History Books

What an extraordinary book. There were times when I could not hold back my tears - I was so moved. It's been a long wait for a new "Small Miracles" book and fans of the series will not be disappointed. It is also an important addition to the numerous books about the Holocaust. It adds a perspective, (Small Miracles) which has not been readily written about! Truly a treasure!

This book, written by highly acclaimed writers Yitta Halberstam and Judith Levinthal has got to be one of the best books ever written on the Holocaust. So well written. I was totally absorbed with all the true to life miracle stories. Some of the endings were shocking and so surprising.

This is not just a book about miracle stories of individuals. The authors so eloquently also documented historical facts of the Holocaust. For those who are educators who want to educate students about the Holocaust, this book is the best book to begin with. For those who want to learn about the Holocaust but find it too difficult to read in depth coverage, this book is for you too. For people who already know about the Holocaust but want to read a great book - this is it! I am not a book reader, but found this book as well as all the other books in the "Small Miracles" series, very interesting, fascinating and amazing stories of Divine Providence.

Besides this being an historical book, the miracles documented by Holocaust survivors and stories of the atrocities that they went through and survived, should make us all appreciate life so much more. So what, if things don't always go our way? And so what if we can't afford to eat in a restaurant or go on a vacation! At least most of us have our family, a roof over our head, no one attacking us physically, etc. After reading a book like this, it's hard to complain about anything! That's one of the reasons why it is so important to read this book!

A lesson we need to learn as well from reading this book too, is how important it is to be kind to everyone. Yes, even people we don't particularly care for. Even if it is someone who doesn't have the same beliefs as we do. Or if the other person is not the same color of our skin. Why? In this book, in many stories, you read about people who were saved by others who did not share their beliefs or agree with them on every day issues. There is a story in this book about a particular Rabbi who always greeted Jews and non-jews alike including a Polish peasant who was a known rabid anti-semite. The Rabbi would always say good morning to this peasant even though the peasant would always ignore him and would never return the greeting. In the end this peasant ended up saving this Rabbi's life, probably as a result of the Rabbi always greeting him

And this great book also has stories about Jewish people who before the war, assisted their non-Jewish neighbors in many ways including one who actually saved a non-Jewish acquaintance's life, which resulted in their life being saved by this same non-Jewish person. These Righteous Gentiles literally risked their lives by hiding them in their homes, sheds, in haylofts, etc. This book is also a great tribute to these beautiful souls. One of the amazing stories of these Righteous Gentiles, is about a non-Jewish woman who took a job as a cleaning lady to steer people away from entering an area where they were sure to be doomed.

This extraordinary book also talks about loved ones who perished and came to people in their dreams giving them direction, which ended up saving their lives!

This amazing book also talks about how someone's poor eyesight, saved his life. And also, how people, despite the great risks, celebrated Jewish holidays, even under the watchful eye of Nazis, and were threatened to be killed, but in the end, it was these acts of faith that actually saved their lives!

There is even a great story in this book about a son of a former Nazi who converted to Judaism. The author's made note of the approximately 300 such converts now living in Israel among them, Hitler's nephews grandson. For a more in depth story about these converts - there is a great story I once read in Jewish Action magazine, put out by the organization OU - [...] - Summer 2006 issue,, entitled "Choosing Judaism." Yitta Halberstam wrote this fantastic article as well.

Getting back to the book, what more can I say? So many great stories I didn't get to mention about. Reading this book, I felt like I was there. Thank G-d I wasn't. A lot to be thankful to G-d for!

All in all, this book is a masterpiece and will be talked about for eternity.

* * * * *

There was a nice story written in the New York Daily News, Brooklyn section on September 23, 2008 about the book with pictures of the authors and a Holocaust survivor who was interviewed for the book. To read this article, go to the NYdailynews.com website and search for the title of the article, "New Book Highlights Holocaust Miracles" written by Joyce Shelby, Daily News Staff Writer.

P.S. For more information on the Holocaust, there is a website that may interest you. Go to Aish.com and click on the left on the "Holocaust Studies" tab.

The book is fascinating and written so well that it can be read to almost anyone and be used as an educational tool in any classroom when learning about the Holocaust.

Amazon's quick and dependable service enabled me to receive the book in time for an important day for which it was needed.

Small Miracles of the Holocaust: Extraordinary Coincidences of Faith, Hope, and Survival

I read the book in one sitting. The stories pour forth. They have the feel that they happened not sixty years ago, but more like yesterday afternoon. Putting us in touch with these first-person accounts of the Holocaust puts us in touch with life and history itself. It's unputdownable.

I loved "The China Lover", which I had the good luck to read in advance of publication. The book is a vividly imagined account of an episode in far eastern history quite unknown to most western readers, a subtle and haunting commentary on the relation between life, literature and film, the work of a writer of unique range and astonishing erudition.

