and loved as much for their beautiful retellings of timeless myths and folktales as for their deep wisdom and profound insight.

Balancing Heaven and Earth reveals, for the first time, Johnson's own fascinating and mystical life-from his near-death experience at the age of eleven to the lifelong soul journey that has informed his writing and taught him how to live a spiritual life in the endlessly challenging modern world. Full of compelling, humorous, and surprising stories of encounters with an assortment of "sages, saints, and sinners," it lays bare Johnson's own inner world and its dazzeling landscape of powerful dreams, mystical visions, and synchronistic events.

Beginnning with a vivid retelling of the childhood accident that claimed the lower part of his right leg, Johnson describes the life-defining moment when he was transported by a mystical vision to a realm that exists just beyond ordinary consciousness-a realm he calls the "Golden World." With this experience, described as "both my curse and my blessing," Johnson is launched on a spiritual quest that leads him in search of Eastern wisdom, to encounters with such wise men as J. Krishnamurti and D.T. Suzuki, and finally to Carl Jung, who shows him his destiny revealed in a dream. Johnson's experiences lead him to a unique understanding and acceptance of the slender connecting threads at work in all our lives, guiding us and shaping who we are-"call it fate, destiny, or the hand of God."

As much a personal guide as a memoir, Balancing Heaven and Earth teaches us to follow , as Johnson has, the subtle influences of dreams, visions, and even our deepest sufferings in order to live attuned to our spiritual selves. A pure delight for Johnson's many fans and a splendid example of his trademark blend of illustrative myth and psychological insight, this is a work of incomparable beauty and inspiration showcasing the wisdom of a lifetime.

Customer Reviews:

Comments on the book "Balancing Heaven and Earth.".......2007-05-16

My rating of 5 stars applies only if you're an artistic person or have an interest in exploring your inner self. Along those lines, this book is great; I'm now reading it for a second time.

Balancing Heaven and Earth.......2007-04-07

If I could have stayed awake and had the time, I would have read this straight through! It was hard to put down. By far, Robert Johnson's best book. Well written, compelling, amusing, honest, etc. I have returned to it twice and reread chapters. A must read for those interested in finding greater meaning in life by weaving together psychology and spirituality.

Connecting to the divine.......2006-08-15

The most readable book written by Johnson, perhaps because it is the story of his life written with a friend. It has a lot of his dreams and real life experiences that he encountered and used to walk the path of his connection to the sacred. It is not a book of masculine spirituality rather the of the deeper connections available to all mankind. I throughly enjoyed it but it is not a light read.

His best book yet!.......2006-04-28

I truly wish I had read this book before I read Johnson's other works, as I think this very personal account of the author's spiritual and intellectual journey have shed a lot of light on how he came to believe the things he wrote in his more academic writings. This man's connection to the unseen world, his openness, his ability to see truths about himself, about humankind and about the nature of the Divine are a wonderful foundation for reading and understanding books like He, She and We. This is his latest book, but I recommend to anyone interested to read this one first. It will leave you hungry for more.

Deep Yet Accessible.......2006-03-01

This author reveals a very productive and interesting life. He has definitely paid attention to his inner and outer worlds all his life. All of his books that I have read are of high quality, and my favorite one besides this one is "Inner Work", which I found to be very helpful.

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Balancing Heaven and Earth: A Memoir
Robert A. Johnson
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OF4UZW

BALANCING HEAVEN AND EARTH A Memoir of Vision, Dreams and Relaizations

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BALANCING HEAVEN AND EARTH A Memoir of Vision, Dreams and Relaizations
Robert A. Johnson
Manufacturer: Harper San Francisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000JVEHNQ

Book Description

Called the Army's "greatest combat general" by President Truman, James Van Fleet led American and allied forces to battlefield victory during a career that spanned World War I and the Cold War. In this biography, a military historian who once commanded a rifle company under Van Fleet in Korea tells the legendary leader's unique story and draws parallels to the U.S. Army's history of diverse challenges met in the twentieth century.

