After reading this book,I becamemore aware of how the 'CivilWar"families,were separated bypolitics that were never resolved.And the recipes found in this bookare treasures,that can still be used today.It is fascinating reading,a book you definitely won'tbe able to put down,until you'veread the last page.It's so absorbing,so historical,and thephotos bring the "Lincolns' alivefrom the past to present time.The author has displayed warmth,of a family's love,and couragebeyond imaigination. Donna McCrearyis truly giving the reader far morethen the culinary arts,she isshowing how a family under thedirest circumstances,emergesfrom the War' with grace,and dignity."Lincoln's Table' is alsothe greatest love story,I have everread,a test of vicissitudes thatbrings hope for others to endurein their marriages.This book is a cookbook,a'How-to-"keep a family together',and most of all,a masterpiece of all times!!

The book is bursting with an array of a myriad of 'President Abrahamand Mary Todd Lincoln's' lifefrom their childhood to the time they got married,recipes thatgives the reader a delightfulinsight to what prompted the"Lincoln's tastes.It tells us whatfoods were 'Lincoln's favories',as a young boy,to adulthood.Ancedotes that tell us about thecooking ingredients that were popular in the different timeframes of their lives.It is abook of great intensity of notonly the foods that the 'Lincolns'enjoyed when they were married, also, a marriage of superbspices,blended with each recipeof historical facts(i.e.....what foods were popular duringthe 'antebellum' period,and the'Civil War.' Abrahan's favoritecomfort foods that he had whenthe 'Civil War' was raging,andMary's love of the culinary arts.It's book full of lovely remmbrances of the "Lincoln'senduring love for each other,and you feel like you're havingdinner right there with them.The author did an excellent merging of food with Americanhistory.A book you'll want to own,and pass it on to your grandchildren. Kudos to theauthor, 'Donna D.McCreary'for a book that should be ineverybody's library to betreasured.A "best-seller' that should beon the lists of 'books' to be read for decades.

The author has done a wonderful job of collecting an array of recipes of food that Lincoln enjoyed from his boyhood through his presidency. The recipes are easy, fun, and are good old fashioned home cooking!A very charming part of the book is how the author has added little anecdotes, background info and tips about certain ingredients. Quite a bit of history thrown in too as we see the menu for Lincoln's sister Sarah's wedding, and menus from an inaugural luncheon and a White House ball. The book also serves as a mini biography of Lincoln as we see him go from a boy in Kentucky to a laywer, husband and father in Springfield IL, to being President of the United States and alot thrown in between! We see the private side of Lincoln and the love he had for his family, and the meals they enjoyed. This book is a must for any Lincoln buff, and even if you're not, it is a great addition to any cookbook collection. For a good old fashioned taste in the midst of this fast paced processed world-give this book a try!

I read this book a few years back when, as a Christian, i was really struggling with with keeping my mind off of girls and sex. After reading this book it totaly changed the way i look at girls. It kinda gave me a discust for premerital sex. As a result i was able too treat girls like real people, and not objects. Now when i began to think of girls as people i was able to have awesome friendships with them.
My thanks to Joe White and all the teens who shared thier stories in the book.

This book is absolutely amazing! It contains all sorts of advice for teenagers on sex, love and dating--in a Christian context, which is the best part. It is so hard to find a book that looks at teen relationships from a Christian point of view, but this book is a great one. It contains all the advice you'll ever need to know on how to make sure your love life is what God wants it to be. This book is a must-read for all Christian teens!

As far as books that help you, this is my favorite and I have read MANY! This book gives it to you straight. Bottom line is that if you want an AWESOME marriage, you better stay away from all this junk the world puts out. I have a hard time in that and this book was excellent in that area. I reccommend it to all teens that have this problem as well as any who don't have to worry about it. IT'S AWESOME and really gets into scripture to see what it says about sex and all.

LOSS WITHIN LOSS is a major collection of biographical short stories: tributes to friends, lovers and colleagues who have died from AIDS.

Several of the contributing writers are quite famous: the lecturer/poet/teacher Maya Angelou, the playwright/screenwriter Craig Lucas ("Prelude To A Kiss," "Longtime Companion"), the novelist Allan Gurganus ("Oldest Living Confederate Widow Tells All"), the writer Andrew Solomon ("The Noonday Demon") et. al. Several of the dedicatees lived the lives of celebrities: the poet James Merrill, the film makers Derek Jarman and Howard Brookner, the writer Paul Monette. But it is not their fame which is celebrated in this book: it is their love and friendship and, most importantly, their art which is now lost to the world forever because of a disease, the deadly power of which, was and still is, underestimated. The styles of the stories are as diverse as the styles of the individual writers: some read like the poetry they are; some like straight-forward fiction and some like excruciatingly honest, almost farcical diary entries.