An engrossing, wonderfully-written historical novel. Here's the premise: In 1940, at the height of Japan's military aggression during World War II, a movie called "China Nights" won the hearts of countless Japanese soldiers and patriots who were riveted by the stirring singing voice of the young girl who plays a Chinese orphan rescued by a Japanese officer who both loves and beats her. The singer became enormously popular, a symbol of subservience to Japan's self-image of benevolent but iron rule over Asia.

After Japan lost the war, the singer was accused of treason for helping her wartime captors. To escape execution, she revealed a secret -- that she was actually Japanese and had followed orders to pretend to be Chinese. She escaped to Japan and reinvented herself as a successful film actress, Yoshiko Yamaguchi, though she used the first name Shirley when she made it to Hollywood and Broadway.

Ian Buruma, a film buff and an accomplished writer of nonfiction about Asia, delivers a lushly rendered piece of historical fiction. Buruma conveys the exhilaration and devastation of Japan's military folly and its resulting moral hangover through the lens of the film world at the time. With a sharp yet generous eye, Buruma explores the moods and sensibilities of the movie business in wartime Shanghai and postwar Tokyo.

His novel seems to revel in and see through the filmmaking and its role in shaping memory and history. It's a cinematic story, in topic and form, made richer by the fertile emotional terrain of its fallible protagonists.

The story begins in Manchuria, narrated by a cultural official named Sato, whose day job is to promote cultural events that win over Chinese hearts and minds and whose nighttime pursuits satisfy a prodigious appetite for bedding Chinese actresses. As a Japanese patriot, Sato sneers at the haughty European colonials and is thrilled by news of Pearl Harbor.

Yet Sato is fascinated by the mysteries and challenges of life in a foreign culture, which fuel and soothe his restless nature. He also observes the realities of war with stark clarity, seeing Japan's military police as sadistic thugs whose real goal is to profit from illicit schemes and lawlessly exercise power over the helpless.

"The China Lover" overflows with intriguing characters, particularly Amakasu, a shadowy official who supervises Japan's propaganda efforts in China. I kept visualizing the oily haired fixer supreme who called the shots in the film "The Last Emperor" and put a pistol to his temple at the end.

Eventually, I put this novel down to look him up and discovered that Amakasu was indeed a true historical figure.

The second part of the book shifts to postwar Tokyo and is narrated by a young American soldier, Sidney, who works in the film censor's office, a perfect vantage point for watching a golden era of filmmaking begin to germinate. Buruma seems to know every nook and cranny of this landscape. Akira Kurosawa, Frank Capra, Truman Capote and others make charming, understated cameo appearances that give the story power.

In Tokyo, Yamaguchi refuses to acknowledge her wartime past and personifies Japan's painful mixture of denial, humility and determination to work her way out of previous moral failings of the war, all under the eye of a MacArthur-led occupation by the Americans. Those swirling pressures seem to get funneled into the creativity of film studios, with palpable results. "It was the natural flow of images, the beautifully timed cuts, and the camera work, which was intimate without being intrusive," Buruma writes. "There were few close-ups, and no false glamour. Here was life itself being discreetly but closely observed."

After a tempestuous marriage to a headstrong architect, Yamaguchi remarries and moves abroad, effectively disappearing from the public eye. Yet she reappears in the 1960s and reinvents herself again, this time as a TV journalist for a daytime program aimed at Japanese housewives, "What a Weird World: Yoshiko Yamaguchi Reports From the Front Line."

She ventures to Vietnam and Beirut to report on war and terrorism and focuses on the moral crimes she sees. The third section of this novel is improbably yet persuasively narrated by a Japanese terrorist who is jailed in Beirut in the 1970s when a band of Japanese radicals gets caught. (Yamaguchi later became a member of parliament for the conservative ruling party. She still lives in Tokyo.)

This novel, while finely drawn and true to the spirit of the history it covers, falls short in a couple of places. The character of Yamaguchi comes across as earnest and sincere, but she is just not as compelling as the narrators, who each see the moral compromises in others and in themselves. She feels flat in comparison. And though the characterization of each narrator is distinct, their voices all sound suspiciously like . . . Buruma's. It's a trade-off: Buruma's sharp insights and historical perspective tumble off the tongues of each narrator, and I was grateful for them, but sometimes they feel too smart for the mouth from which they spring.

Like many historic events, Japan's aggression in Asia during World War II is often remembered by the way we saw it depicted on film, whether in "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Letters From Iwo Jima" or even in the black-and-white clips of old newsreels. Buruma knows the persuasive pull -- and the misleading simplicity -- that film can have on memory and history. His novel takes us deep into events of the 20th century and shows us with vivid strokes what it felt like.

