To call Mr. Polk's Army the best, most authorative book on the Mexican War would not be a long shot. It is a revolutionary book, with a great deal of firsthand sources and reminiscences not used previously. I have the privilege of working with several professors and historians who are experts on the subject, and they all tend to agree with me. Dr. Winders, the curator of the Alamo, blends social history and military history, with a dose of political history, to tell the story of the 1846-1848 U.S. Army, regulars and volunteers, officers and enlisted men. While it is meticulously researched, it is also entertaining, and not over the head of the general reader. I, and many other more qualified readers, would recommend this as the work to read on the U.S. Army in Mexico.

Historian Richard Winder's Polk's Army is a closely detailed, meticulously researched, scholarly and engaging presentation of the daily life of American soldiers who fought in the Mexican War, drawn from a vast amalgamation of diaries, journals, and reminiscences. Polk's Army goes further to connect the army to the society from which it was drawn, and portrays a military undertaking that was a unilaterally shared experience for all ranks and walks of American soldiers, despite their differences in background or politics. Illustrated with some black-and-white historical photographs and drawings, Polk's Army is a superb, in-depth reference for anyone with a vested interest in learning more about a war that forever changed the physical shape and political future of the United States of America.

In May 1948, George Polk, a foreign correspondent for CBS news, was murdered in Greece. His murder was a tragedy. It was a tragedy for his family. It was a tragedy for truth. It was a tragedy for journalism. It was a tragedy for Greece. It was a tragedy for the future political direction of the United States.

Greece was the setting of a civil war between a royalist government and Communist guerilla forces. But it was not the simple good guys versus the bad guys. The origins and course of the civil war were vastly more complex. Churchill and Stalin had cynically divided the Balkans-with Churchill selecting Greece for the British. Stalin kept his part of the deal. He did NOT support the communist guerillas. While still fighting the Nazis, Britain sent an expeditionary force into Greece to expel the occupation forces; restore the king; and support the Greek army in the civil war. When it became apparent that the British--having fought the Germans for over five years-the longest of any allied power-were depleted and were unable to maintain their empire they successfully prevailed upon the United States to take over for them. And so the Truman Doctrine was born.

The situation in Greece was tragic. The German occupation had depleted a country that had been Europe's poorest. Its infrastructure had been destroyed. Many were homeless and/or starving. The corrupt fascist government that had been imposed by Briton favored a mere 2% of its citizens. Its response to dissent was mass executions or banishment to barren islands. It withheld hundreds of millions of dollars in American aid to prevent a drop in the high prices of goods. Having rid itself of the Nazi occupiers a bitter struggle ensued between these royalists and those longing for a "people's Greece". With the United States on the scene-to prevent the spread of communism--it now backed this corrupt, fascist, royalist government.

George Polk was a most outstanding journalist. He was courageous, truthful and thorough. He was a loner who did not socialize with those he would report on. He told it like it was. Unlike most reporters, he was not influenced by the political consequences. His truthful reports embarrassed the corrupt Greek government and its American supporter as well. Continuation of the American program, that would soon terminate unless renewed, was endangered by these reports. News of his murder was met with shock and a public outcry. The Truman Administration had a crisis on its hands. The murderer had to be found.

With considerable pressure from their American patron the Greek authorities solved the case. And guess what? SURPRISE. The communists did it. An innocent man confessed to his part in the crime-after he had been brutally tortured so that he could recall all of the things he was supposed to recall. Very prominent Americans dutifully endorsed the tribunal's verdict, even though they were fully aware of the duplicity. Among these were Secretary of State George Marshal, and columnist Walter Lippmann. The major news media patriotically approved the result and quickly and quietly the issue vanished.

"The Polk Conspiracy" is an excellent well-written book. It provides a biography of Polk; indicates how highly he was thought of by his colleagues, the top newsmen of the day; describes the background and living conditions in Greece during the civil war; the corruption of Greek officials; and the duplicity of both Greek and American investigators in the fraudulent resolution of the murder trial.

This was the first scene of the Cold War drama that continues to the present day. When people in various countries throughout the world rise up against cruel dictators or colonial governments Uncle Sam is there to assist them with financial aid, military advisors, and/or the CIA, to help them select appropriate new leaders. News of what caused the overthrow are frequently unreported or distorted because patriotism rides high in the major news media. The Cold War drama has been a long running show. Some of the actors-foolishly chosen by the their fellow citizens--that Uncle Sam escorted from the stage were: Mossadegh of Iran; Arbenz of Guatemala, Sukarno of Indonesia; Lumumba of the Congo; Balaguer of the Dominican Republic, Marcos of the Philippines, Allende of Chile, and the Sandanistas of Nicaragua. Will the next act of the continuing drama be Colombia?

