The Paradox of Progress: Can Americans Regain Their Confidence in a Prosperous Future?

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Americans have never had it better. Compared to today, the standard of living for the average American just a century ago was dismally low, almost on the level of a Third World country. Now life expectancy is greater, real income higher, and technology superior. Contemporary pessimism ("We won't be as prosperous as our parents," etc.) springs from an unlikely source: too many opportunities, not too few. The economy is restructuring itself in dramatic fashion, and this fosters uncertainty about the future. But when things are put in perspective, argues Richard B. McKenzie in this important book, it's clear that the "good old days" are now.

Book Description

Things have never been better--and tomorrow they'll be better still. So argues Richard B. McKenzie in this provocative new book, The Paradox of Progress. Despite all the press stories of lay-offs and stagnant wages, despite all the talk of economic insecurity, says McKenzie, Americans have never lived so well, or had so many opportunities. The question, he writes, is not why things aren't better, but why does everyone keep complaining. In The Paradox of Progress, McKenzie demolishes the idea that the nation is in economic decline--and explains why we still feel so insecure. Writing with tremendous passion and insight, he marshals an array of data to show that the American standard of living has never been higher in real terms. Our perception of decline, he argues, comes from the press, which has long since learned that bad news sells; but he demonstrates how the 1980s--much-maligned by the media--in fact heralded a new age of prosperity and opportunity. The corporate downsizing of recent years signals the change: the old monolithic firms of the past are adjusting to an era of smaller companies, mobile capital, and new entrepreneurship. A new economic frontier is opening up--the "New West," as he calls it--as the rapid growth of electronic technology creates fresh room for growth and creativity. Government needs to get out of the way and accept the shift in "economic tectonics." And the message for workers, McKenzie writes, is clear: "Become more productive. Work harder and smarter. Get more education and skills. Get competitive. Do more than others have been doing or will likely do. Stop complaining." Public anxiety is justified, McKenzie adds, but it is misplaced: for if the shift in "economic tectonics" is ultimately a positive development, it has been accompanied by a "moral tectonics" earthquake that has been highly destructive. McKenzie attacks this moral earthquake head on, passionately echoing the words of Nobel Laureate F. A. Hayek, arguing that it is essential that we follow rules of social conduct, even if we don't like them or can't explain them rationally. Sweeping changes in the economy, and wrong-headed government programs, have undermined personal responsibility. The real social divide, he writes, is not between haves and have-nots, but between those who play by the rules, and those who refuse to. Members of the first group will eventually get ahead; those of the latter won't, and will blame everything--and everyone--except themselves. Writing with tremendous wit, personality, and force of mind, Richard McKenzie offers a provocative and deeply optimistic book. In it, he presents a bold vision of a new era in which Americans can and will compete and win, if they simply seize the opportunities that await them.

Paradox of Progress Can Americans Regain Their Confidence in a Prosperous Future?

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Paradox of Progress Can Americans Regain Their Confidence in a Prosperous Future?
Richard B. McKenzie
Manufacturer: Oxford University Press, USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OKQGRM

Free Speech In An Open Society
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Fear the Censor, Not the Speaker

This is a great book for anyone teaching free speech!

Free Speech In An Open Society
Rodney A. Smolla
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Sociology | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Political Theory | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Rights | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
Civil Rights | United States | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
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Democracy and the Problem of Free Speech

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Why Societies Need Dissent (Oliver Wendell Holmes Lectures)

ASIN: 0679407278
Release Date: 1992-03-24

Book Description

This grand tour of First Amendment law underlines the intimate connection between free expression and democratic values as it leads us through the most treacherous and emotionally charged cases in American jurisprudence. “Intellectually venturesome. . . .”—The New York Times Book Review

Customer Reviews:

Fear the Censor, Not the Speaker.......2007-08-16

The legal issues behind free speech are far more complicated than most people suspect, upon reading the mere 45 words of the First Amendment. That's why in-depth exploratory books like this are necessary. This influential tome from Rodney Smolla is a bit outdated (dealing largely with events of the late 80s and early 90s) and he tends to dwell too much on trials with which he personally disagrees. However, this book is a classic examination of free speech jurisprudence with some winning insights. Of further interest is Smolla's coverage of jurisprudential areas that are rarely noticed by citizens, such as arts funding, public locations, and rights vs. privileges. Beneath the coverage of particular precedent-setting trials and intricate legal analysis, Smolla works from some very intriguing foundations, with an eye on the democratic and fraternal theories of free speech that inspired the Founding Fathers to create the First Amendment. Fundamentally, Smolla contends that any government by nature will tend to censor speech, with claims of security and morality. But history proves that such concerns are usually hyperbole for purposes of eroding civil liberties, and that censorship is far more dangerous and damaging to liberty and freedom than instances of speech with which the government or certain people might be uncomfortable. This book is so wide-ranging that it's probably impossible to agree with all of Smolla's contentions (I especially disagree with his views on the freedom of corporations to influence politics), but his basic jurisprudential focus is completely successful and enlightening. [~doomsdayer520~]

This is a great book for anyone teaching free speech!.......2001-09-22

This is a great book on both theories of free speech and the related legal issues that surround this topic. It is a real eye-opener for students.

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Free Speech in an Open Society
Rodney A. Smolla
Manufacturer: Vintage Books USA
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000N75CQW

Keeping the Land Alive: Soil Erosion, Its Causes and Cures (Soils Bulletin)
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Keeping the Land Alive: Soil Erosion, Its Causes and Cures (Soils Bulletin)
Hubert W. Kelley
Manufacturer: Food & Agriculture Org
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Soil Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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General | Geology | Earth Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
General | Agricultural Sciences | Professional Science | Professional & Technical | Subjects | Books
ASIN: 925101342X

Soil Erosion and Its Control
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Soil Erosion and Its Control
Luther Goodrich & Thompson, Louis Milton Jones
Manufacturer: A&M College of Texas
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OMKIAQ

Soil Erosion and Its Control (Use and Abuse of America's Natural Resources)
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Soil Erosion and Its Control (Use and Abuse of America's Natural Resources)
Quincy Claude Ayres
Manufacturer: Ayer Co Pub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0405045018

Soil erosion and its control (Van Nostrand Reinhold soil science series)
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Soil erosion and its control (Van Nostrand Reinhold soil science series)

Manufacturer: Van Nostrand Reinhold
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Soil Science | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0442264410

Soil Erosion by Water: Some Measures for Its Control on Cultivated Lands
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Soil Erosion by Water: Some Measures for Its Control on Cultivated Lands

Manufacturer: Unipub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 9251004749

Soil Erosion by Wind and Measures for Its Control on Agricultural Land (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Land & Water Development)
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Soil Erosion by Wind and Measures for Its Control on Agricultural Land (Food & Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) Land & Water Development)

Manufacturer: Unipub
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: 9251004730

Erosion and its control in Oklahoma territory (Miscellaneous publication / United States Department of Agriculture)
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Erosion and its control in Oklahoma territory (Miscellaneous publication / United States Department of Agriculture)
Angus Henry McDonald
Manufacturer: U.S. Dept. of Agriculture
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Sustainable Agriculture | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B00086C6PI

Erosion and its control in Oregon
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Erosion and its control in Oregon
Clifford Whitten
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Sustainable Agriculture | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B0008C5N02

Erosion and its control in the Great Plains region
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Erosion and its control in the Great Plains region
Carl Braman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Sustainable Agriculture | Agricultural Sciences | Science | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: B0008C3ECQ

Erosion: Its effects on properties and productivity of eutric nitosols in Gununo area, southern Ethiopia, and some techniques of its control (Geographica Bernensia. A, African studies series)
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Erosion: Its effects on properties and productivity of eutric nitosols in Gununo area, southern Ethiopia, and some techniques of its control (Geographica Bernensia. A, African studies series)
Belay Tegene
Manufacturer: University of Berne Switzerland, Institute of Geography
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 3906290743