As attractive as this volume is, there are also many serious problems with it, including what appear to be many examples of the lifting of other peoples' work without attribution.
First, let's discuss the citations. To call them inadequate would be charitable. The Gettysburg Magazine, for example, is listed BY ISSUE, instead of by author, article, and page number. This makes chasing down a particular reference darn near impossible. The bibliography lists about a dozen secondary source books, and perhaps 100 total entries--certainly not nearly enough to substantiate all the material found within this book. And I know this from firsthand experience.
Although I have only read small portions of the book thus far, I have found that two of my articles published in "America's Civil War Magazine" were HEAVILY used in this book, although NEITHER of them was cited, and my name is not mentioned anywhere. Here is but one specific example: In one article, I used quotes from a trooper's letter given to me by a descendant. No one outside the family has ever seen the letters or used them for any purpose. Author Adkin used these quotes in the book without referencing the source (me). In fact, much of the two or three pages that detail John Buford's dispositions on June 30 and July 1 (my central expertise), and the opening of the battle, come from my years of archival and fieldwork--and are found in the ACW articles Adkin lifted from quite liberally. The research in my articles is wholly unique and could not have come from any other source.
This conclusion became even more obvious when I discovered that the map that accompanied one of the articles in the magazine (custom drawn for me by cartographer Steve Stanley of Gettysburg) was also reproduced and not attributed to me, my article, or Steve. After close examination, we determined the author (or the UK publisher, Aurum or the mapmaker) scanned the map straight out of the magazine and used most of it on page 209 of this book without permission. This is a dead giveaway that Adkin consulted and liberally fetched from the article itself to flesh out his own book at my expense. And this is only what I found after briefly browsing the book. I have a copy coming so I can deeply examine it.
Had the author or publisher contacted me, I would have been more than happy to help them. I always am. Since the author lives is in England, however, perhaps he felt that he could lift anything from American books and articles without citation and get away with it. Magazine articles, I have found, are the most commonly ripped off. There seems to be the perception by some authors that they can use material from them, without proper citation, because these articles are more quickly forgotten or less noticeable. Cite McPherson and Coddington, of course, but Joe Blow's article from five years ago needs no citation. I guess Mr. Adkin wasn't counting on the fact that I would see my map and my material in his new book, uncited, the first week it was released. Well, it turns out he was dead wrong.
I think EVERYONE who has written and published anything on Gettysburg should examine this book to see how, or whether their work was used and in what manner.
But wait! (Like a late-night commercial, there's more!) Gettysburg photo expert William Frassanito contacted me over the weekend about this book. He browsed through a copy and found that, after looking at only two dozen photo captions, about one-half of them were factually incorrect.
I note that Mr. Adkin has two other similar books, one on Waterloo and another on Trafalgar. I think authors who have written on those events should pick up a copy and scour the book to see how their original work was treated.
There seems to be a plethora of problems with this book, all of which Aurum and/or Stackpole is going to have to deal with very soon. My guess is that they are going to grow rather unhappy with Adkin over the next few days, if they aren't already.

This is simply an incredible book with outstanding organization, graphics, maps, photos, and narrative. It is large, 11-1/2" x 9", thick, 1-5/8" and long, 554 pages. Forget the cost. BUY IT!

The Chapters (Sections) are as follows:
Chancellorsville -- The Rebels Lose a General, the Yankees a Battle
Orders of Battle
The Infantry
The Artillery
The Cavalry
Other Arms and Services
Command and Control
The Road to Gettysburg
The Battlefield
The Battle -- Day One
The Battle -- Day Two
The Battle -- Day Three
The Aftermath
The 50th Anniversary Reunion

Author Adkins starts with Chancellorsville, Jackson's death and Hooker's defeat. The organization of both armies, the Union Army of the Potomac and the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia, follows in five chapters; Orders of Battle, Infantry, Artillery, Cavalry, and Other Arms and Services.

In the Orders of Battle Chapter, photos of all the main commanders are shown on organizations charts, all the statistics with respect to strength and losses are given, and commanders are noted on the charts down to regiments and batteries. The charts include narratives of unit actions prior and during the battle of Gettysburg.

In the Infantry Chapter rank insignia is given along with a number of pages with photos and graphics of equipment, armament, uniforms, organization, tactics, formations with positions of officers and NCOs, marching organizations, and many, many details of interest. The Artillery and Cavalry chapters are organized similarly, and these chapters provide a wealth of information in one book that specialists would otherwise have to spend many hours to extract from other references. If one wants to know the sequence of steps to firing a cannon, it is here. If one is interested in seeing how a cavalry picket system is organized and conducted, this book has it. Signal stations, hospital locations and wagon train parks are shown and fully discussed in the Other Arms and Services Chapter. The coverage is comprehensive and all that anyone could want in a single book.

Then comes Command And Control, giving brief biographies of the principal commanders and the organizations of the various services. Chaplins, couriers, escorts, slave usage, intelligence and civilians are included to complete the picture.

The Road to Gettysburg Chapter gives the military situation in May, 1863, Lee's plans and preparations, the Battle of Brandy Station, and the movements of both armies from Virginia to Pennsylvania. The maps are simply outstanding and easy to follow.

