One of the dominant theories of political theory is the idea of rational choice. It basically holds that people rationally choose to perform specific actions to fulfill their self-interest. But this approach has always had limitations in explaining certain actions, such as altruism. Monroe seeks to examine the validity of traditional rational explanations of altruism.

In constructing her study Monroe decided to focus her analysis through interviewing numerous individuals that fall into four broad groups: Entrepreneurs (people who made significant amounts of money through innovation); Philanthropists (wealthy individuals who give away significant sums of money); Heroes (ordinary people who risk there lives helping others); and Rescuers (people who saved Jews in WWII). If you read nothing else from this book read the chapters recounted some of these peoples stories, they are pretty amazing. After presenting some of these individuals, Monroe seeks to examine the evidence through four traiditonal modes of explaining altruistic behavior and she finds each one lacking.

Having found the traditional explanations inadequate she presents an adimtedly partial new theory of ethical political behavior: perspective. Perspective is how one views themselves in relation to others. Monroe found that altruists all shared a similar vision of a universal, common humanity in which all people are essentially the same. Monroe uses this view to suggest a reapplication of rational choice theory. Where our basic identity is involved with a particular choice, people are not going to seriously engage in rational analysis, they feel as if there is no choice. One example given is an Orthodox Jew who doesn't see eating at a kosher establishment as a choice. But where choices do not implicate our basic idenity, traditional rational analysis kicks in.

Of course the study has its limitations, princably in its small numbers. Only a couple of dozen individuals were examined for this study and this raises some concerns for the ability to generalize the results. But the only real way for such a study to be conducted is through small numbers because of the complexity of the task. I look foward to further studies seeking to test her conclusion against new sets of evidence. While the reading can get somewhat dull in points this book is well worth the effort.

I bought this book originally because I am a close friend of the author's son. However, reading it was a truly emotional experience, which literally left me crying. This is a beautiful book, one of the top 10 books I have ever read.

Mr. Monroe does an excellent job of explaining how the Native Americans live in Nebraska. His examples are true to life, and are believable. I was also suprised that I know some of the people that Mr. Monroe wrote about, and the troubles that they have had in Alliance, Nebraska, because they were Lakota.

The Profiles of the Presidents series offers a picture on virtually every page to make it easier for young readers to absorb the information provided. In this look at James Monroe author Michael Teitelbaum provides a standard biography detailing his political offices and achievements. Compared to other juvenile biographies of Monroe this volume does not focus as much on his strengths and weaknesses as a leader; however, for an introductory biography, which is what the Profiles of the Presidents series provides, this is not a significant problem. The volume is illustrated with historic portraits and paintings, many of them of Monroe's political contemporaries from Jefferson and Madison to John C. Calhoun and John Quincy Adams, while others focus on showing what life was like in the early days of the United States. Note: One thing I will say for this book is that the cover portrait of Monroe is far and away the most flattering I have seen on the cover of any of these juvenile biographies of our fifth President. The production values of this series are very good and these are uniformally good looking volumes on the American presidents. There are more comprehensive and analytical biographies of James Monroe available, but this remains the idea first choice for younger elementary school students.

This first novel by Eastern North Carolinian Carter Monroe (pen name) further establishes the truth that this is the writers' state.

In JOURNEY, Monroe leads the reader through 48 hours in the life of his sensitive protagonist, Eddie Watson. Watson, the victim of a ruthlessly manipulative father, hitchhikes out of town for the weekend and by chance encounters the early 70's drug/subculture in a way that he had not expected.

The centerpiece for the novel is perhaps the most accurate description I have seen of an LSD trip. Watson's experience becomes a doorway to a better understanding of himself and his future. This is a rare look at the intellectual side of the psychedelic adventure.

Monroe draws his characters unpretentiously and holds the reader to the page with an unflinching desire for realism. Only the dialogue is a little weak, but one will find that the power of the writing grows as the book advances, and that the Bukowski-esque father and son scenes are indeed riveting.