Book Description

Origins of Life on the Earth and in the Cosmos, Second Edition, suggests answers to the age-old questions of how life arose in the universe and how it might arise elsewhere. This thorough revision of a very successful text describes key events in the evolution of living systems, starting with the creation of an environment suitable for the origins of life. Whereas one may never be able to reconstruct the precise pathway that led to the origin of life on earth, one can certainly make some plausible reconstructions of it. Such discussions have greatly expanded our understanding of the principles of chemical evolution and how they compare and contrast with the principles of biological evolution. The text is strong on biochemistry and its recent applications to origins' research.

* Provides an excellent review of basic biochemistry an evolution
* Written in a clear, concise style for scientists, students, and readers interested in a scientific inquiry into the origins of life
* Written by an authority in the field, and brought fully up-to-date in light of new research
* Pulls together valuable information not found in a single source
* Organized and presented in a manner conductive for use in a college course
* Heavily illustrated to make difficult concepts concrete

Customer Reviews:

Fantastic book.......2005-06-29

I used this textbook for an Origins of Life course taught by the author himself, Dr. Geoffrey Zubay. The book is fantastic, as it takes a field that has the potential to be very dry and makes it easily accessible to any student with a minimum of science background. Zubay's laboratory works on many of the prebiotic pathways that he discusses in the book, especially with regards to nucleotides. He also knows many of the other experts whose studies are described in the text personally. He also wrote a fantastic biochemistry textbook, Principles of Biochemistry, parts of which you will find interspersed throughout the chapters to put the prebiotic material in better perspective in comparison to the pathways as we know them today. I would strongly recommend this book to anyone taking a cours eon the topic and even to people who are just curious and want to learn on their own

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A must read!
Hubert Reeves - extraordinary writer and scientist.
I found this book to be amazing
Understandable, factual and balanced. I recommend it.

Origins: Cosmos, Earth,and Mankind
Hubert Reeves
Manufacturer: Arcade Publishing
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Cosmology | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

Universe | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Evolution | Science | Subjects | Books

General | Science | Subjects | Books

Customer Reviews:

A must read!.......2005-05-05

Being non-religious, this book is like the "real" Bible. A beautiful and fulfilling explanation on where we come from and our place in the universe to what we know scientifically. I believe this book approaches the true story of our existence, therefore it may be the most important book you read.

Hubert Reeves - extraordinary writer and scientist........2004-06-09

It is an excellent, compact source of most fascinating facts about origins of the Universe, life on Earth and dawn of humans; easy to read in the form of interviews conducted with selected top French scientists/experts in each field. Say, comparable to Fred Adams "Origins of Existence" but lighter.
Other excellent books by Reeves: his classic: "The Hour of Our Delight" where he enlightens and teaches about entropy, and "Latest News From The Cosmos" - nifty plethora of mathematical equations that allow us to grasp history of the Universe.

I found this book to be amazing.......2000-12-02

first and foremost this is the first book that I have read on this topic. only recently have I had the desire to learn about cosmology. it wasn't too complex to grasp so for a first time interest it was good. I definetly plan on reading this occasionally it is just a book that I loved to read and didn't like to put down. I highly recommend it.

Understandable, factual and balanced. I recommend it........1998-04-24

Firstly, I should correct the amazon.com Kirkus review because journalist Dominique Simonnet is a man, not a woman (and I think his name is spelled Simonnet, not Simmonet.) Secondly, I didn't really read this particular book, I read the original French version ("La plus belle histoire du monde.") That said, I thought the book was very good. It was not written for the extreme scientifically oriented audience. It was aimed at the average person who is curious about a well reasoned hypothesis for the origins of the universe, life and mankind. This book doesn't answer every one of life's questions - but I didn't expect it to. The authors go out of their way to be sensitive and considerate of other points of view. Where they don't know or can't answer a question, they simply say so. This book is understandable, factual and balanced. I recommend it to anyone interested in an up-to-date scientific perspective regarding life and it's origins.