These are not simply sad stories; they are beautifully written, funny, charming, intelligent, very candid rememberances of lives past passed. Besides the stories, there are some photographs of the artists and their works, biographies of the writers and their subjects, a wonderful photograph by John Dugdale on the cover and an introduction by Edmund White
HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

LOSS WITHIN LOSS is a most appropriately titled reminiscence of the black hole AIDS blasted in our art community. Edmund White, always the sensitive observor and writer of tender memoirs, takes on the role of Editor here and has selected some very fine writers to personalize the contributions and deaths of their friends. He has also written minibiobraphies of not only the artists who have been lost but also of each of the biographers. Selecting artist/bigraphers to highlight in a review of a book of this total force seems almost incongruous, yet Chris DeBlasio is so beautifully defined by William Berger, and the polarities of the lives and deaths of Paul Monette and James Merrill who died within four days of each other are so adroitly observed by their mutual firend J.D. McClatchy, and Felice Picano's warm eulogy for Robert Ferro and all that surrounded the Violet Quill Club are all so fine that they shine especialy brightly.

The unexpected joyful aspect of spending time with this extraordinary book is discovering how much we didn't know about so many artists in every field - from poetry, to novels, to puppets, to architecture, to dance. Yes, the names ring distant bells, but when the artists are put into context with the time in which they were creating AND that they were creating knowing that their corporal time was limited, the effect is staggering. I do not find this book at all morose; if anything it is celebratory. And the method of presentation and quality of writing leaves the reader with one primary question: What if AIDS hadn't destroyed so many brilliant minds, so many unborn ideas? As a document on the effect of a devastating disease on the arts and as a resource book of what was happening in the forefront of culture in the 1980s and 1990s, this book will be the gold standard. Highly recommended reading - on so many levels.

This powerful, superb book is peopled with a sampling of the great and graceful artists who have been swept into eternity by AIDS. All of the essays are moving. Especially touching is the memoir which gathers together the angelic Paul Monette and the ferocious James Merrill. Brad Gooch contributes his best writing to date in his touching remembrances of his lovely partner Howard.

This book will break your heart and make you smile at the same time. It's truly a work of art.

For any one who is researching their family name of "Crawford and Rosebrook out of the White Mountains of New Hampshire and Vermont.
I have read this book several times and have learned a lot from it. I still continue to read it.
It took a considerable amount of determinaton from both of these families. They had the forsight to see the future and built on that.
Thorough good times and bad, they perservered.

So you like to hike and you like history but you don't know where to turn. Then look no further, there is a book that has both of that. This book will keep you in suspence and wanting you to read more of it.So know you have a book to read and you didn't even know it.

THIS BOOK WAS REALLY ABOUT A GUY WHO JUST WANTED TO FIND A TRAIL TO GET THROUGH THE WHITE MOUNTAINS SO OTHER VISITER OF THAT TIME COULD GET THROUGH. I THOUGHT IT WAS A GOOD BOOK FOR HISTORIANS WHO LIKE THE MOUNTAINS AND THE OUTDOORS. IT WILL WANT TO KEEP YOU READING TO SEE WHAT HAPPENS NEXT TO THE MAN. VERY STIMULATING AND KEEPS YOU ON THE EDGE OF YOUR SEAT.

I have read the whole series of the White Indian and would recomend it to everyone to read. It is a breath taking story and you feel like your right there with Renno and his tribe.

Although this was one of the saddest of the series, I celebrated Renno's life with him and grieved his passing. The whole series is a wonderful way to learn about the Seneca and some of the basics of Native Americans. This book and the series brought about a more personal glimpse of the first Americans.

This entire series is great. I have been reading this series since book one in 1979. Even though it is out of print, if you can get copies of the books, do so. This series gives you great insight into the Seneca tribe. You feel as if you are there as the events unfold, the author is very detailed and at the same time keeps the stories interesting and fresh.

I always knew what midi was, but never played around with it until recently. I relaized I was in over my head and required assistance. This book starts with the basics and builds from there. Midi is complex and intimidateing. The author does a great job by reiterating key points, resulting in greater comprhension and understanding. If you are starting out and want to understand midi and basic synthesis, this is a great book.

I've been a musician most of my life, and a computer and software engineer for over 15 years. I am NOT a technophobe, yet MIDI hasn't come easy for me. It is the only "science" that has given me fits... until now.

Mr. White's 'MIDI for the Technophobe' explains in simple terms how to make MIDI work. After the first 2 chapters I had a fundamental understanding of the connectivity & interaction between MIDI components.

