North Carolina Nature Writing: Four Centuries of Personal Narratives and Descriptions

Book Description

The ancient city of Angkor has fascinated Westerners since its rediscovery in the mid-nineteenth century. A great deal is now known about the brilliant Khmer civilization that flourished among the monsoon forests and rice paddies of mainland Southeast Asia, thanks to the pioneering work of French scholars and the application of modern archaeological techniques such as remote sensing from the space shuttle.

The classic-period Khmer kings ruled over their part-Hindu and part-Buddhist empire from AD 802 for more than five centuries. This period saw the construction of many architectural masterpieces, including the huge capital city of Angkor, with the awe-inspiring Angkor Wat, the world's largest religious structure. Numerous other provincial centers, bound together by an impressive imperial road system, were scattered across the Cambodian Plain, northeast Thailand, southern Laos, and the Delta of southern Vietnam. Khmer civilization by no means disappeared with the gradual abandonment of Angkor that began in the fourteenth century, and the book's final chapter describes the conversion of the Khmer to a different kind of Buddhism, the move of the capital downriver to the Phnom Penh area, and the reorientation of the Khmer state to maritime trade.

Angkor and the Khmer Civilization presents a concise but complete picture of Khmer cultural history from the Stone Age until the establishment of the French Protectorate in 1863, and is lavishly illustrated with maps, plans, drawings, and photographs. Drawing on the latest archaeological research, Michael D. Coe brings to life Angkor's extraordinary society and culture. 130 illustrations, 22 in color.

Customer Reviews:

Angkor and the Khmer civilization.......2007-05-29

The title "Angkor and the Khmer civilization" is misleading in that sense this book treats the Khmer civilization from the prehistory to the 21st century in mainland South East Asia. In this specific context this is an interesting book. In the context of the Khmer civilization restricted to Angkor I would recommend Charles' Higham "The civilization of Angkor ".The Civilization of AngkorCambodian Architecture: Eighth to Thirteenth Centuries (Handbook of Oriental Studies/Handbuch Der Orientalistik)The Archaeology of Mainland Southeast Asia: From 10,000 B.C. to the Fall of Angkor (Cambridge World Archaeology)The Khmers (The Peoples of South East Asia and the Pacific)A History of Cambodia

A College Student's Review.......2006-11-02

Coe reaches surprisingly far in his pre-historical research. His findings are highly informative, and he conducted research beginning with the earliest traces of civilization in Cambodia. While at first this may seem to hold less relevance than a discussion of more modern times, he successfully seams different eras in Khmer civilization together, so that one understands Khmer history as a smoothly flowing story. In his descriptions of Khmer culture and artifacts, it is clear that Coe is steeped in anthropological and archeological knowledge, and he succeeds in his goal of providing such information clearly.
His style of writing is very clear and refreshing. It allows the reader to easily take in the vast information he presents. At just under two-hundred-fifty pages, Coe provides an abundance of information clearly and concisely. His writing is not dry or verbose, words that are all too often used to describe historical texts. Angkor presents all the information that an historical scholar could hope for, without presenting it in a lifeless manner.

Surprised and pleased to see Coe knows Angkor!.......2006-07-17

I was at the SF Asian Museum seeing what turned out to be a not-great exhibit this weekend, and wandered into the book store thinking I'd pick something up in advance of a trip to Cambodia in the fall. Shock of shocks, I found that Coe, whom I've read avidly for his great coverage of the Maya, knows the Khmer as well.

This book is as readable yet comprehensive as is his great work on the Maya, which I've absorbed over the past five years during a Maya obsession. I had a spare three hours this afternoon, and comfortably plowed through five detailed chapters. How frequently can you say that about an academic's work (other than the work in geology of my father-in-law, Dave Alt, and I guess Witold Rybczynski . . . .).

Now I guess I need to pull out the Chocolate book (another surprise--written by Coe's wife and edited by him after her death) and delve back into that---

Great Research Text.......2005-10-11

The most thoroughly researched text that I found regarding the temples and historic context of the "Classic" Khmer period. Not the best guide once you get to the site -- that would be Laur's illustrated guide. If you miss the boat on ordering both of these texts prior to your trip, you can get them both in the bookstore in Seim Reap. Some of the street vendors at the temples peddle illegal copies of the Coe book. Info as of 10/05.

