I'm afraid this was rather tedious reading. While I can appreciate that a scholarly biographer may choose to merely stick to the facts as they are known regarding the life of their subject, still it is my personal feeling that someone's life is far more important than the facts: what did that life MEAN to others? The biographer is, in my opinion, on safe ground when they interpret the life of their subject and write the story that has meaning for the author, not just a compilation of detailed facts. That is essentially all that Alexander has done with his treatment of the life of Wilford Woodruff.

The tragedy is that the story that occurred in the Mormon "kingdom" during the life span of the 4th President of the Church was anything but dry! While I disagree with the author's assertion that "Woodruff was probably the 3rd most important Mormon after Joseph Smith and Brigham Young," (I don't know how you could possibly quantify the value of a man, and then rank them in some sort of Letterman's Top Ten List...especially when you consider the incredible contributions of other Mormons, including Sidney Rigdon, Hyrum Smith, the Pratt Brothers, as well as some of the more notorious, such as John Bennett,) still, so very much changed in Utah during his presidency that radically shaped the future of the West, that the feel and meaning of the story should be TOLD, not merely documented. It was during the leadership era of Wilford Woodruff that the Mormons finally joined the United States, which was in reality an incredible shift in the paradigm of the Mormon hierarchy. Plural Marriage, one of two keystones to Mormon segregation, (the other being the notion of theocratic inheritence of whatever land they happened to occupy), was eliminated...more or less...during his leadership. And the millenialism of the Saints became considerably tempered. Instead, Alexander chose to focus on the breakup of the People's Party and the importance of the tension then between Mormon Democrats and Mormon Republicans. To read this book, you would think that was the biggest story in Woodruff's life. I don't disagree that it was important in shaping policy, but it wasn't the real story. Furthermore, you practically know nothing about his families as a result of reading this book, only that he had four, plus a few divorced wives, which you would think in the family orientation of this church that these people would be a more significant subject of this book.

The fact of the matter is, Alexander has chosen to focus on the History of Utah and the Church during the life of Wilford Woodruff, while mentioning Woodruff's involvment, rather than focus on his life, while mentioning what was going on in the church. We know the history already, but tell us about the Man!

Read the book, but don't expect to be kept on the edge of your seat, shed any tears, or experience vicariously the joy and satisfaction of a full life, well lived in the service of his fellow men, his country, and his God.

Things In Heaven And Earth: The Life And Times Of Wilford Woodruff, A Mormon Prophet is a fascinating, detailed, meticulously researched and comprehensive biography of a remarkable man, his life, work, thought, philosophy, and contributions. Biographer Thomas G. Alexander (Lemuel Redd Professor of Western History, Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah) has made an important and seminal contribution to the study of Wilford Woodruff's personal life and contributions to the development and expansion of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Things In Heaven And Earth is important reading for student of Mormon history in general, and the lives of the influential men who lead and shaped its activities, theology, expansion, and organization. Also very highly recommended is Thomas Alexander's Mormonism In Transition: A History Of The Latter-Day Saints, 1890-1930.

The book was extraordinary in assistance with finding my current job. Graduating from a liberal arts college, I was at first nervous about finding a career. With the knowledge gained from this book, I realized the possibilities were endless.

This is a romantic and fun-to-read YA novel. Maddie's new boyfriend, Hank, is all that she has ever dreamed of---sensitive, warm, and caring (at least on the telephone). In person, Hank is awkward and shy. It's like he has two different personalities! Will Maddie be able to solve the mystery of her phone Romeo? Keep your eyes open for clues

La creatividad de Bioy Casares es el gancho que atrae al lector con una historia simple pero amena que describe tiempos violentos en Argentina. Imperdible para todos aquellos interesados en novelas de suspenso de lectura ágil y entretenida.

This book was really cute, i picked it up at the bookstorebecause i'm a big fan of dragons of all shapes and sizes, I usuallypick up any dragon book i come across. It was really a great kids book. wonderful!

This book is so useful. Every recipie lists the fiber, calories, and fat content. The pictures are beautiful and the recipies I've made have all been delicious. Creative use of herbs and seasoning and alternate ingredients take the place of fat. The roast turkey with a variety of stuffings is great. I don't cook turkey any other way now.

I thought it was boring in the beginning, but became interesting towards the end. The boys will really like this book. The ladies will be grossed out.

I anxiously looked forward to reading this book. Given the titles of Thomas's previous books, Redefining Diversity and Beyond Race and Gender, and the title of this one I expected more than passing reference to the disability community. I was disappointed.

We are told (p.84) that "I'm becoming more aware of sexual preference and physical ability diversity as well." Although I'm not one to get hung up on word choice, others are, and those locutions aren't popular in gay, lesbian, or disability-preference communities. In the latter are millions of people with ADHD and psychiatric disabilities, and for these millions to be excluded from a "house for diversity" would make it a "house divided against itself."

A tipoff for readers is the Personal Diversity Maturity Index. The reader is asked "What is the most important reason to respond to diversity?" The preferred answer has nothing to do with justice and social change, or even with building a house that will include your neighbors, your parents, your kids, and possibly you. It's "The diversity-mature manager recognizes that diversity is good for business."