It is a slow read at first, but it has to be to clarify what other books assume their readers can figure out for themselves. That's what makes this book so excellent for first-time and beginning MIDI users - it doesn't bury you in buzzwords, it buries you in visualizations on how it all connects and makes music.

A great book for the analog musician who wants to add MIDI synths, percussions and orchestrations to their recordings!

After reading about 20 books on the subject of MIDI and music technology, I found that "Midi for the Technophobe" is the only one written so that anyone can understand what is being explained. It is written as if the reader has absolutely no prior experience in the music technology field and explains each little word with care.

Grrrrrrrrreat! James White does it again with another interesting story. I like the humour that runs through it.

When I finished this book, I knew that it rated five stars, even though I like "The Genocidal Healer" better. I guess that speaks to how good the "Sector General" series is; they all earn 4.8 to 5 stars.

O'Mara, the Chief Psychologist on a hospital ship/space station called "Sector General", has been a major background player in many previous Sector General novels. Now, he is retiring and, in flashbacks, we get his reminiscences as he prepares to leave a long career. We learn how he became a psychologist, how he became Chief Psychologist, where his gruff demeanor comes from, and many other tidbits that fill in gaps in the Sector General saga.

As with all Sector General novels, this is a fast-paced, well-written book, although there is a confusion of names at one point - Padre Carmody gets called Padre Lioren, or vice-versa. Most of the other Sector General novels proceed in a very linear progression, but this one does not. Going along with its reminiscence style, it jumps around chronologically quite a bit.

I still think "The Genocidal Healer" is the best of the series, but "Mind Changer" is still a good, fun book.

Until *Mind Changer* came along, I hadn't realized how much I'd missed by not knowing more about the "nasty" Major O'Mara, even though I liked him. It's time for Major O'Mara to retire, and this book, like O'Mara himself, moves from the present to the past, and back. We learn more about the early days of Sector General and O'Mara's role in bringing about many items that are familiar to the series. Although the final revelation was obvious before chapter 15, that didn't spoil the book. Everything leading up to the end was interesting. I think anyone who cares about O'Mara will be pleased at his fate. [Note to the publisher: On p.217, full paragraph one, Padre Lorien is named, but the context makes it obvious that Padre Carmody is meant. If that IS an error, you may wish to correct it for the paperback.] Ann E. Nichols

This book is the most practical layman's book on health I have ever read. It's not a silly home remedies book. Nor is it a hard to understand technical manual. It gives plain and simple advice on how to live a healthy life. Everything from how to care for yourself and others when ill to what simple steps you can take to keep from getting ill to what kind of diet is best to how to take care of yourself when you're pregnant.

Examples: Did you know it is best not to mix fruits and vegetables in a single meal? Do you know what difference in diets manual laborers and mental laborers should be for optimum results?

Whomever you are, whether a searcher for physical health, mental health, or spiritual health, you will find this book both fascinating and easily applicable to your life. This book even contains practical advice for medical doctors!

I've used this 19th Century book in a health seminar. It is a pioneering work, and its truths have been adopted with little credit given by the wholistic health movement in general. Ellen G. White was one of wholistic health's earliest proponents. This book is still modern; nothing in it is out of date. Kloss cites the Author Ellen G. White as a major influence, in his book Back to Eden. Ministry of Healing presents a wholistic approach to health, emphasizing a simple lifestyle and fundamental health habits. Ellen White, the author, is a good wordsmith. She avoids tangents, and sticks to the basics that provide 99 percent of what is necessary to live a healthy, fruitful life. She presents clear discussions of family values, community approaches that preserve community health, exercise, whole vegetarian foods, food preparation that preserves food values, avoidance of vices including alcohol, tobacco, caffeine, and stimulating foods like black pepper and mustard, avoidance of unnecessary medicine, simple layman healing methods (she pioneered the use of water, hot and cold and sunlight as an adjunct to healing), and she searches the scriptures to find clear modern-day applications to health issues. You can heal yourself with the truths in this book. There is a health institute, Weimar Institute in California, that is based on the teachings of this book. As you read this book you'll experience an atmosphere of incredible light, both spiritually and physically. Her writing style is excellent, and very loving. She's helped me with my health, and I've passed on the truths she taught to many others.