Angkor and the Khmer Civilization.......2003-11-16

The great Khmer Empire, best known for its astonishing temples at Angkor, has long fascinated visitors, arm-chair tourists, and scholars alike. In his new book, "Angkor and the Khmer Civilization," archaeologist Michael Coe has written what I believe is, simply, the best current (2003) presentation of the history and culture of this wonderful (literally: full of wonders) ancient civilization. Reading Coe's book is like having a delightful one-on-one conversation with a first-rate thinker, scholar, and teacher. Coe's writing is superbly well-organized, logical, fascinating, concise, and comprehensive. The book is enhanced by numerous high-quality photo illustrations and maps, fully referenced bibliography and notes, and a better-than-average topical index.

Book Description

New research tools have revealed many surprising aspects of the dynamic nature of lipids and their participation in processes such as recognition, intra- and inter-cellular signalling, deterrence and defence against pathogens, membrane trafficking and protein function. This is in addition to new information on the more established roles of plant lipids as structural components of membranes and as long-term storage products. Plant lipids are also increasingly being seen as sources of a new generation of environmentally friendly, biodegradable and renewable industrial products, including biopolymers and high grade lubricants.

This volume provides a broad overview of plant lipid research and its many applications, linking the various disciplines and providing an interesting and wide-ranging perspective on this fast-moving field. Extensive lists of references are provided, totalling well over two thousand non-redundant citations and offering a point of entry to the detailed literature.

This is a book for researchers New research tools have revealed many surprising aspects of the dynamic nature of lipids and their participation in processes such as recognition, intra- and inter-cellular signalling, deterrence and defence against pathogens, membrane trafficking and protein function. This is in addition to new information on the more established roles of plant lipids as structural components of membranes and as long-term storage products. Plant lipids are also increasingly being seen as sources of a new generation of environmentally friendly, biodegradable and renewable industrial products, including biopolymers and high grade lubricants.

This is a book for researchers and professionals in plant biochemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology and genetics, in both the academic and industrial sectors. and professionals in plant biochemistry, molecular biology, biotechnology and genetics, in both the academic and industrial sectors.

Amazon.com

An eminently practical example of how human engineering can be informed by the billions of years of biological structural evolution.

From the smallest gnat to the largest aircraft, all things that fly obey the same aerodynamic principles. This book offers an introduction to the mechanics of flight and, beyond that, to the scientific attitude that finds wonder in simple calculations and forges connections between, say, the energy efficiency of a peanut butter sandwich that fuels your body and that of the kerosene that fuels a jumbo jet. It is the product of a lifetime of watching and investigating flight by an always wise and often witty scientist and writer.

Book Description

From the smallest gnat to the largest aircraft, all things that fly obey the same aerodynamic principles. The Simple Science of Flight offers a leisurely introduction to the mechanics of flight and, beyond that, to the scientific attitude that finds wonder in simple calculations, forging connections between, say, the energy efficiency of a peanut butter sandwich and that of the kerosene that fuels a jumbo jet. It is the product of a lifetime of watching and investigating the way flight happens.

The hero of the book is the Boeing 747, which Tennekes sees as the current pinnacle of human ingenuity in mastering the science of flight. Also covered are paper airplanes, kites, gliders, and human-powered flying machines as well as birds and insects. Tennekes explains concepts like lift, drag, wing loading, and cruising speed through many fascinating comparisons, anecdotes, and examples.

Customer Reviews:

An excellent introduction to the mathematics of flight.......2007-09-28

This brief, handsome, book explains a few of the basic mathematical principles governing speed and efficiency of flight. You don't need anything more advanced than high school algebra to comprehend the material but you, like me, may have to work a little bit if you haven't used math in a while. The author focuses on birds and jets but mentions insects, human powered aircraft, gliders, kites, and even pteranodon's. I found the treatment of the force triangle obscure (the skating analogy didn't help). I also wish the author had developed more topics (for example, I was left wondering why an angle of attack of 6 degrees is common).