The Battlefield Chapter discusses the actual battlefield with maps, photos, various features, and even a detailed map of the town. Little if anything is overlooked.

Day One starts the actual battle, July 1, 1863. The movements of the two armies are shown in detail with maps, graphics, photos and narratives. I checked some of the 1st day maps and graphics with reports in the Official Records (OR), and I was unable to find anything arguably in error. My conclusion, therefore, is that the author has been extremely thorough in his research and one can assume the presentation to be accurate. This chapter alone contains 56 pages, 17 multi-colored maps showing terrain, unit positions, movements, times, and various notes, and 7 photographs, 6 of which are annotated to point out features and the presence of formation locations.

Day Two is even more extensive over 66 pages and the reader can easily understand the conduct of the battle and the terrain over which it was fought. Maps, graphics, photos and narrative are similar to those in the Day One Chapter.

Day Three centers around Pickett's Charge in a 62 page presentation of very comprehensive maps and graphics showing almost every detail of the charge.

The Afternath Chapter gives the casualties and statistics, then follows with Lee's withdrawal back to Virginia. The maps show how Lee escaped from the Union pursuit, and the narrative includes the various communications and comments on both sides.

Without belaboring the point, this is a wonderfully produced book with more color than often found in coffee-table art books, and can be always be used in conjunction with any other book on Gettysburg. So often Civil War narratives are poorly furnished with maps and assume the reader is familiar with the arms and tactics used. This book solves all such problems with respect to Gettysburg.

This book is a bargain at three times the price.

Great book defining the President's decision to go to war, and the inept stooges running our country.

Well, this is a classic example of why histories should not be written within a few short months of the event. Woodward fawns over President Bush, accepting without question that Bush had nothing to do with orchestrating the grand deception of the American public that led to war. His questions of the president, during and after, are softballs that are infuriating to read as the Bush innocently claims he thought he was just getting the finest intelligence that ever was, and blaming everything on George Tenet for his alleged "Slam-Dunk" statement. Gosh, golly, I really believed ol' George, yuh know--in fact, that's all I needed. What, me worry?

At the least, some of the sinister side of Dick Cheney shows through. If Secretary of State Colin Powell did in fact have such misgivings about the war, however, as stated in the book (and yet stayed on out of political loyalty and sent thousands to their deaths), I find it even harder to believe that G. W. Bush was the innocent bystander that Woodward paints him to be.

We returned this book because you sent it to us minus the first twenty or so pages. We did not read this book.

Woodward seems to have a little industry of churning these books out (and other people doing a lot of the work).

This book shares the faults and good points of the earlier book: basically a recounting of a lot of meetings that we were never in...but still a limited picture of what people were REALLY thinking...and no analysis of what they SHOULD have been thinking.

Somehow it seems just a bit richer and more interesting than the previous one. As if either the events were more intriguing or Woodward had warmed to his subject more. But still...too much of a reportorial data dump.

I just reread _Plan of Attack_, and was struck by how much light it sheds on the currently unfolding drama swirling around Iran.

To the extent that President Bush still appears to believe that it is his sacred duty to strike pre-emptively at evil wherever he finds it, then the current "coercive diplomacy" being aimed at Iran--the current exemplar of his "axis of evil"--seems likely to end in war, just as it did in Iraq.

The parallels between the developments that Woodward reports on in the run-up to the war in Iraq, and what we are seeing with respect to Iran, are eerie--the distortion and exaggeration of intelligence to justify the war, the simultaneous building up of forces in the region, and the willingness to shift justifications as needed, jump from the page.

At this moment, December of 2007, when we are learning that our own intelligence does not support the existence of a nuclear threat from Iran, we're also seeing the neocon establishment attack the messengers, and re-focus on Iran's intent rather than capability. Unless Bush and those around him have experienced a real change of heart, the White House depicted by Woodward can be expected to redouble its efforts to bring about regime change in Iran, rather than admit any errors and change course.

I strongly recommend giving _Plan of Attack_ a read or re-read right now, certainly for what it says about how and why we got into Iraq, but even more for what it may presage about Iran.

The author of this book is not an environmental determinist, but he makes a plea for us to observe weather as best we can, not only in our time, but in history, and study its interplay with human social, political, artistic, and military activity. He speaks of ice cores, tree rings, contemporary chronicles, and even paintings as ways to recover information about the weather of the past, and his focus is of course the cold years in Europe between 1300 and 1850. The book is filled with vital details; it is filled with precisely stated and very readable observations about what weather has meant to people, what it might mean to us, and it urges us to be more conscious of what is happening with weather today. I found it extremely inviting and thought provoking, and highly recommend it to anyone interested in European history and art. There is tremendous scope here. Anyone interested in Global Warming ought certainly to read the book, too. Quite a pleasure. Quite a terrific book.