Book Description

Peter Würfel describes in detail all aspects of solar cell function, the physics behind every single step, as well as all the issues to be considered when improving solar cells and their efficiency.

Based on the highly successful German version, but thoroughly revised and updated, this edition contains the latest knowledge on the mechanisms of solar energy conversion. Requiring no more than standard physics knowledge, it enables readers to understand the factors driving conversion efficiency and to apply this knowledge to their own solar cell development.

A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and Memoirs of the Author of the Rights of Women
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A Short Residence in Sweden, Norway and Denmark and Memoirs of the Author of the Rights of Women

Manufacturer: Penguin USA (Paper)
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
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Mary Wollstonecraft

Memoirs of the Author of a Vindication of the Rights of Woman (Broadview Literary Texts)

Mary; Maria; Matilda (Penguin Classics)

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Grace Abounding: With Other Spiritual Autobiographies (Oxford World's Classics)

ASIN: 9992177357

Book Description

Travelling throughout the remote Celtic world, award-winning author Marcus Tanner describes the relentless pressure on Celtic communities to assimilate and warns that a distinct Celtic identity may not survive for another generation—a sobering loss that would impoverish us all.
"Tanner has concluded we must resign ourselves to the fact that Celticism is done, over, finis. He proves it in a very good and special book that every prodigal and true Celt should read and try to prove wrong."—Malachy McCourt, Washington Post Book World
"Lively. . . . [A] thoughtful book."—Publishers Weekly
"An exceptional journey into the remarkable cultural history of the Celtic people. . . . [Tanner’s] experience reads like a travelogue and an insightful history with an emphasis on cultural heritage."—Raymond L. Flynn, Boston Sunday Herald
"[An] angry, elegiac and meticulously researched book."—Christian Century

Customer Reviews:

Good, despite deceptive premise. .......2006-01-09

The author writes eloquently about the decline of a culture that by and large was an 18th century creation. He correctly points out that the decline came just as much from within as from without. Nontheless, I highly enjoyed the detailed analysis. "However, I still recommend Malcolm Chapman's Celts: The Construction Of A Myth as a balance to Mr. Tanner's fine book."

The Celtic Past, Present & Future.......2005-11-28

Tanner has written a remarkable survey of the present-day Celtic nations and their generally dying languages. His description of survivals of pre-Christian rites and religion among the Celts might have benefited from reference to James Frazer's 1922 work The Golden Bough; these survivals among Celts were and are paralleled by survivals elsewhere in Europe and beyond. A non-English writer might have said a little more about the effect on the Irish nation of the Great Famine (and London officials' inattention to it), as well as government's repression of the Scottish Highlanders after 1745. His pessimism about chances for future survival of Celtic languages is well founded. As he says, however, Cornish is making something of a comeback, and last year, when Mr. Tanner's book was published, a Member of Parliament swore allegance to the Queen in Cornish for the first time. (Tanner notes that the Liberals are strong in Cornwall; he might have noted that all four Members of Parliament from Cornwall are Liberal Democrats.)

The above are only minor comments on a fine, well written book.

An interesting and important viewpoint.......2005-05-24

Although I argue with the title of the book the author makes a strong case concerning the encroachments on that which makes Celtic culture unique. Although I could make alternative arguements that Celtic culture has morphed into what is now modern Europe, the author is concerned with such things as the dying Celtic languages and customs. The case he makes is quite a strong and convincing one. Pan-Celticists hang on to you hats but don't huff and puff just yet. The author is concerned with the destruction of what we have come to know as Celtic culture but to my mind this in no way runs contrary to the evidence that much of Europe actually sprung from Celtic culture and a fair-minded person should not see this book as an attack on those theories.
This is more of a call to arms and a much needed one.

fantastic.......2005-04-11

This is a fantastic book which stands out among so many other romanticized works on the Celtic world. Occasionally, it seems as if the author's desire to discredit romantic views of Celtic culture move past healthy cynicism to outright negativism. I am thinking specifically of his chapter on western Ireland. Frankly, however, "the Irish mystique" is well due for some deflating. This willingness to criticize well-loved myths is generally very refreshing, and it does not diminish his obvious love of these country's cultures and history.