The science of flight made simple.......2005-11-22

General readers interested in learning the basics behind the physics of flying won't need to look any further than this slim volume from Prof. Henk Tennekes. In addition to being a fine introduction to how things fly, the book is a quick and easy read at only 130-odd pages.

The book's final chapter, devoted to the Boeing 747 and its competitors, makes a compelling argument that the 747 is the most most efficient and well engineered plane in history.

More comprehensible? Impossible. .......2005-03-19

Since years I love the aviation, only for curiosity I bought this book, and in one morning I've enjoyed too much and learnt a lot about aerodynamics, fuel consumption, the migration of birds(really interesting), the forces in skating! etc. It is a book with of 120 pages really educative and comprenhensible, all questions I made in my mind reading the book were answered a few pages ahead. If you are interested in planes, want to know how simple they fly, even loose the fear, and learn all this in easy way and learn about more things you never thought in relation with planes, this is your book. Is any commision for me??hahaha.
Enjoy it.

Fun and instructive.......2004-11-09

This delightful little book is an introduction to some major aspects of flight. Not all of them. There isn't much on strength of materials, for example. This book concentrates on the fundamental issues of how much power it takes to fly and what size a flying machine ought to be to make optimal use of its power. What makes the book so much fun is the inclusion of flight characteristics of birds and insects.

Tennekes starts with a chart of weight versus cruising speed for the insects, birds, and planes. Next, he discusses wing sizes. Then fuel consumption, strategies for takeoffs and landings, and gliding.

The author concludes with some praise for the design of the Boeing 747. All commercial passenger planes are best off flying as fast as possible without getting too near the speed of sound, so Mach 0.9 is best. These planes are best off flying high enough to take advantage of the cooler air and good weather: a height of 10 kilometers is ideal. To match the cruising speed with the optimal wing loading at that height, one gets an airplane which is roughly the size and shape of a Boeing 747.

I highly recommend this book.

I finally understood aircraft !.......2001-01-14

It's a pity that Tennekes moved to the USA, State College, Pennsylvania. If he had stayed in Holland and become a professor in Delft, graduating in aerospace engineering would have been much easier for me. This guy loves aircraft more than mathematics ! The best place to read this book is during a long trip on a 747

The Simple Science of Flight: From Insects to Jumbo Jets.: An article from: American Scientist

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The Simple Science of Flight: From Insects to Jumbo Jets.: An article from: American Scientist

Manufacturer: Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Digital

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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The Simple Science of Flight (From Insects to Jumbo Jets)

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The Simple Science of Flight (From Insects to Jumbo Jets)
Henk Tennekes
Manufacturer: The MIT Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OQL8FQ

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Gould's Book Of Fish - A Novel In Twelve Fish
Richard Flanagan
Manufacturer: Grove Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000JZUWRW

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Gould's Book Of Fish A Novel In Twelve Fish
Richard Flanagan
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 0330363786

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Goulds Book of Fish: A Novel In Twelve Fish
Richard Flanagan
Manufacturer: GROVE PRESS
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000WTIR5Y

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GOULD'S BOOK OF FISH. A Novel in Twelve Fish.
Richard: Flanagan
Manufacturer: Pan
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000W2S6UC

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Gould's Book of Fish: a Novel in Twelve Fish
Richard Flanagan
Manufacturer: Picador
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OHECBM

Book Description

Inadequately described as the John Lennon or the Bob Dylan of his country, Caetano Veloso has virtually personified Brazilian music for thirty-five years. Now, in his long-awaited memoir, he tells the heroic story of how, in the late sixties, he and a group of friends from the Northeastern state of Bahia created tropicalismo, the movement that shook Brazilian culture--and civic order--to its foundations and pushed a nation then on the margins of world politics and economics into the pop avant-garde.