Superbly done. The book really hammers out the crucial points of how dramatic historical events were somehow related to violent climate shifts that lasted over 500 years.
The book examines origins of these violent climate shifts, discusses life during the middle ages and talks about intriguing topics of world events shaped by global climate. Such famous events are the French Revolution, Bubonic Plague of the 1300's, Potato Irish Famine, JamesTown to name just a few.
The Arthur is very to the point and uses excellent statistics and data to back things up.
Truly an epic book that will completely change your outlook on history forever.
Its only 200 pages and can be finished in a weekend. Get it and enjoy.

The book was in better condition than expected and arrived sooner than expected, Thank you.

This book is a social history of Western Europe and other areas from c.1500-1900. It describes how volcanos, sunspots, ocean currents and other natural phenomena unknown or unappreciated by these people affected their lives. It's an easy read full of anecdotes with a dose of science and the many methods scientists use to determine climate so long ago.
It's politically neutral and emphasizes the complex processes involved but it's essentially a social history of a period where Winters and Summers were highly variable without much human influence. A great read for an easy understanding of some of the complexities behind the "climate debate".

Interesting with several unique approaches. The problem for me rests with his intricate explanations of causes of climate changes from North Atlantic Oscillation,Sun spots,solar flares, ocean currents, polar melting, volcanoes. methane release, and a host of other causes. Yet,he speaks in unsubstantated conviction that todays warming is due to mans fossil fuel use. Then he concludes with "The Little Ice Age reminds us that climate change is inevitable, unpredictable, and sometimes vicious.I would ask him does he believe this is really caused by man?

Darwin's thoughts, as documented in 'Origin of Species', are the pivotal moment of biology and, arguably, the most powerful scientific insight ever. 'Origin' is not the brilliant flash of insight in the mind of the young Darwin of the Beagle. It is the compilation and distillation of years of observation and research. As such, 'Origins' doesn't have the fast pace of a popular mystery novel. Instead, it is the steady and progressive development of evidence leading to the conclusion that life is constantly and progressively changing...and here is where Darwin shook the world...that the direction of this change is shaped by the agency of natural selection.

Natural Selection is precisely the sword that Darwin voluntarily fell on. Many people of the time, scientists and some theologians, had no particular problem with concepts of evolution over great expanses of time. Granted, evolutionary concepts were never popular with fundamentalist believers but others, more observant and more open about God's methods, reckoned that God could create life and advance life any way he wished.

Natural Selection threw a monkey wrench into the mechanism of Divine Direction of evolution. With Natural Selection, evolutionary 'progress' became a machine that ran quite well all by itself. It didn't need the Divine Direction of an All Merciful God. All life, including man, could be a celestial accident pushed forward by the inevitable forces of selection.

Was Darwin correct? Evidence of its basic validity is well documented in 'Origins". Besides, it makes imminent good sense, which is exactly why the concept took off like a rocket. It was logical and rational that more favored forms suceed over less favored forms--life progresses relentlessly forward...BUT...anything that makes such obvious sense should be suspect in principle. There is no reason whatsoever to believe that natural selection is the primary directive force behind evolution. It is a force, to be certain, but is it the PRIMARY force?

My guess is 'no'. Evolution over eons involving countless species of bacteria, molds, plants and animals is an extraordinarily complex process. Natural Selection is one motivator but it won't be the only one. It may not even be the most important one. There has been a tendency in some circles to almost deify Darwin. I believe Darwin would have been appalled. Cannonization is a sure way of stifling scientific discussion and progress. Darwin was a man...an intelligent man, an extremely insightful man...but just a man. Just as Newtonian physics has been found lacking in some areas, 'Darwinism' will also prove to be a less than perfect philosophy. Even so, Darwin is, in my opinion, the most important scientific mind ever.

Ron Braithwaite author of novels--'Skull Rack' and 'Hummingbird God'--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Here is an interesting experiment: Empty your garage of every piece of metal, wood, paint, rubber, and plastic. Make sure there is nothing there. Nothing. Then wait for ten years and see if a Mercedes evolves. If it doesn't appear, leave it for 20 years. If that doesn't work, try it for 100 years. Then try leaving it for 10,000 years.

Here's what will produce the necessary blind faith to make the evolutionary process believable: leave it for 250 million years.
The Book of Genesis tells us that everything was created by God--nothing "evolved." Every creature was given the ability to reproduce after its own kind as is stated ten times in Genesis. Dogs do not produce cats. Neither do cats and dogs have a common ancestry. Dogs began as dogs and are still dogs. They vary in species from Chihuahuas to Saint Bernards, but you will not find a "dat" or a "cog" (part cat/dog) throughout God's creation. Frogs don't reproduce oysters, cows don't have lambs, and pregnant pigs don't give birth to rabbits. God made monkeys as monkeys, and man as man.

Each creature brings forth after its own kind. That's no theory; that's a fact. Why then should we believe that man comes from another species? If evolution is true, then it is proof that the Bible is false. However, the whole of creation stands in contradiction to the theory of evolution.