"Last of the Celts" should also be admired for the author's focus on ALL of the Celtic world (aside, arguably, from Galacia). How often does one have occasion to read about the Isle of Man and Cornwall alongside "giants" of the Celtic world like Ireland and Scotland? For me, the chapters on these overlooked places were the highlight of the book, as the Celtic identities of these places are real, but not as well defined or as obvious as those in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland.

As a final comment: Ive only briefly been to Ireland, and never to any other part of the British Isles. Therefore, I cannot offer an alternate view of Celtic culture in these places. I have, however, lived in Brittany for two years. Marcus Tanner's long chapter on Brittany is far and away the best writing that Ive ever seen about the Bretons. The chapter is poetic and sad, particularly when he writes about the dwindling population of native speakers and their ambivalent feelings towards the death of their language. The author discusses weaknesses of the Breton cultural revival that are almost always downplayed or ignored. This is a fabulous book, and while it is full of criticisms, it is also full of love for the Celts and their customs, and their histories.

A gloomy survey of the ebb of the Celtic tide.......2004-12-07

Marcus Tanner offers an extended eulogy, stripped of sentimentality, for the languages of those peoples predating the Anglo-Saxons in Britain. The sheer timespan of that last clause, from our 21st century perspective, shows how durable has been the legacy of a language-group that we don't even know the true name for-only that many of us descend from varied ethnicities who shared related systems of communication, dating back thousands of years. Even the name Celt is a Greek invention. Defining the Celtic, then, depends upon its clash with the foreigner; so much that Cornwall and Wales owe their names to what the Saxons called the `Other', those outside the common-wealth, those un-familiar, those pushed back to, as a Cornish author lamented over two hundred years ago, `about the cliff and the sea'.

Notice that Tanner, in looking for the remnants of those who speak or revive Celtic languages, differentiates speech from the material culture of the six nations he explores. He visits the Scots Isles, Conamara, West Belfast, the Isle of Man, North and South Wales, Brittany, and finally the outlying colonies in Canada's Maritimes and Argentina's Patagonia. While he finds music, say in Cape Breton, vibrant, there Scots Gaelic, despite the murmur of tourist brochures, will be far less heard-spoken by at most 500 people. Brittany and Galway certainly cater to cultural tourism, and hawk their Keltic Krafts diligently, but in these more ancient redoubts, too, Tanner finds growing indifference to the language's perpetuation. Over and over, he notes, outsiders-those who have taken as adults to learning Celtic languages-find themselves resented, marginalised, or dismissed by natives embarrassed to speak to strangers, ashamed of their own lack of fluency, or determined to let their language die a quiet death in their homes rather than in public.

The conclusions he raises will depress those for whom cultural revivals portend linguistic renaissance. The strongest part of the book, in fact, is its introduction. Tanner notes how, since the entry of clerical control from Rome in early mediaeval times, revivals have occurred! Monks eager to draw a lineage rooted in native genealogies manufactured branches for those grafting papal foliage onto arguably indigenous Catholic varietals.

Anglo-Saxon and Norman invaders invented Celtic origins for their dynasties and legends; Reformers and Romanticists followed after Catholicism had succumbed to first Protestants and then the cult of nature-these in turn sought antiquarian justification for their authority. Finally, the New Age/Wicca/ecological movements have manufactured a spuriously feminist, magickal, and pacifist kingdom in which an alienated urban, affluent, Western European consumer can recapture a realm of vegan, polysexual, pagan lifestyles.