Tropical Truth begins with a childhood in the Bahian hinterland, where Caetano (as Brazilians of all ages now call him) first heard not only the musical traditions of his own country and her Latin neighbors, but also the giants of postwar American song: Frank Sinatra, Ray Charles, Chet Baker, to name but a few. While teenagers in America would soon be enthralled by the primal (and commercial) beat of rock’n’roll, in Brazil it was bossa nova, that sublimely sophisticated music, that was to become the soundtrack of a generation. Inspired above all by bossa nova’s supreme master, João Gilberto, Caetano and his crew would set about creating a totally new sound. Tropicalismo would aim to “cannibalize” the extraordinary beauty and richness of Brazil’s musical past but at the same time to assimilate eclectically the most original elements of Anglo-American pop, an influence many rejected as yet another form of imperialism corrupting Brazil’s “authentic” character.

The birth of tropicalismo coincided with the wave of counterculture sweeping Western nations, but in Brazil that wave would hit the breakwaters of a brutal military junta. While supporting resistance to right-wing oppression (and the terrible social inequities it perpetuated) the tropicalistas nevertheless rejected the automatic connection to the Left and its unreflective nationalism, then the politics de rigueur of the artistic class. Their third way foresaw a Brazil open to free markets but likewise free in itself. It was a vision so subversive of both the political and musical status quo that before long Caetano faced imprisonment and was then forced into exile until the early seventies. But when he returned, it was in triumph: Brazil, no less than the state of her popular music, would never be the same.

Rich with the satisfactions of a novel, weaving the story of a country with that of its most idealistic generation, Tropical Truth recounts the odyssey of a brilliant constellation of artists: Caetano and his sister Maria Bethânia, the queen of Brazilian song; the black musical genius Gilberto Gil, Caetano's closest collaborator, with whom he was jailed and then banished; the great diva Gal Costa; the revolutionary filmmaker Glauber Rocha; the brothers de Campos, those luminaries of concrete poetry, who were among the tropicalistas’ learned mentors. Here is an unparalleled confluence of highbrow and pop, and with it the genesis of what has become one of the most wildly successful cultural exports ever produced by a nation other than the United States.
By turns erudite and playful, dreamlike and confessional, Tropical Truth is an utterly unexpected revelation of Brazil's most famous artist, one of the greatest popular composers of the past century.

Customer Reviews:

Difficult to read in English.......2006-06-30

The problem is the translation. Not knowing Portuguese though, I can only assume that Caetano writes eloquently in his native language. I base this on having watched the DVD Outros Doces Barbaros, the 25th reunion of Doces Barbaros (w/ Gil, Gal, and Bethania). Here, based on the English subtitles, he articulates his ideas very clearly.
BUT, this book is very tedious to read: long complex sentences that I suspect are a result of literal equivalencies i.e. word for word--instead of conceptual ones. I had to start the book 3 times before I could finally finish it. I am a musician who is a great admirer of Brazilian pop music and this book is a great resource and reference tool. If you can wade through the verbiage, it is a very rewarding read. All in all, kudos to Caetano. Just next time, he should hire a better translator.

The wrong writer gives us a much needed book.......2006-05-04

This is a book that needed to be written. I am disappointed both in Caetano Veloso and in the English translation, however.

First, the translation of this book is incredibly annoying because the translator randomly decides to translate the names of some works of art into English and leaves other names in the original Portuguese. For example, I was confused by references to a movie called "Land in Anguish" until I realized Caetano was talking about Glauber Rocha's movie "Terra em Transe." Who in the world knows the movie as "Land in Anguish"? In other cases, song names were left in their originial Portuguese. Why the different treatment?

Besides the unpredictable translation, I admit that I read this book with bias. I have become disappointed and bored with the artistic directions in which Caetano has travelled since the mid-1980s. He has become increasingly self-indulgent, arrogant, and at times down-right condescending and snobby in his media presence and artistic performances, especially through the 1990s.

And so much of that sense of self-importance permeates Caetano's narrative memoir of his 50 year encounter with the Brazilian music industry... first as a fan and then as a music maker. So many events, stories, people, and performances are refracted through the lense of a narrator who feels no modesty at all. What kind of narrator would brag about having great philosophical and metaphysical insights as seven year old? Caetano does. It is interesting how Caetano remembers the origin of the name "Gal Costa." Apparently it was entirely a decision arrived by Guilherme Araujo over Caetano's objections. Over Caetano's Objections? Why does Caetano even think he had the authority to object or to speak for Maria da Gra?a Penna Burgos, either then or now. It is funny that nowhere in the account of the name does Caetano once mention how Gal Costa herself felt about her stage name. Did she like it quickly or was she uncomfortable at first? We don't know. Caetano doesn't care and apparently he doesn't think we should either... although he tells us how HE feels about it... that he now likes it even though it has taken him many years to get used to it... Please!!!