In the Foreword to Origin of Species (100th edition), Sir Arthur Keith admitted, "Evolution is unproved and unprovable. We believe it only because the only alternative is special creation, and that is unthinkable."


Dr. Kent Hovind of Florida has a standing offer of $250,000 to "anyone who can give any empirical evidence (scientific proof) for evolution." Evolution-- true science fiction. His website is www.drdino.com.

This is a great read for anyone interseted in the theory of evolution or just general information about Galapagos wildlife. It is a stimulating read, but readers are cautioned that the text is very academic and may not be approachable to all.

The readers with some science background will not only be amazed, but also charmed by this work. Any lingering doubt about the extent of Darwin's field and bench research will dissolve after seeing the enormous amount of biological observation this man accomplished. The small fraction of such observations he chose to include in "Origin" are responsible for the book's length, but serve as thorough, but lovely, illustrations to the development of his theory of natural selection. Those with less science background can ask readers with more science learning about the accuracy of the above statement. In any case, how Darwin "connected the dots" midway throughout the 19th century is nothing short of astonishing.

You must keep in mind as you read through this book that the science of genetics, inheritance, geological plate tectonics, and atomic nuclear structure were unknown at Darwin's time. Even more unknown were various molecular biosciences of the later 20th century. Nevertheless Darwin, the amateur scientist, put the mental pieces for natural selection together from his own vast research and other known science of the times such as geology, paleontology, embryology, etc. In the introduction of "Origin" Darwin outlines the four basic statements of natural selection in simple terms - as are most scientific theories.

A myth easily put to rest while reading "Origin" is that the author was a man reluctant to do battle with his opponents and skeptics. Not so. One finishes the book having seen dozens of passages openly challenging all comers on one point or another! Remembering that Charles Darwin was a Victorian gentleman (in the very best sense: love of learning, seeking truths, persistence, striving), it becomes clear why he inherently would think that natural selection would be a process of improvement, and would take very long amounts of time. This was part of the Victorian ethic. He said in his book that natural selection was an unthinking, undirected, unmotivated process, but in his heart he clearly liked the "improvement" thought. This should be a small concession to a real genius.

With all of the "Intelligent Design/Evolution" books being published these days, I though I'd read the book that started it all. OK, I didn't actually read it; I listened to an abridged audio version, with Richard Dawkins narrating. (You can download that on iTunes, or buy it at amazon.co.uk.) Darwin's thesis was simple, that species are engaged in a struggle for existence, and that the ones with the features best adapted to the environment will survive. Thus, by a slow process of natural selection, species acquire different traits. Darwin made an analogy with domestic animal and plant breeding, and how different varieties of species come about as a result. He concluded that the distinction between species and varieties was largely arbitrary, and from that extrapolated his theory of natural selection. The way different species in a particular area are related though distinct, Darwin concludes, cannot be explained by a theory of independent creation. It's amazing how Darwin was able to figure all of this out even before our new evidence of embryology, DNA, plate tectonics, etc. have confirmed his theory. Further, Darwin anticipated the "fossil gap" and "irreducible complexity of the eye" objections still in circulation among creationists and IDers. Of course, the fossil record and the knowledge of eye development has only gotten richer since Darwin. Everyone should read this, and see for themselves how Darwin's idea is simple, yet powerful in explaining the world around us.

In January of 1888, a terrible blizzard, which came to be known as the "Schoolchildren's Blizzard" blew in across the Nebraska & Dakota Territory prairie. It was so-called because the deaths from the blizzard were largely of children who left school because of the bad weather coming. Sadly, they left "at the moment when the wind shifted and the sky exploded (2)."
Using a wide variety of sources, Laskin has put together this account of that fateful day, but the book is much more than just a retelling of the event. He also details other immigrants' experiences such as tough crossings, and the often difficult life once they reached the Dakota territory. Laskin also discusses the state of weather forecasting at the time, and asks some pretty pointed questions about the issue of fault during the course of a natural disaster. I think a lot of people would also agree that the book is a definite statement on the power of nature and the horror it can inflict when people are unprepared (not that people can always be prepared for natural disasters).
I'd definitely recommend this to people who like history in focused, short bursts (like this book or along the lines of something like Isaac's Storm) rather than out of texts. The only part where it even felt a bit boggy was the discussion on the history of weather forecasting, but that didn't really detract from my reading. If you're also interested in life on the plains, this is a good one to read as well. Very well written -- I couldn't stop reading it once I started.

David Laskin, in "The Children's Blizzard," presents an interesting perspective on the settlement by whites across the prairie states of the US midwest.


Using the great blizzard of 1888 as a framework, Laskin tells the story of immigration of Europeans from Scandinavia and German-speaking Europe into the Midwest. He also discusses settlers who arrived from the eastern US. From these stories, I learned much about the conditions in Europe and the US that led to this migration.


Laskin also reviews the state of the art in weather forecasting in the 1880s. For some readers, the deep coverage of weather may be a bit too much, but it really is an interesting topic that is worthwhile to understand.