The book, "Ministry of Healing" is not only a book which helps to cure sicknesses, but it prevents sickness. This book is clearly an inspired book which centers on spiritual sources of power for all healing. This book is the first, alternative to the bare New Age healers. This book centers on God as the sole source for power, and offers a 100% guarantee that all problems will be cured if taken to God. That guarantee in the book has urged many readers to read the other books by E.G.White. Her books are excellent sources of strength. All of her books are available at Amazon.Com

Mirrorfish by writer and psychotherapist Timothy G. White is an original and superbly written novel about the elusive and the mysterious. A secret Mirrorfish could be the key to wonder or to misery, obsession or enlightenment. One man risks his children to know the Mirrorfish's secrets, while another seeks its magic so that he can breach the emotional gulf that divides him from his grandchildren. An involving story of love, hopes, desire, and the quest for redemption, Mirrorfish is enthusiastically recommended and imaginatively rewarding reading.

A thoroughly enjoyable book by a first time author. I found the writing delightful. Kudos!

Stephen King couldn't dream of a masterpiece such as this.

Fred McChesney's book "Money For Nothing" builds upon public choice economist Gordon Tullock's work on how lobbyists obtain economic benefits from politicians. While Tullock's theory - known as "rent-seeking" - is gaining mainstream appeal, many economists now offer similar explanations for other aspects of legislative behavior that aids some interest groups while harming others. McChesney's theory of "rent-extraction" breaks new ground not yet covered by these economists.

McChesney defines rent extraction as "the political practice of extorting payments from private parties by making threats to expropriate wealth." In other words, he claims that politicians can take money from citizens by threatening to harm them and accepting bribes in the form of campaign contributions to leave them alone. He points out that if individuals have accumulated wealth and wish to keep it away from the government, they will be willing to pay politicians to leave them alone until the costs of doing so exceed the benefits of doing so.

Therefore, while Tullock's theory involves politicians accepting payments to create political favors in the form of rents, McChesney's involves politicians accepting payments to avoid destroying existing private rents. He explains the differences between the two by stating: "With the former (rent-creation/bribery), the beneficiaries of political action compensate the politician for increasing their welfare. With the latter (rent extraction/extortion), persons whose welfare would otherwise be diminished by political action compensate the politician for not effectuating that diminution."

He does point out that constitutional protection of private property and freedom of contract can prevent politicians from acting upon their threats. However, he claims the erosion of these protections has made the problem much more severe during the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries.

To support his view that rent extraction imposes enormous costs on the economy, McChesney provides a wealth of evidence from recent policy debates. For example, he cites the United States Federal Trade Commission's efforts - at the request of Congress - to impose warranty and defect disclosure requirements on used car dealers as an attempt by individual members of Congress to obtain campaign contributions in exchange for voiding the rules. In this instance, he provides statistics on contributions made by the National Auto Dealers' Association to members of Congress who voted to repeal the regulations. In discussing the Supreme Court's response to the wheeling and dealing, he points out that the dealers were essentially tricked into paying to repeal legislation that Congress never intended to enact anyway.

On the Clinton health care plan, he states that stock prices of pharmaceutical firms began to fall before the policy was formally proposed. He emphasizes that investors knew that once price controls became an issue, the firms involved would have to spend money fighting the legislation by making campaign contributions. Thus, the firms were expected to lose enormous sums of money whether or not the bill was actually passed. Most importantly, he points out that the firms were never able to recover any of the money they lost in the process.

In addition to legislative threats to impose price caps, he cites situations in which politicians threaten to repeal existing price caps to obtain contributions. For example, he states that proposals to raise admission fees at Yellowstone National Park have met with resistance from local merchants and users who benefit from lower prices. In other words, politicians can even threaten regulatory systems that they inherited from previous regimes in order to extract contributions from the firms that benefit from those systems.

McChesney relates his theory to law and economics by applying the Coase Theorem to his logic. He claims that, in a world without transaction costs, there would be no regulation because markets would allocate goods to their highest bidders. Therefore, in his model, the existence of regulation is treated as a political market failure in which private individuals fail to accurately appraise the credibility of threats made by politicians.

McChesney offers a simple, straightforward way to make sense of much of the regulatory excess observed throughout the economy. Although his treatment of tax code reform may require some clarification, his model will eventually enjoy the same mainstream appeal that has been afforded to Tullock's over time.

Fred McChesney here develops his original idea of rent extraction -- and it's an idea that renders understandable much of what the government does. (Want to know why the NRA and politicians perform a perpetual, public dance with each other? Read this book. McChesney's explanation will surprise you.) This book is a marvelous example of the best in public-choice scholarship: clearly written and cogent.

What motivates politicians? How do they act? If you are interested in those questions your should read this. The author starts from earlier work in the area by Stigler and Posner - but then extends their models in a number of areas. McChesney has a remarkable ability to take a complex area of economics (public choice) and write in an interesting and understandable fashion. This book is probably going to be read mostly by academics but deserves a wider audience.