This is an excellent book. It is the first of its kind that I have read on such a subject. The work is richly informative, witty, articulate, and well documented. Anyone interested in recent American history, or environmental history, will think it great reading pleasure.

More fun than Betsy McCall cut-outs! This toy theatre recreates the stellar sets of Broadway's Dracula (Cort Theatre). EXPLORE:The delightfully gothic decor at Lucy's abode, and Carfax Abbey. IMAGINE: yourself drawn - no etched into the maudulent world of smoldering sensuality, stolen glances, and mysterious things that-go-bump-in the moon-drenched- night. HEAR: The tap-tap-tapping of long, bony fingers scratching on the window glass in Lucy's room, beckoning her closer, closer... FIND: The subliminal visually prosaic "Ode to Chiroptera" (i.e.bats) embedded in the renderings of the Abbey, the clouds, .... Stoker would be proud!!

As the mother of a Dressage rider and Pony Clubber this book series has been one of the most usefull items we have found for learning not only the Dressage tests but also just what the judges are looking for. It allows me to understand what my daughter is looking for as I read the tests and she rides them. It is also helpful in allowing the rider to visualize the movement while memorizing each test. We always take our copys to the show and they are often borrowed by other riders.

This nice, big book with wipe-clean coated pages is great to have around the home or barn. You can trace out the tests with a grease pencil or crayon (to help you learn), or stash the book in your tack trunk, and it stays nice and new. Horses can bite, stomp or lick it and it won't tear.

The diagrams are big and nicely drawn step by step. Helpful, durable books and I believe the whole series is avaialable all the way up to Grand Prix. Good luck!

This book is great! I've read it 4 times and recommended to everyone that loves children's books. It brought back childhood memories of the big dust storms we once had. The writing of Virginia Hamilton, as always, is superb. The characters were real to me and the illustration allowed each character to dance through out the story. I loved Lindy's character. I've recommanded the book to others because of it's down to earth discription of how things were. I remember playing in gullies like the one the garden was planted in. Each of us have out childhood memories. We lived in the dry dusty country of West Texas. Thank you for the opprotunity of being able to tell others how much I loved this book. The reason I found this is because I wanted to buy one to show my grandchildren how it was in the dust bowl days.

My grandson loved this book before he could crawl. He would pick this book out of several and hand to us to read. We couldn't even "trick" him by reading a different one. He's now 18 months old and just dumped it in the tub so we are now having to replace it!! I highly recommened it for any little baby boy...

Browne KD, Hanks H, Stratton P, Hamilton C, eds. Early prediction and prevention of child abuse. A handbook. Chichester: John Wiley, 2002, 382 pages. ... (softcover).

This book is a new and updated version of a book published in1988 on the prevention of child abuse and neglect in the early pioneering days of child abuse research. The editors are an all British team from the University of Birmingham and Leeds with 38 contributors from the UK, USA and Australia.
There are 21 chapters devided into four sections: Prevalence and prediction, primary and secondary prevention, tertiary prevention and working with offenders.
In section I it is interesting to note that over the last 25 years, when several countries started to collect data on child abuse cases on a regular basis, there has been observed some evidence that the prevalence of child abuse has decreased. This good information can maybe be attributed to the focus on preventive public health approach that many countries have taken after too many famous cases of fatal child abuse covered by the media over time. Section II is influenced by the 1979 book by Uri Bronfenbrenner on the ecology of human development, but very much relevant still today. In section III and IV the issue is tertiary prevention with focus on not only the child and family, but also the offenders.
Much has happened since 1988 in many countires for a better prevention, intervention and switch to a comprehensive child health policy, but there is still a lot of work to be done.
I especially liked the chapter by David Olds et al from Colorado on his last 24 years of research on nurse home visiting in the prenatal and infant period. Here you will find the evidence base for early intervention of the model of the nurse visitor coming home already during pregnancy and continuing during infancy. This model was implemented in Denmark in 1936 on a national level and used by nearly 100% of all pregnant women in Denmark. David Olds et al in his studies in the Appalachian region of New York State (the Elmira study) and Memphis has shown that intervention early has functional and economic benefits with the greatest impact on families at high risk. Their Nurse Family Partnership now functions in 24 states and over 200 local communities in the United States.
This book has value for a range of professionals, both in research and clinical practice, policy makers and managers working in the field of child protection, child and human development.

Professor Joav Merrick, MD
Director, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development and Medical director, Division for Mental Retardation, Box 1260, IL-91012 Jerusalem, Israel, email: jmerrick@internet-zahav.net

The author has a great grasp on what you need to survive alot of the upcoming earth changes and natural catastrophies. I recommend this book highly for anyone who has questions on how to be prepared for these things.The book leaves you a lot of choices, to be made by the individual, depending on your personal circumstances. Check it out. It may save you or a family members life.

Earl J. Hamilton spent a good part of his productive life gathering enormous amounts of data on the evolution of prices, wages and the value of money in Spain form 1350 to 1800. In this volume, the second of Hamilton's "trilogy", he presents his main findings on the critical period between 1500 and 1650, when Spain rose to dominate the world and at the same time laid the foundations of its future decline. Hamilton emphasizes the key role of American precious metals in fueling the Spanish political and military expansion, as well as its effects on prices, wages , geopolitical ambitions and the ultimate demise of the empire on which the sun never set. Carefully constructed series for imports of gold and silver, price indexes for as many as 150 commodities and wages during the whole 150 years period at several locations are the fruit of prime quality research on almost every primary source available. Despite being originally published in 1928, this work still provides excellent raw material for researchers, and will continue to do so for many years to come.

The Elements of John Updike is the best study of John Updike's fiction that I have yet read. It is profound and very different from other studies in the depth and attention it pays the author and his writing. I have yet to read another book that so perfectly integrates all the diverse elements of his nature, the poetry, the fiction, the nonfiction, the studious nature and development of his fierce intelligence.

It is a shame that the book is now out-of-print. I hope that it will one day be updated and expanded, or at least reprinted, as it is still very much relevant, despite the fact that it covers only his origin through Couples. Still irreplaceable in its comprehension of the man who is quite possibly America's greatest living author.

By the way, this book is written by Alice and Kenneth Hamilton (Amazon seems to have forgotten one of them).