The stories of individual death and hardships during the blizzard provided a human face to the narrative and helped deepen the understanding of the effects of the immigration and land distribution policies of the time. There is much to learn about the complex ways in which the US was occupied by the well-meaning settlers from Europe.


Laskin also includes a good review of his sources and an index. At times, the writing is a little clunky, but the story is fascinating. On the whole, I enjoyed the book.

What an amazing telling of a terrible storm. Others have given the highlights of the story so well that I won't re-cap...
I will say that I enjoyed very much the information about the immigrants; where they came from, why they came, what their lives were like, how they ended up where they did, what their values were, etc. The stories about the storm were amazing and kept me hooked on every word. I found the historical information about weather predicting a little dull. However, I gave the book to my dad and those sections were his favorites.
In any case, a very interesting book.

I thought the book was well done, however there really was a lot of technical information that I thought detracted from the story itself. I know I skimmed over it, and went on to the content of the story.
Over all I was pleased with the information and enjoyed learning about that entire part of the country. How much we take for granted with our warm homes, and safe 4x4 vehicles. Our pioneer ancestors were certainly made of stronger stuff than we are.

Laskin's story chronicles a monster blizzard that devastated the Great Plains in January 1888 and left some 500 people -- mostly children trying to get home from school -- frozen dead on the prairie. After a slow start the book became fascinating to me. I could do without all the meteorological stuff or the too in-depth background, but the stories of the families, their struggles and their survival was riveting.

The areas that this book covers are generally covered well; however, I was hoping for a book that was much broader in scope. It really ought to be called "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Judicial Tyranny," as this is the area that the author focuses the most on.

He did do a good job covering judicial tyranny and explaining how the judicial branch has far exceeded the power the Founding Fathers intended it to have. He also provides an excellent overview of the history of the Constitution and the various conventions, which I learned a great deal from.

However, legislative and executive tyranny only receive brief mentions; he mentions, for example, some of Abraham Lincoln's more blatant violations of the Constitution and does a good job covering the problem of secession but doesn't mention any of the current administration's (George W. Bush) abuses or address more contemporary issues like the PATRIOT Act, military commissions, secret prisons, and undeclared wars. The book would've been far more relevant if he had.

Another issue I was surprised the author omitted was the whole issue of Constitutional interpretation, which I consider a serious problem with the book. He simply assumes originalism without explaining or defending it, and he doesn't really distinguish between the different kinds of textualism (textualism vs. authorial intent). Given his intended audience, there's a pretty good chance that many people will either not understand originalism or disagree with it outright (e.g. proponents of the "living Constitution" theory of interpretation), so he really should've spent a lot of time on it.

With that said, this book is still important and still receives my recommendation.

Very interesting and informative book on how the US Constitution has been raped by the US Supreme Court over the years. A must read for everyone!

This book should be required reading for anyone who plans to vote. If you'd like a laundry list of most everything that's been done to eviscerate the Constitution and lead America down the wrong path, this is the book for you.
Also, if you'd like to support authors who are brave enough to speak the truth (a rare thing today), buy this book. I was beginning to think no one but Ron Paul had read the Constitution. After you've read this book, ask yourself if Obama, McCain or any of our elected officials have ever read the Constitution. If they have, they simply don't care what it says.

I had just read The Revolution by Ron Paul when I saw this book. Interested in learning more about the Constitution I thought it looked promising. I had no idea what a treat I was in for. I couldn't put it down. Kevin Gutzman masterfully lays out how the constitution has been used and abused to achieve political ends that were not intended to be achieved. And the abuses started happening from the beginning, before the ink was even dry on the document. This book will help any reader gain a better understanding of the purpose of the constitution, what it says, what the framers meant, and how that has been ignored by far too many Supreme Court justices, Presidents, Senators, and Congressmen in the quest for power over the people. Gutzman is an excellent guide and by bringing out the human element in this fascinating journey he makes it very interesting to read. I highly recommend you read this book. Enjoy!

When I studied constitutional law in law school, we studied what the Supreme Court said about the Constitution. I recall that our constitutional law text began its discussion of the First Amendment using an excerpt from Justice Hugo Black's opinion in the 1947 case of Everson v. Board of Education. What is vitally important in the study of any "text" - the historical background - was missing from my law school education.

Kevin Gutzman (an historian and attorney) provides the needed background in this outstanding book. As Gutzman shows in detail, while the Constitution did increase the power of the federal government as the expense of the states, the states still remained sovereign. In fact three states (Maryland, Virginia and Rhode Island) ratified the Constitution with the proviso that they were reserving the right to withdraw from the union if they saw fit. The Southern states did have the right to secede.

The Constitution is (or at least was) a states' rights document.

Two things changed this. First, Justice John Marshall interpreted the Constitution in a way beneficial to Supreme Court and federal power. Second, the Supreme Court gradually held that the Fourteenth Amendment "incorporated" the provisions of the Bill of Rights, making them binding on the states. Prof. Gutzman's attack on these two pillars of Court supremacy is quite persuasive.