Defining the root of Van Fleet's success as devotion to his men and dedication to rigorous field training and mental conditioning, Paul Braim describes Van Fleet's ability to inspire his men with the will to win through two world wars and in the limited wars that followed. He chronicles Van Fleet's command of III Corps in its drive into the heart of Nazi Germany in World War II and his training of allied soldiers in the Cold Wars, including his development of the Greek National Army into a fighting force capable of driving off a strong communist insurgency. He tells how as commander of the Eighth Army in Korea Van Fleet applied his winning tactics so successfully within the constraints of the limited war that the South Korean Army was able to assume a major fighting role. Finally, he explains that Van Fleet was one of few senior military leaders to argue for training the Vietnamese instead of committing U.S. combat forces in Vietnam. This tribute to an outstanding American--a poor boy from rural Florida who rose to the rank of four-star general--will fascinate everyone who enjoys reading biographies and those who like military history. It is presented in cooperation with the Association of the U.S. Army.

Customer Reviews:

Hagiographic Genre.......2006-03-28

Nothing wrong with an uncritical biography, but one should be cautious about using this rather one-sided volume in understand events where Van Fleet held a leadership role.

The example of the Greek Civil War cited by a prior review is instructive. In fact Van Fleet serious misunderstood the conflict in Greece and current historians argue he probably prolonged the time it took to defeat the Greek communists. It is most likly that without US military aid, especially in the form of Van Fleet's absolute control of military strategy there, the conservative Greek govenrment would have defeeated the communist forces earlier and with much less bloodshed.

This is especially important as the understanding, or misunderstanding, of events in Greece deeply informed U.S. counterinsurgency doctrine at strategic and tactical level. As many military historians attest, this lead to serious mistakes in the first few years of the war in Vietnam when the "Greek model" drove doctrine.

There have been a number and conferences and publications through the US Army War College, especially following the opening of Soviet records, and the view now is that Van Fleet's consistent countermanding of the recommendations by the General Staff of Greece gave the communists constant reprieve. As Yugoslav and Soviet records now show the Greek Civil was more about Yugoslav involvement, and the bases in Yugoslavia are where all the serious Greek (and as it turns out Yugoslav) forces of merit maintained sanctuary. Van Fleet's failure to heed this on a strategic level was a serious blunder and is the root of the tactical failures and massive loss of civilian life that followed.

Almost every counterinsurgency tactic saw a false depiction of success by his staff, and the (dis)informing doctrine that followed resulted in the exact same failures of in Vietnam.

Van Fleet was a brave soldier, and deserves credit on many levels, but he also lies at the heart of a fallacies in counterinsurgency doctrine that dogged and hampered our efforts long for decades.

Patton's Fighting Fool.......2006-03-04

General Patton said that Van Fleet was a fighting fool. Van Fleet led one of the assault regiments on D-Day at Utah Beach. He was such an outstanding leader he was promoted 3 more times before the end of the war. First to assistant division commander, then to division commander and finally to command of a corps. It has been rumoured that Van Fleet wasn't promoted sooner because George C. Marshall confused his name with another officer who was an alcoholic. General Van Fleet was primarily responsible for the defeat of the communists in Greece , where he led the US mission. Van Fleet later commanded the 8th army in Korea and retired due to the lack of the will by our government.

Van Fleet is also the best head football coach in the history of the University of Florida, which he coached for several years while serving as the Rotc instructor.

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To the State, by means of Stephen Colbert: "You're on notice!"

"Can you fear me now?" --US Government

Research excellent & sources of "wisdom" unrivaled

Bovard nails it again

Government vs the People

Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen
James Bovard
Manufacturer: Palgrave Macmillan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

State & Local Government | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
General | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Political Theory | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Attention Deficit Democracy

ASIN: 0312229674

Book Description

Governments are bigger and more powerful than ever, while a citizen's ability to control his or her own life has never been less effective. Bovard shows how the State threatens to destroy the individual in order to preserve the belief that any government is superior to the citizen. Bovard asks how we got to this point and answers with a thoughtful look at the history of governmental control from ancient times to the present, peppered throughout with observations on our present day, out of control governmental regulatory commissions and all-confiscating IRS.