My judgment of Caetano was sealed by his accounts of his marriage to and relationship with his ex-wife. "Poor girl" was all I could think as Caetano describes how reluctantly he walked down the aisle - apparently just to make his future in-laws happy - and with what veiled contempt he holds for his ex-wife and his marriage to her: he subtly calls her "naive" at one point, and never talks about her as having been an intelligent woman or an intellectual, but rather as being "attracted to the literary and artistic milieu". Caetano sums up his wife when he says that his marriage gave him a "youthful happiness of social success (to have a girlfriend!)" and then adds that his wife "Ded? was the right person for that experience." From a historian's point of view, this book - or something like it - needs to have been written. Too much of the history of Brazilian pop music and pop culture from the 1960s is about to become forgotten. BUt it was very painful to wade through Caetano's arrogant, narcissistic dirty laundry just to learn about the history of pop music in Brazil.

best if you know brazil well .......2005-11-19

I read this book in portuguese, when it first came out in Brazil, and i absolutely loved it. This book is not only about Caetano Veloso and his music. Caetano Veloso has a very unique way to see people and to write about them, and in his life he had the privilege to meet some of the most important people in Brazil's cultural scene. In his book he tells us many precious stories about Chico Buarque de Hollanda, Gilberto Gil, Nara Leao, Paulinho da Viola and so many others. Some important moments of his life and also of Brazilian history are also told from a very personal point of view: stories of Caetano and Gil's prison and exile during brazilian dictatorship were specially moving to me. And then there are some fabulous stories about the beginnings of Caetano's carreer, how it all started. Caetano has such an insteresting point of view about everything, it's awesome to be able to get inside his mind, and that's how i felt reading his book. I actually ended up reading it twice. I think though, that this book can be better appreciated by people who really know brazilian music and culture well. Another reviewer mentioned that Caetano talks about lots of "obscure artists", but i don't think this is a true statement. He talks about very important people in brazilian culture, including writers, film directors and musicians. The people he mentions are very known in Brazil,and he also talks about important european and american artists. The people he mentions in his book are not obscure at all. Probably, if you know who he is talking about it makes for a much better reading experience. So, if you have a curious mind and are interested in art, music, and Brazil, this is certainly a wonderful book to read. And, like me, you may want to read it more than once...

An entirely Excellent Book.......2005-05-11

Despite another reviewer's shallow "Gas Attacks" about this work, this is an excellent book that depicts the realities of the revolution intertwined with the cosmos of Brazilian music. Kudos to the writer!

An unusual and fascinating memoir........2005-03-27

If one were to compare "Tropical Truth" with critical writings on Tropicália, it would seem unusual that Caetano Veloso writes more as an observer rather than a central figure in the development of an artistic movement that impacted contemporary Brazilian music. Veloso approaches the subject with remarkable erudition, surprising detachment, and subtle humor; and the result is as much a historical record as it is a meditation on the people, places and events of the time.

My only complaint would be regarding the editing. Veloso writes using long sentences--unwittingly imitating Saramago, perhaps?--and the translation could have used a bit more polish. Otherwise, it is an excellent work from an equally excellent artist.

Book Description

In this reissue of the abridged paperback edition of his critically acclaimed Collusion Across the Jordan, Professor Shlaim chronicles King Abdullah's relationship with the Zionist movement from his appointment as Emir of Transjordan in 1921 to his assassination in 1951. Focusing on the events that led to the partition of Palestine, the author, a leading figure in the school of revisionist Israeli historians, challenges many of the myths and legends that have come to surround the first Arab-Israeli war and the creation of the State of Israel. For this reissue, Professor Shlaim has written a new Introduction, placing the book in the wider context of the on-going debate about 1948, and reflecting on the subsequent course of Israeli-Jordanian relations, which culminated in the signing of a peace treaty in 1994. This is a masterly and authoritative study, which not only illuminates the past, but adds substantially to our understanding of the present. It is essential reading for all those interested in the politics of the Middle East. Winner of the W. J. M. Mackenzie prize

Customer Reviews:

King Abdulla was a Real Politician.......2005-12-12

King Abdullah, the founder of Jordan, and son of Sherif Hussein, and grandfather of King Hussein, was a real Arab politician, that I believe Avi has given mostly the best of judgment.

