This author intrigues me. He has taken writing all the way back to an art form that is shockingly honest, agressively creative, and just plain derivative. NYT bestselling authors don't have what he has.

This book blew me away -- the first I read it in 1987 and until yesterday, when I read it again. This is probably the best (and most coherenet) book Ferderman the Featherman has ever written. An intro the writer? This is the book to start with.

This is an excellent, well written, fast paced novel of intrigue, conspiracy and deception at the highest level of government based around the search for a cure for Alzheimer's.

The protagonist is a likeable fellow who I expect may show up in Avila's subsequent novels.

What a surprise! I don't usually go for medical thrillers, but this story had me hooked from the first page! What I liked most about this novel is that the story is about much more than medicine, it's the story of a young man's journey from humble beginnings to the competitive and sometimes corrupt world of medical research. His story alone was enough to sustain my interest, but the shocking 'second layer' of the story really kept me glued to the book. I was not prepared for the twists and turns the story took and I was truly shocked by the conclusion. After reading this novel you will never look at medical headlines again without wondering about the backstabbing and scandal that may have occured in the name of scientific progress. I highly recommend you take a chance on this terrific novel, you won't be disappointed.

In "Speaking Freely," Larry Makinson advocates campaign finance reform by presenting testimony by those who best understand money's role in the political process - former members of Congress and those who successfully influence them. Unlike many other pro-McCain-Feingold authors, he does not restrict his evidence to the pro-reform side. Many of his experts clearly believe that people have a right to make their case to their leaders, and that restricting them from doing so will cause them to lose confidence in our government.

Makinson begins with the simple point that incumbents enjoy a substantial fundraising advantage over challengers because congressional district lines are frequently drawn to keep seats in the hands of the controlling party. This leads him to conclude that campaign contributors typically expect access in return for their donations. As a result, in most major elections, the ideas that a candidate brings to the table are less important than her fundraising potential. Ideas are frequently overshadowed by the attack ads that plague congressional elections.

To further illustrate problems caused by the current system, Makinson uses the example of agricultural subsidies - and that fact that support for such blatantly special-interest programs transcends party lines, geographical regions, and political philosophies. However, he also points out that many interest groups tend to wait for most new members of Congress to develop a voting record before deciding whether to offer them a contribution. This suggests that other forms of political spending may play an equal - or possibly even more important - role in influencing members of Congress than direct contributions to campaigns.

Makinson explains that on most important public policy issues, there are teams of public relations firms, lobbying firms, and grassroots mobilization firms working behind the scenes to shift public opinion. The amounts of money spent on these efforts dwarf actual campaign spending. In addition, many nonprofit groups, such as the League of Conservation Voters and Americans for Tax Reform, issue frequent scorecards for each member of Congress on the issues they care about. Although these groups are (for the most part) prohibited from lobbying on their own, they have considerable clout with organizations that do lobby, and influence Congress via this indirect route.

Another important point Makinson notes is that groups which the media views in a positive light can exert more influence with a given level of funding than groups the media dislikes. This explains why some groups - such as environmentalists - tend to have considerably more clout than their funding levels seem to dictate.

These facts lead some of the experts Makinson interviews to defend unpopular fundraising tactics - despite their general support for campaign finance reform. For example, Senator Hillary Clinton's joint senatorial fundraising PAC was initially attacked by those opposed to the involvement of groups outside New York in her election. But Clinton's fundraising model was eventually adopted by many of those who attacked it. Also, Ellen Malcolm of EMILY's List defends her group's bundling of individuals' hard-money contributions as merely providing information to those who wish to finance candidates on their own.

Former Senator Slade Gorton provides the highlight of the book. He makes the strongest possible case for EMILY's List and other organizations like it: "I felt that for all of us who were Senators, and who were being treated as minor nobility, that the fact that we had to go ask people for money was very healthy. And it gave you at least a slight degree of humility...And the very fact that we all hate it, or almost all of us hate it, is the best advertisement for why it's a good idea." Thus, the fact that candidates are forced to listen to actual people is part of what keeps them grounded in reality - to the extent that they can prevent problems like agricultural price supports from occurring in the first place.