Customer Reviews:

To the State, by means of Stephen Colbert: "You're on notice!".......2007-01-14

If, by some miraculous delusion, you find yourself entrusting the U.S. federal government with the benefit of the doubt, then perhaps you have no entitlement to pull a lever in the voting booth. But as libertarian reporter James Bovard reveals in "Freedom in Chains: The Rise of the State and the Demise of the Citizen," our representative democracy is such a sham that maybe it wouldn't make much of a difference if no one showed up to vote on election day. Indeed, much about the contemporary mindset regarding the sanctity of the modern state is fraudulent and ill-informed poppycock, and Bovard has the unsettling facts (and they are very much unsettling) to prove that thesis. Personally, after coming off reading George Orwell's "1984," I can accredit Mr. Bovard's book with a similar blessing: This is one of the most important texts you will ever read, and that the citizenry's apathy will be the bearer of their own destruction. Think the government is looking out for you? Do you believe in some magical new solution to societal and economic ills that can only come on an angelic cloud from the state? Then this is an urgent read.

Bovard's painstaking documentation, countless examples, and innumerable cases of state coercion and intimidation and the federal government's waste and unconstitutional actions against private citizens and businesses as a result of their loony policies are accurate, to say the least. The best part, Bovard dismantles every Big Government apologist's arguments regarding the state as some sort of deity. The man is a devoted libertarian, but his propositions are the only viable armor for those of us devoted to the United States Constitution. The more I keep watching the corporate-owned media outlets, the more liberty is subverted, the more I can hear the earth shifting violently. It's the Founding Fathers rolling in their graves.

"Freedom in Chains" will likely make you weep and fret for your country`s future, believing there is no hope. Moreover, as I plowed through the book, nearer and closer to the conclusion, I thought that Bovard would end bleakly with the idea that there really is no hope anymore. His chapter on the solutions to our political enslavement is brief, but still optimistic in nature. In the end, the American populace must take the reigns from our slave owners. Will we stop voting for the "lesser of the two evils," when the `lesser' is almost always in cohorts with the actual evil?

"Can you fear me now?" --US Government.......2006-02-05

"Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country." John F. Kennedy

"Your government knows your mind, and you know your government's mind." -Franklin D. Roosevelt

"Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we." -George W. Bush (sometimes it is more honest to deviate from the script and speak from the gut!)

One would hope that a political tome written 7 years ago would become outdated; that politics might have changed since then. Sadly, James Bovard's "Freedom in Chains," is more relevant now than it was then. Despite a republican president (and congress) which, at one point, professed a "small government" platform, the size of the government has grown to unprecedented heights.

Bovard's "Freedom in Chains" not only documents the incursion of government into the people's liberty, but tries to dissect how this began. Not suprisingly, his first chapter points largely (but not exclusively) to FDR. With a careful eye, Bovard analyzes FDR's shifty rhetoric, which was able to effectively redefine the word "freedom": a word that used to mean "absence of coercion by the state," was now morphed to mean "safety provided by the state." Where we used to talk of freedom to buy and sell as one pleased, now we heard talk of freedom to buy and sell at "fair" prices as dictated by government. FDR (and others) were soon able to tell the citizenry with a straight face that freedom meant the ability of the government to take care of them via legislation.

From there, Bovard spends chapter after chapter highlighting examples of this paternalism run amok. "Cagekeepers and Caretakers" highlights how politicians use the idea that they were democratically elected to justify incursions into liberty under the guise that "that's what the people wanted." (And witness in 2004 the argument from the GW Bush camp that the president has a "mandate" from the people!)

In what might be the best chapter, "The Moral Glorification of Leviathan," Bovard documents how government has claimed for itself such things as: the right to tell farmers how much of what they can sell and at what price, the right to tell landlords that they may not discriminate by refusing to rent to drug addicts addicts (or any other group the government happens to like), and the right to tell companies what numbers of which "groups" they can hire. (A particularly great example was the government's failed attempt to mandate that Hooters employ as many male waiters as female waitresses!)