I believe, that this man has found a school in Arab politics, and this school has breeded politicians like King Hussein and his son, King Abdullah, Presidents Sadat of Egypt, Burqeiba of Tunisia, and Kings Hassan of Morroco and his son Muhamed the 6th.

Political Realism mixed with all the prudence and wisdom, is what came out of those who have followed this school.

Avi, is a great writer of our times, and a good researcher, I love to read for. However, and like all of us, he has some bias while writting for the his country. However, this is difficult to get rid of, when you are talking about the Arab Israeli conflict, since it is a conflict that is so deep in this soil, that it is so difficult to get rid off.

Excellent account of Jordan's formation, Abdullah & 1948.......2001-12-22

While much maligned, Avi Shlaim writes an honest and cogent history of Abdullah, Jordan, British involvement in the Middle East and the conflict between Palestinians and Jews leading to 1948. His viewpoint, which many in the dwindling "Peace Now" movement share, needs to be understood. The history he writes is like nothing you will get reading mainstream writers like Bernard Lewis. Don't be scared away by those who say Shlaim's writings are "radical left-wing propaganda." It is nothing of the sort...simply an opinion based on what we should know any ethnic group is capable of doing to "others."

One of the best books on early Zionist-Jordanian relations.......2000-04-25

I read the unabridged version of the Politics of Partition (called "Collusion Across the Jordan") and found it to be an excellent history. My only regret is that Shlaim didn't keep his original title. In reaction to an earlier review, Efraim Karsh's book "Fabricating Israeli History" DOES NOT disprove Shlaim's assertions at all. Karsh's problem is that he can't tolerate the facts that have been uncovered since Israel's thirty-year law made thousands (perhaps millions) of pertinent documents available. Anyone who reads both books will see that Karsh does not even begin to disprove the well-documented histories written by the revisionist Israeli historians (Benny Morris, Avi Shlaim, Ilan Pappe, Uri Milstein, or Avner Cohen, to name some of the most prominent). I highly suggest Shlaim's book along with Benny Morris's book "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem" and "The Road Not Taken" by Itamar Rabinovich. These were some of the first books to reveal how Zionist leaders dealt pragmatically and forcefully with their Arab neighbors to create the new Jewish state.

STILL nothing new about the "New Historians"........1998-12-06

His central thesis has been answered by everyone from Daniel Pepes and Shabtai Teveth, to Ephraim Karsh's new book "Fabricating Israeli History". He fabricates whole JAE speeches, mistranslates texts, and literally concocts a "Zionist Mythology" straw man to destroy. He fails. REad Karsh's book.

THE POLITICS OF PARTITION: KING ABDULLAH, THE ZIONISTS, AND PALESTINE, 1921-1951. Abridged edition of Collusion Across The Jordan.

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THE POLITICS OF PARTITION: KING ABDULLAH, THE ZIONISTS, AND PALESTINE, 1921-1951. Abridged edition of Collusion Across The Jordan.
Avi. Shlaim
Manufacturer: Columbia Univ. Press,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000N7E86M

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The Politics of Partition: King Abdullah, the Zionists and Palestine, 1921-1951
Avi Shlaim
Manufacturer: Columbia Univ Pr
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OPZL28

Customer Reviews:

Clarification.......2006-12-30

In response to the review posted above, this book was actually primarily written by Morris P. Fiorina, a Senior Fellow at the Hoover Institution. The Hoover Institution based at Stanford University is the predominate conservative academic thinktank in the United States, so to claim that the book was written by "ivory tower liberals" is a completely unfounded assumption.

Terrible book, full of bias and gross errors.......2006-06-28

The online portion of this book actually urges students to join a political advocacy organization, Common Cause. While I have nothing against that particular organization, I do have a problem with the authors/publishers urging our kids to join it as part of a required textbook for courses taught in a public universities.