But we already know what to expect. His preface concludes rueing the label given the Celts by so many for so long: dreamers denied political victory, quaint and charming, content to live as Tolkienesque `eternal elves of the West'. He does not mention that even the elves left at the end of the 3rd age.

And it seems that the Celts too are departing, and their ancient tongues, upon which the linguist JRR Tolkien in part had invented his own array of fictional but linguistically correct tongues, will be as removed from our future reality as those of Middle-Earth's. People may learn Breton as they do Elvish or Esperanto, but as a community language, Tanner predicts, it will be as dead as Manx or the three debated re-versions of Cornish.
He ends his forward with a poignant panorama. The Celtic sea ebbs, first into pools, now into puddles. Where can we immerse when these last splashes dessicate and evaporate?

For, as Tanner's scholarship (if too often rather undigested; names-dates-clerical minutiae diminishes the pace of much of this book--down one star) demonstrates, no continuous territory remains over which a Celtic language is spoken. We see this in the broken Gaeltachtaí, the loss of Welsh and Scots regional cohesion, the disappearance of any Breton-speaking heartland, and the nearly extinct numbers of speakers of Welsh in Patagonia and Gaelic in Canada. On the other hand, many whom Tanner interviews simply shrug that this demonstrates a Darwinian natural selection. The fittest languages remain, English, French, or Spanish in these cases. Why, after all, keep a minority language as a curiousity when no monoglots still exist in any Celtic tongue? What's the value, economically, educationally, emotionally, of holding on to an unwieldy, unremunerative, and unattractive heirloom?

(P.S. For guardedly more optimistic views on the future of Irish, see James McCloskey's Voices Silenced and Ciaran MacMurcaidh's Who Needs Irish? An earlier, more optimistic survey joining the Celtic fringe language revivals to 60s/70s activism was taken by Peter Berresford Ellis, The Celtic Revolution, from the Welsh publishers Y Lolfa. See also their The Welsh Extremist, by Ned Thomas.)

(Excerpted from "Eternal elves of the West" via the on-line journal from Belfast, The Blanket.)

The Last Celt (A Berkley windhover book)

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The Last Celt (A Berkley windhover book)
Glenn Lord
Manufacturer: Berkley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Blood and Thunder: The Life and Art of Robert E. Howard

ASIN: 0425036308

THE LAST CELT. A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT ERVIN HOWARD

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THE LAST CELT. A BIO-BIBLIOGRAPHY OF ROBERT ERVIN HOWARD
Glenn (re: Robert E. Howard) (with E. Hoffman Price; Alvin Earl Perry; H. P. Lovecraft; Harold Preece) Lord
Manufacturer: Donald M Grant
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000GK8ATW

The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert E. Howard

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Not Quite as Extensive as One Would Wish

The Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert E. Howard
Glenn Lord
Manufacturer: Donald M. Grant Publisher, Inc.
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Customer Reviews:

Not Quite as Extensive as One Would Wish.......2004-01-23

This is more bibliography than bio, but it's still a decent book for the Howard completist, like myself. The biographical data doesn't cover much more than is found in the forward of most Howard books, but the real value here is the extensive bibliography. Pages and pages of sometimes obscure information is available.

Not recommended for everyone; as I said, it is really only for only the true Howard completist.

Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard
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Last Celt: A Bio-Bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard
Glenn Lord; Editor And Compiler
Manufacturer: DONALD M. GRANT, PUBLISHER
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000OJZ0RK

The Last Celt: A Bio-bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard
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The Last Celt: A Bio-bibliography of Robert Ervin Howard
Glenn Howard] Lord
Manufacturer: Donald M. Grant,
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000WWAEWA

Brothers at last: A centenary appeal to Celt and Saxon
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Brothers at last: A centenary appeal to Celt and Saxon
Jim Connell
Manufacturer: Labour Leader
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Unknown Binding

Socialism | Political Doctrines | Political Science | Social Sciences | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books
ASIN: B0008CGDOM