From here, we read documented accounts of government officials exempting themselves from laws the public is expected to obey (e.g. while it is illegal to lie to the police, the police may lie to obtain a confession!), etc. I confess that at this point, the book does become a bit monotanous. While an advantage to Bovard's "laundrey list" approach is its thoroughness in documenting claims, a disadvantage is that after so many examples, each one begins to lose its bite. (I must admit that after a while, I began to skim rather than read, as so many paragraphs began looking like ones I'd read before.)

Another small criticism is that I do not think that supporters of government's growth will be convinced by this book. In other words, this is not a book that argues forcefully that government growth is a bad thing in itself; rather, it documents the growth of government and assumes that the readers' symapthies will be against such trends. (For books actually arguing against statism, read Freidrich Hayek, Richard Epstein, or anything coming out of the CATO institute).

For all this, I must still give this book four stars. Bovard does an admirable job documenting abuses of government power and attempting to alarm an appallingly unalarmed public that a government unchallenged translates to a people unfree.

Research excellent & sources of "wisdom" unrivaled.......2005-11-29

James Bovard is a bestselling libertarian author and lecturer, whose political commentary targets examples of governmental waste, failures, and abuses of power.
His Books:
The Fair Trade Fraud (1992)
Lost Rights (1995)
Shakedown (1996)
FREEDOM IN CHAINS: THE RISE OF THE STATE AND THE DEMISE OF THE CITIZEN (2000) Just finished this book and it is filled with examples of the "Statist" (politicians and bureaucrats) extorting money to facilitate their appetite for power and thus controlling as many aspects of life in these "United States"(separation into red and blue states does not make much difference). The research is excellent and the sources of "wisdom" are unrivaled. The EEOC and EPA appear to be the most outrageous of bureaus but closely followed by HUD and others; however, the Supreme Court clearly wins the "stuck on stupid" award between the three branches and the Senate is a clear choice in the Congress. Much of what Mr. Bovard relates is probably well known by the average political savvy reader, but his ability to back up his message with research, i.e. facts and sagacious quotes makes for an excellent read. Still, as one other reader stated, "What exactly can be done with the current apathy and addiction to the Welfare State by so many voters?".
Feeling Your Pain (2001)
Terrorism and Tyranny (2003)
The Bush Betrayal (2004)
Quotes:
"Democracy must be something more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner." (1994). This is my favorite and another version could be a jackass (Dems) and an elephant (Republicans) fighting over "hay" (tax receipts) that does not belong to them. They then give some back to the "original owners" (taxpayers) after eating their "fill" (outrageous retirements, perks, etc.) and providing some to their "herd" (special interests). THIS ITEM WAS EDITED--From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia--LOG ON http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page

Bovard nails it again.......2004-05-20

I read this book when it was first published and as I was reading was half the time wanting to throw the book across the room. It was the frustration making me do that.

I re-read this book again and after 3 1/2 years of Bush I found Bovard to be very prophetic. What he said is even more true today than when he wrote it.

If you are concerned for that state of this country, don't just read this book, but think about and act on it.

Bovard is the anti- Micheal Moore.

Read this for a view of whats really happening.

Oh yes, DON'T throw the book.

Government vs the People.......2004-02-02

If you still labor under the delusion that the United States Government is here for your benefit, read this book. Mr. Bovard puts paid to that myth. Americans are now subject to such an unrealistic array of laws and statutes that every one of us is ripe for picking by some bureucrat looking to "get his numbers up". America has truly gone from a government "for the people" to one "against the people". Our constitutional protections are not worth the paper they are written on. If you manage to go through life without running afoul of some government functionary, you are indeed a luck individual. Read this book

Book Description

California's Wild Gardens showcases the splendid abundance of California's native plants in their natural settings--from foggy rain forests and rolling grasslands to high alpine meadows and parched deserts. The book offers a close-up look at more than one hundred special sites in the state, highlighting their distinctive ecology, the rare and unique plants found in them, and some of their more familiar botanical treasures. With its spectacular color photographs and lively writing by some of California's best biologists and ecologists, California's Wild Gardens is the perfect introduction to the state's remarkable botanical diversity. Like the best travel guides, it will inspire its readers to further explore California's natural heritage. In addition to illuminating California's botanical bounty, this book discusses threats facing the state's flora and describes protection efforts now under way.

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