Having outlined much of the case against campaign finance reform, Makinson adopts a unique tactic in his attempt to convert skeptics to the McCain-Feingold cause - he takes the sleaziest aspects of the Democrats' fundraising apparatus and puts them on display. He makes no effort to hide the fact that the Democratic Party is dependent upon large contributions from a small group of extremely wealthy donors to survive. He points out that Peter Buttenweiser, one of the Democrats' largest donors, finances Democratic campaigns with money he inherited from the Lehman Brothers' banking fortune. He reprints much of silicon valley multimillionaire Steve Kirsch's rant against President Bush's educational record as governor of Texas in its gory detail. He does everything he can to encourage Republican and libertarian readers that the current election system gives people like these a great deal of control over Congress, and that this is a very bad thing.

However, Makinson is unable to make a convincing case. He concludes the book by detailing Arnold Hiatt's plea to President Clinton to support full public financing of campaign spending. Hiatt's argument pales in comparison to Wright Andrew's case against it, which states that public financing would actually increase private money's involvement in politics by channeling it into more lobbying and grassroots advertising - which can be more effective than direct contributions anyway.

Overall, "Speaking Freely" delivers on its promise to tell both sides of the story - it offers expert analysis on what works in politics and why. It explains why different people go about influencing public policy in different ways, and why some tactics work better in some situations than others. It also emphasizes the fact that our campaign system can contribute to the poor legislative results produced by Congress. However, it falls far short of proving that our campaign system is the primary cause of those problems. For all of their whining about how people who have strong feelings about issues can change the terms of the debate during a campaign, it is time for members of Congress to accept some of the blame for our current state of legislative affairs. After all, they're the ones making the rules.

Now in an updated second edition, Speaking Freely: Washington Insiders Talk About Money In Politics by Larry Makinson (Center for Responsive Politics) offers the reader an inside look as to what really happens behind the closed doors of Washington offices. The candid testimony of PAC directors, current and former Congressmen, lobbyists, and other Washington insiders fill the pages of this no-nonsense, informative account that strips away illusions and shows the reader what power politics is really like. An informed and informative read for anyone with an interest in how government really works, Speaking Freely is commended to personal, professional, governmental, academic, and community library Political Science collections and reading lists.

Stone Carvers, a cultural study of the men who carved the stone embelishments and sculptures of the Washington National Cathedral, offers exceptional insight into this fascinating subculture. It builds on the film, released in 1985, which won a documentary academy award for the author, Majorie Hunt of the Smithsonian anthropology staff. The characters of these unique, talented and charming men are beautifully revealed while the photographs make clear what a monument they have created. They were trained in the classic stone carving workshops of Italy, came to this country as young men and created a world of classical beauty on buildings on the Washington Mall, and in New York as well as at the Cathedral. The last of these unique men, Vincent Palumbo, carved the wonderous Creation sculpture [by Fredrick Hart] over the central door of the cathedral, the visual image of which was used without premission for the movie Devil's Advocate [Washington Episcopal Diocese sued to block release of the movie until some images were removed]. The fact that monumental stonecarving is both a dying art and a dying subculture makes this documentary book all the more valuable and poignant. I visit with Mr. Palumbo about once a week just to hear his tales of the old days when these great men walked the roofs of the sixth largest cathedral in the world and carved their impressions in immortal stone.

A really handsome volume that wonderfully illuatrates this fine art. After visiting the National Cathedral (I was there for the dedication of the tympanum over the main door) and being captivated by the work of the carvers, this superb survey of monumental work brings it all to life again.

As a citizen working in the District of Columbia, and an avid walker, I have been fascinated with the vast array of statues present virtually everywhere in the city. I have been searching for a source of information that could help me with learning about the history of the pieces. While I was looking for something a little less specific - or I should say, more far reaching (there's a lot, a whole lot of statues in D.C.) than the subject of this book - what is here is fascinating and very informative. I have spoken with some tour guides that visit the statues with tourists, and some of the information that they share about the statues and sites differs slightly than what is written here - but I am so confident in the thoroughness of Ms. Jacobs' research - I am sure these guides are speaking the embellishment of popular myth. I would love to share some of this elaboration with the author to confirm this notion.