A lot of pics, both of her young and some of her latest, of the innocence that was marilyn monroe. its all black and white photos of her hanging out. and this is not the everyday drug store merchandise, its real classy. most photos are spectacular, and includes the famous skirt blowing ones.

Well written, but hardly plausable, account of the role of USN aircraft carrier Coral Sea, CVA 43, in a scheme to capture a highly secret Russian MIG aircraft. Of interest to all crewmembers of "The Ancient Warrior" and to those interested in harrowing tales of espionage.

The story of Maidie Bonasso's life resembles a kaleidescope - the imagery is hard-edged yet dazzling, and while the pictures change smoothly, the narrative never settles into one pattern. Maidie's life is a collection of memories saved from her constant moves, which leave behind estranged parents, remote sisters and two ex-husbands. Currently working in Tuscon as the curator of the Museum of Domestic History and Home Economy (which functions better as metaphor than as museum), Maidie begins to catalog her life : abandonment--by mother ; neglect--by first husband ; verbal abuse--by second husband ; happiness--with boyfirend--current. But although Maidie thinks often about her past, it isn't until the last third of the novel that she confronts the fragments of her life and visits her family. The book is a wry and honest look at the newfangled forms of family created by geographic dislocations and divorce, by the Flannery O'Connor award winning author of "The Sources of Trouble" and "A Wild Cold State".

St John (Jack) Philby, father of the famous -or infamous- Kim, got to know Ibn Saud during World War I as a British civil servant based in Baghdad, working for Sir Percy Cox. From their first meeting, Philby was enormously impressed with Ibn Saud, then struggling to affirm himself as one of several princes in Central Arabia. He took an instant liking to him, and this was the beginning of a life-long association. Over the ensuing years,Philby developed the feeling that the British Government was not treating the Arabs fairly and in addition was supporting Ibn Saud's rival, Sherif Hussein of Mecca and his sons, mainly through the support that one of these derived from T. E. Lawrence, in some ways Philby's rival. This eventually led Philby to resign from the civil service and establish himself in Arabia as one of Ibn Saud's senior advisers.
The book is well researched and well written. It takes you through the birth pangs of Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Irak and covers a span from World War I to the reign of Ibn Saud's successor, King Saud. It also tells in a riveting way about Philby's desert exploration ventures, most notably in South Arabia's Empty Quarter and its borders with Yemen and the British Protectorate of Aden.
The author brings to life Philby's character, his peculiar family life and, most interestingly, his conversion to Islam.
I have found this book essential for a better understanding of Arabia and of Islam.
On the negative side, the printing of this edition -in a non-English-speaking country- leaves much to be desired: there are far too many typos which take away some of the reading enjoyment. Also, the maps are succint and could have been somewhat more generous. These two factors account for my holding back the 5th star!

I have been using and training in MS Office applications for the past 7 years. This manual is straightforward and layout logically. Begining with the basic MOUS skills and progressing to the expert MOUS skills appears seamless. The book is full of pictures, step-by-step instructions per task, and helpful Pro Tips. This book is not full of "techie" jargon and wordiness.

The practice exercises are practical and helpful tools to either learn or refresh the topics covered in each chapter. The end-of-chapter tests also reassess what you just learned in each chapter.

The MOUS PinPoint program strongly reinforces the skills you learned after each lesson. The two different software elements in PinPoint - Trainer and Evaluation surely reinforce the skills that you NEED in order to PASS the MOUS Certification exam - Core or Expert.

This manual is better layout than the Que E&T MOUS series which use the same PinPoint training and testing software. I would highly recommend this manual and the accompanying PinPoint software to anyone who needs a training aide or manual to practice with for the MOUS certification exam. The only drawback is that is doesn't have anough exercises at the end of each chapter to be used as a training manual. If an additional exercise or two were available - this book would have been rated as a 5-star book.