The Last of the Celts
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The Last of the Celts
Marcus Tanner
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OSKK80

The Last of the Celts Advance Uncorrected Page Proof
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The Last of the Celts Advance Uncorrected Page Proof
Marcus Tanner
Manufacturer: Yale Univ Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000KBHIQI

The Last of the Celts.
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The Last of the Celts.
Marcus. Tanner
Manufacturer: Yale University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000OS3JTC

Book Description

African American schools in the segregated South faced enormous obstacles in educating their students. But some of these schools succeeded in providing nurturing educational environments in spite of the injustices of segregation. Vanessa Siddle Walker tells the story of one such school in rural North Carolina, the Caswell County Training School, which operated from 1934 to 1969. She focuses especially on the importance of dedicated teachers and the principal, who believed their jobs extended well beyond the classroom, and on the community's parents, who worked hard to support the school.

According to Walker, the relationship between school and community was mutually dependent. Parents sacrificed financially to meet the school's needs, and teachers and administrators put in extra time for professional development, specialized student assistance, and home visits. The result was a school that placed the needs of African American students at the center of its mission, which was in turn shared by the community. Walker concludes that the experience of CCTS captures a segment of the history of African Americans in segregated schools that has been overlooked and that provides important context for the ongoing debate about how best to educate African American children.

Customer Reviews:

The book focuses during the period of legalized segregation.......1999-03-10

Their Highest Potential, written by Vanessa Siddle Walker, is an extensively researched book specifically covering a southern African American school community in Caswell County, North Carolina until its last year of segregated operation ending in 1969. The book focuses during the period of legalized segregation of public schools and how African American students were not equally as funded compared to that of white schools. Regardless of the unequal funding and the poorer facilities, Walker goes further in detail about how the untold story of this school system in Caswell County was able to provide the means necessary for their students to succeed to their highest potential. Walker states, to remember segregated schools largely by recalling only their poor resources presents a historically incomplete picture (p. 3). Through a series of interviews, Walker incorporates vivid memories of the past to help bring to life the existence and development of Caswell County High School. The book begins explaining how the environment and atmosphere of segregated schools was actually a good thing for black children. In segregated schools there was no conflict of racism nor did black children recognize themselves as a minority. Within the segregated school they were not treated like second rate citizens, but they received the attention and education they deserved, despite the lack of resources. Through out the years the school board reluctantly provided any materials necessary for satisfactory operation. Yet, the black community continuously in the dilemma of not having resources and room for the growing number of people, still managed to enlighten students. Determined parents time after time lobbied for a new school with the help from N. Longworth Dillard, the principal. Eventually, the overcrowded Rosenwald School moved to the newly built Caswell County Training School in March of 1951. After years of prying, the people finally had the newest and largest school in the county (p 61). During its time, the school became the only accredited school in the county by the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges in 1955 and remained that way until after desegregation (p. 8). The forming of Caswell County Training School was dedicated to Dillard's perseverance but could not have been accomplished if it was not for the parental advocates. Advocates in which Walker calls them, were adults who took an active role in seeking the materials needed for the children. These advocates positioned themselves between the needs of the school and the lack of response from the school board (p 65). Whether it was from parents donating lumber to teachers staying after to help a student, the community made an environment that produced achievement. With this unified effort, black children received the education they deserved despite the hardships of having less than adequate supplies. In particular, this school system was the ideal learning institution where the principal, teachers, parents, and students all worked together to achieve common goals

Book Description

This digital document is an article from Westchester County Business Journal, published by Westfair Communications, Inc. on June 23, 2003. The length of the article is 655 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: The Arts and County Parks: perfect together. .(Wstchester County Parks and Recreation Department)(Cover Story)
Author: Jim Ormond
Publication: Westchester County Business Journal (Magazine/Journal)
Date: June 23, 2003
Publisher: Westfair Communications, Inc.
Volume: 42 Issue: 25 Page: A4(1)

Article Type: Cover Story

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