Using a short fable as metaphor and a springboard, shows how managing diversity relies upon building skills and changing mindsets. Most of the book presents case studies of how people who face diversity challenges on the job address them. Closing chapters provide some general guidelines for individuals and organizations for achieving diversity maturity-knowledge about and comfort with the dynamics of diversity-and diversity effectiveness-the ability to deal with people distinctly diverse from you. An interesting work that is nearly on a par with the author's most outstanding contribution, "Beyond Race and Gender." Reviewed by Yvette Borcia, co-founder, Stern & Associates, co-author of Stern's Sourcefinder: The Master Directory to HR and Business Management Information & Resources, Stern's CyberSpace SourceFinder, and Stern's Compensation and Benefits SourceFinder.

Cheers to Dr. Thomas for providing a book that is one of the first -- in my opinion -- to present a clear picture of the need to address workforce, workplace and marketplace diversity. I came away understanding that to address one or two of these components without addressing the third is like commissioning a two to three mile dig, when all the geological reports tell you that oil is six miles down. Half and quarter steps will not lead to success. In the most simple straight-forward way, starting with a powerful parable, Dr. Thomas drives home the point that for true strategic benefits organizations need to make a balance commitment to the all three components.

Another great take-away from this book is Dr. Thomas's model for identifying and differentiating between business requirements and preferences.

All in all this is an extremely powerful book that should be in every manager's library. Thank you Dr. Thomas.

Joe Santana
Co-author of Manage I.T.

I bought this book because it sounded like it would have good receipes. Once I got the book, I didn't find any of them appetizing. A good rule of thumb is if a recipe calls for oil, substitute apple sauce and you'll be cutting the fat..

Well let's just say that I have been on a whole lot of diets and of course not lot the weight. I have felt bad about eating and used to think the only way to be slim was to starve myself, and I did. Then I was so sick of being hungry and I went to the library in search of a cookbook on low fat foods and found this book. I copied down some recipies and went home and tried them. WELL I was so impressed that I bought the book and read the whole thing and found out that I could eat 2000 calories a day and loose weight. I have bought 2 of her books and going out tonight to buy her fat free baking book. To this day I have lost 35 pounds in 4 monthes with out depriving myself, wy co-workers are always comenting on my snacking, cause I am always eating,and not just veggies either, I am a chocoholic !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know that some fat is good in our diets and I don't advocate eliminating all of it; however I know I personally can eat WAY too much in my desserts. This book has given me tremendous insight into how to reduce and/or cut out the fat in my desserts. The recipes are tasty, moist when they're supposed to be, chewy when they're supposed to be, crisp when they're supposed to be (you get the idea - these are not gooey, nasty fat replacements). I especially like the Prune Puree and have used it in other recipes very successfully. I highly recommend this book as a sensible addition to your healthy living cookbooks.

I was very intrigued by the subject of this book. I really wanted to learn about all these men, and thought that this work would supply me with a basic overview of the lives of these great men. I was wrong. Not only is the writing very poor (more on that in a minute), there is very little historical value in this book. Some of the assertions the author makes are nearly impossible to swallow. An example: Anderson describes the meeting of Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds as "one of the cornerstones of English history." I'm sorry, but that's a little much for me.

Anderson seems quick to add any little rumor or hearsay as fact in the biographies. To me, saying something is "looked upon today" or "said to" or "known as" is not very convincing. I'm sure there are mountains of speculation about most of these men, but I don't need to know about them. Instead of saying a man was the "father" of this science or that industry, show me how and why. Then I'll look upon it my own way.

One of the most frustrating things about this book for me was the allusion to so many parts of history the average person is not familiar with. Most, if not all, of these biographies make mention of battles, revolutions, sculptures, people, or events, yet many of these things, important as they may be in the person's life, are not explained. This is very difficult for me--knowing the name of a particular event without knowing anything about it is essentially meaningless.

As I said before, the writing is poor, both grammatically and organizationally. It is always difficult to read a poorly-edited book, and this is no exception. The organization is annoying in that the biographies are ordered in a way that is downright confusing--Anderson frequently jumps from one period of someone's life to the next and back again in the course of a page. This makes it very hard to follow the point.

I gave the book two stars because the subject is great, and Anderson obviously dedicated herself very much to it. For this, she deserves to be commended. I really admire her zeal for the work--I just don't feel it's very informative. If you want an interesting look at the men concerned in this book, I suggest you get a list and look for individual biographies on them.

I loved the concise history of these men who did so much to make the world a better place in the 1700 & 1800's. The author shares pieces of history that you never learn in school and made me want to find the books these men had written, find the paintings they had painted, and walk the lands they had walked.

I felt that the editing of this book must have been a hurried job, and occasionally that the writing style made the details a little unclear. For example, discussion of a man and his parents and grandparents confused me once or twice because the pronoun references were unclear.

Nevertheless, if you're interested in learning about the valient men who lived before the gospel of Jesus Christ was restored, and then asked to receive their own temple blessings as soon as it was possible after their death, you will want to own this book.

I look forward to the sequel on the women.
Shaun Brown

Inspiring, uplifting and very interesting to look into the lives of a few of the world's greatest men. This is a great book that sheds a lot of light into why these great men were granted the ability to pass through the veil to request their work be done.