As an example of bias, the authors make the claim, in the textbook, that no one can support the logic of being against abortion and for the death penalty. Nevermind the logic of protecting the innocent. Also, the authors make the claim that there are less "undocumented immigrants" in this country today than there were before the 1987 amnesty.

This book was clearly written by ivory tower liberals who have no idea what objectivity or accuracy mean. This book represents everything that is wrong in today's American universities.

Parents, a word of advice, pay attention to the indoctrination your children are getting in school! This book is the worst I have seen.

a wonderful introduction.......2006-05-17

This book is amazing. I've read all but the last 3 or so chapters, which appear to be the most interesting. Fiorina et al manage to explain pretty much everything from madison to civil liberties to the constitution to important supreme court decisions. If you ever thought American history was boring, then you haven't read this book.
It's fairly objective although through wording its clear that preferences exist. Nonetheless, all information is TRUE and accurate, and it's written almost as a novel. Definitely an easy read. The only reason it didn't get 5 stars is because it's a little.. long-winded in some places where it doesn't need to be w/ minor organizational glitches.

New American Democracy Alternate: Alternate Edition

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New American Democracy Alternate: Alternate Edition
Morris P. Fiorina , and Paul E. Peterson
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0205303242

New American Democracy, Alternate, with LP.com Version 2.0, The, Third Edition

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New American Democracy, Alternate, with LP.com Version 2.0, The, Third Edition
Morris P. Fiorina , and Paul E. Peterson
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Civics | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

All Titles | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books

Nonfiction | Qualifying Textbooks - Fall 2007 | Stores | Books
ASIN: 0321155254

The New American Democracy: Alternate Election Update, with LP.com access card (2nd Edition)

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interesting sidebars

The New American Democracy: Alternate Election Update, with LP.com access card (2nd Edition)
Morris P. Fiorina , and Paul E. Peterson
Manufacturer: Longman Pub Group
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

ASIN: 0321101332

Customer Reviews:

interesting sidebars.......2006-11-11

The book covers both history and the current political framework of the US. The history is covered briefly in the early chapters. In enough detail to explain key ideas and debates that shaped the nation. Federalism especially. We see how the early United States cobbled together an initially fragile federal government, that gained strength with the passing decades. Enough to prevail in the Civil War.

Most of the text describes many aspects of the contemporary scene. Including factors like the role of the media in effecting the political debate, by investigating issues. Here, the narrative delves into subtopics like a possible ideological bias by journalists.

The book also has sidebars that raise thought-provoking questions. These actually make the book distinctive, since the main narrative can be found in several other books on the subject. One interesting sidebar is why aren't Senators elected from subdivisions of their states, instead of state-wide? While this is commonly seen as immutable, it is actually not explicitly defined in the Constitution, and there were once Senatorial districts. What the sidebar omits, perhaps for space considerations, is that the establishment of these districts nowadays would open up an entirely new source of gerrymandering.

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New American Democracy Alternate: Alternate Edition
Paul E. Peterson Morris P. Fiorina
Manufacturer: Allyn & Bacon
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OORYGK

The New American Democracy, Alternate 3rd Edition

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The New American Democracy, Alternate 3rd Edition
Fiorina
Manufacturer: Pearson Education
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUBRR6

New American Democracy, Alternate Edition (with Study Card), The

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New American Democracy, Alternate Edition (with Study Card), The
Morris P.Peterson, Paul E.Johnson, BertramVoss, D. Stephen Fiorina
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUEQMY

The New American Democracy: Alternate Edition 3rd

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The New American Democracy: Alternate Edition 3rd
Morris P.; Peterson, Paul E.; Johnson, Bertram Fiorina
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OUA54C

Book Description

With 25 years of experience, Deputy Chief Coleman offers a common sense approach to handling larger, more unusual second and third alarm, or mutual-aid fires. He covers organization and structure, incident management, safety issues such as accountability systems, the rules of engagement for risk assessment and managing the Mayday, as well as fires in distinct occupancy types. Case studies are designed for departments of any size.

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