As a resident of Capitol Hill, I found this book useful and informative. I, for one, had no idea that the Congressional Cemetery just a few blocks from my home contained the first Civil War era monument erected. Nor did I know that the first major Lincoln Memorial was right here on the hill.

The book is fascinating and can provide either a brief, or detailed, look at the monuments.

The only thing the book is lacking is a MAP to help the unitiated into the world of DC's complicated streets.

This is a murder mystery wrapped in with a CIA internal spy plot. This author writes tight, slick books that keep you interested through out. The good flow of the book and the fact that it keeps you interested is probably due to the skill of the author. You are never in need of additional details with this author, he really fills the pages up, and for some I think this can be too much. This really is a book that has two ' three very well developed and written plot twists that makes you stay on your toes. I have reread the book and it is something how well he places the road signs. This is an interesting book that combines espionage with a murder mystery.

Great book, this one would make a good movie! Does he have more! I want more! Excellent writing, very in depth, keeps up the pace, suspenseful and entertaining reading.

Recently, I had the honor of meeting David at a Book Signing of Vietnam Era helicopter Pilots. David is as delightful and faithful man as his writing. Prior to meeting him, I had purchased his book and read it advidly. He writes a completely different Vietnam Novel whereby he mixes his faith experience and combat experience with a moving story of the devotion that people can have towards each other in the world of combat. While this is fiction, I have spoken with him at great length and know his work reflects his own faith journey and personal morays. Keeping the action moving, David manages to also convey more important things than a simple "shoot em up" novel would attempt. I highly recommend this to people who are interested how men of faith struggled in the "apparently Godless" world of war. This is anovel that you can feel very comfortable in allowing your children to read.

Bruce E. Carlson M. Div. author of "Red Bird Down."

This is fantastic little pocket carryall book for cycling San Juan, Gulf and Vancouver Islands. Small, 3-D maps, elevation gain, mileage. They just dont make them anymore,

I could not find it to buy in USA since they are out of print, so I checked out of Library. Now I have found it on-line...

A great collection of trivia! There are a lot of questions that are very tough even for a longtime diehard such as me, but still not ridiculously obscure. The jersy numbers section alone makes this book worth owning.

The layout could have been better, though. The questions are in the first half of the book, the answers in the second. The question pages lack a reference to the page number of the answers so if you're just picking the book up to flip through it, it's difficult to look up the answer to a stumper.

Great book... provided hours of enjoyment for myself and my fellow Redskins fans! Highly recommend it for tons of challenging fun.

My son (age 4) has this book on his frequent reading request list! I like it too, but not as well as he does. He gets very confused by the parts of the book that are set above the ground, and I find them sort of needless---especially since on some pages there is no picture at all of the train underground. My son asks every time we are on those pages---"where's the train?". But that small flaw in our eyes is not enough to make him not like this book very much! His favorite part is the descriptive writing of how the train sounds! If you have a young train or subway lover, I would get this one!

My daughter, Isabel, and I live in DC at the metro stop that Quattlebaum describes in "Underground Train," and we love this book. The language is poetic, the story easy to identify with, and the illustrations nicely fit the action. I heartily recommend "Underground Train" to families with train-riding kids everywhere.

The Wall designed by Maya Lin, then a 21 year-old student at Yale is one of the most visited monument in Washington, DC. If the war was controversial, the winning design also caused quite a stir nationwide. Arguments erupted against this "black gash of shame". The controversy was resolved by adding a bronze statue and a flagpole.

The book is a pictorial testimony of the millions of people who came by to remember the fallen and to reminisce the past. These are either parents, wives, children, veterans, friends, or visitors who came to pay tribute to those who sacrificed themselves in the name of FREEDOM.

They are gone, but live forever in our hearts.

Empathy and love helped create this sensitive photographic study of the Viet Nam War Memorial. One cannot view each stunning photograph without emotion and deep gratitude. This book still remains on our bookshelf so we will always remember. This is a heart-felt offering.