In the Constitutional scheme as understood by Prof. Gutzman, the states retain almost complete power to regulate the economy, personal morality, and religion. This leads to some (by today's standards) unusual conclusions. While Prof. Gutzman rejects the "right to privacy" underlying such decisions Roe v. Wade, he also believes that the Supreme Court's decision in Pierce v. Society of Sisters (which struck down an Oregon law requiring nearly all children to attend public schools) an impermissible extension of judicial power over a purely state matter. This is a consistent state's rights view not held by any "conservatives" on the Supreme Court.

This is a vital work, which should be required reading for all law students and all Americans. I also recommend WHO KILLED THE CONSTITUTION? by Prof. Gutzman and Prof. Thomas Woods.

please, i have not gotten my book yet. give me an information about it. Glenda

I received a copy of this book as a christmas gift. As an architect, I tell you the guy who gave it to me scored some major brownie points from me that holiday.

Rem Koolhaas defies tradition both in his architecture and his literature. He is foremost a journalist before fully shifting gears to architecture. In this book, he engages the reader by making you realize that while an immediate impression of intimidation engulfs you at first glance of its sheer density, once you start flipping the pages, you realize that you don't have to follow any order in reading it. There are no rules or boundaries on how you read the book: you can flip, you can toss, you can flicker, and in each and every method you will find amusement with the visual eye candy the images, graphics, and text, this book gives you. Nice addition to any architecture book collection/library/coffee table.

Realmente atendeu as expectativas. Um belíssimo livro em um bom preço e no prazo de entrega informado.

An acquaintance had a copy of this so I looked through it during a dinner party. Blah. Bah! It's full of facetious, egotistical monoliths (from the edifices to the book itself) that offer nothing but themselves to the rest of the urban experience. Le Corbusier of the late 20th century. Gawd, I hope Koolhaas doesn't take that as a compliment.

So much information that it took too long to get through it before most of it wasn't relevant any longer.

This is among my favorite works by a man who left us a large body of thinking and scholarship. Want to read a history of money & banking in the US? This is it. Here is sound exposition, presentation so clear it is refreshing. Thanks to von Mises, Rothbbard, and Llewellyn Rockwell and all those who continue the work of the Austrian school through the Ludwig von Mises Institute!

Murray Rothbard delivers an absolute winner of a text written in the same easily readable style of "What Has Government Done To Our Money & The Case For a 100% Gold Dollar".

He has covered this lengthy timeline from the perspective of who the main players were, what their motives were, and what were the results of their actions. So what this book is NOT is a dry empirical statistical history...phew!!!

What you do get is a terrific understanding of the power struggle running through the timeline between the Houses of Morgan and Rockefeller, with of course the supporting cast of the Harrimans, Kuhn Loeb, Guggenheims and the Mellons, as it centred on their quest for banking domination, via the struggle between the sound money gold standard protaganists and the monetarist inflationary camp! Rothbard weaves in the political situation throughout so that you are able to develop a rounded picture of the political scene based on the power broking of these financial elite too. Outstanding!!

This history of the power struggles and the oscillations between sound money and inflationary monetarism will also take you through the genesis of the new Republic, the origins of the Federal Reserve, the New deal, and the Gold Exchange Standard.

It's fascinating stuff, superbly written, with excellent, detailed bottom-of-page footnoting and an extensive index.

My guess is this will be remembered as the seminal text on this subject in the decades to come!

If you haven't already read "What Has Government Done To Our Money & The Case For a 100% Gold Dollar", then you will want to as this text will also leave you wanting to further explore sound money and the Gold Standard. If you then really want to get to the heart of Rothbard, then I wholeheartedly recommend you read his awesome treatise "Man, Economy and State with Power and Market(Scholars Edition)".

You most definitely will not regret it!!!

Absolutely fabulous! Only the incomparable Rothbard could tell this compelling story in its full richness and detail.

Here the hidden history of money and banking in America unfolds as the internecine, behind-the-scenes warfare between elite financial interests such as the House of Morgan and the Rockefellers, the electoral struggle between the Hamiltonian Federalists and the Jeffersonian Republicans, and the duel-to-the-death Bank War of Nicholas Biddle and Andrew Jackson.

Discover the intriguing facts of how post-Civil War ethnoreligious political conflict between postmillennial pietist Protestant Republicans versus liturgical libertarian Democrats translated into deeply-felt attitudes toward inflation, sound money, and the Gold Standard.

Explore the arcane and clandestine origins of the powerful Federal Reserve, a secretive institution still clouded in mystery and myth.

This magnificent volume of unpublished and previously published writings by the late Murray N. Rothbard deserves to be on the shelf of every careful scholar of political economy, and of everyone who enjoys the discovery of unseasonable and unsettling truths concerning the government elites who attempt to run our lives, debase our money, and squander our children's futures.