The first hot battle of the Cold War, the global war between the forces of freedom and the forces of Soviet-controlled communism, was fought in Greece. It was the battle for Greece that precipitated the Truman Doctrine, the resolution of President Harry Truman to do whatever it took to stop the spread of communism. And it was in Greece that the first great test of the Truman Doctrine was passed. With massive financial assistance from the United States the Greek government was able to put down a Soviet-supported communist insurrection.

That, at least, is one side of the story, and it is the side that most Americans who still pay any attention to such "ancient history" have come to accept. Our view of the Greek Civil War of the late 1940s--and the war itself--might have turned out differently had George Polk lived, had he not been murdered in 1948 while attempting to get an interview with the insurrection's leaders. Polk, as our military folk used to say in Vietnam, couldn't be persuaded to "get with the program."

This much one can easily gather from Kati Marton's gripping narrative of the perilous and ultimately fatal path that this chief Middle East correspondent for CBS News followed in his dogged search for the truth about the war. Going beyond Marton's account one can also deduce that the future of America's press as a watchdog on its own government would have been quite different if Polk's surviving colleagues in the news business had been equally as dogged in demanding the truth about his murder, instead of accepting the Greek government's transparent cover-up story that the communists did it and allowing a pigeon to be railroaded.*

One colleague who didn't fall for the fiction, but who was not among the high-level journalists who were allowed to attend the trial to duly give it their seal of approval, was CBS national news commentator, Don Hollenbeck. Unfortunately, according to a short blurb in The New York Times, Hollenbeck committed suicide in June of 1954. According to Marton, Hollenbeck was a man broken from the relentless pounding he took from the cold warriors in the press. According to The Times, he couldn't stand the pain of a bleeding ulcer so he turned on the gas jets in his apartment. At any rate, until Edmund Keeley came along in 1989 with his scholarly account of the whitewash ("The Salonika Bay Murder," see amazon.com review) and now Marton, that was about the last we saw of journalists standing up for Polk. These days, ironically, they make a big fuss about it when they get the George Polk Award for investigative reporting.

I look forward to the Mel Gibson movie to be made from this book and trust that this review will not lessen the prospects for that eventuality.

* Among those abandoning Polk in favor of the Greek govrernment's whitewash, according to Marton, were leading columnist Walter Lippmann; Eugene Meyer of The Washington Post; William Paley, Joseph C. Harsch, Winston Burdett, and John Secondari of CBS; and James Reston of The New York Times.

I read ALL of the series about 15 years ago and they all were, by far, my favorite books. I would read them over and over again. I no longer have the books, but plan to buy them for my kids one day! Brings back a lot of good memories!

This story is abaout a class picture that is taken in the park. A girl named Emily Arrow gets lost in a forest close to the park. Her class is having a picnic without her. She is scared that they might take the class picture without her, but her friends tell the teacher that she is missing and the teacher says go find her. After a while, they see her toy that she calls Uni. The piture was taken and Emily Arrow got A new Best Friend.They wen't back to class and shared what they did.They all lived happily ever after.
I think this is a good book. If you like to read books about getting new friends, then you'll like this book.

This book, like the others in the series, is an absolute joy! All of these books have morals, without being overly preachy. Like the other reviewer said, I agree that the funny part was Stacy breaking the pencil sharpener. When I was Stacey's age I, too, "broke" a pencil sharpener but it was my mom's office pencil sharpener. I couldn't fit it back together so my mom was upset about the mess just like Ms. Zachary is in this book (however I was able to get it back together later on luckily). So when I read about Stacey's pencil sharpener dielema, I chuckled because I could relate!

You;ll like the part about when Stacey broke the pencil sharpener.

This is a terrific book and should be given to all girls over the age of 10. My life could have been different if I'd known there were so many wonderful women over the centuries pushing the limits in a multitude of authentic ways. This book is inspiring, motivating and a tear jerker all at the same time.

I've looked for years for a basic book about women explorers and women who have been adventurous through the ages. Finally here is something that is beautiful, readable, and a great introduction to a group that has been overlooked by most historians. A must read especially for young women/teens who are influenced by the social and cultural values still pushed upon them in society. Great illustrations, photos and layout as well.

I have a good collection of coaching books but when I have question that I can't find in any other books I have always found it in this one. In fact I'm ordering another copy because my first is falling apart from over use. T here are not pictures but alot of baseball in and outs. I recommend this book to first time coaches statring a program.

Polk accepts the various insights of modern hermeneutics, especially the idea that at the heart of interpretation is the notion of 'imaginative construal' where we construe a text as a particular speech act. He finds this in Stanley Fish, where the reading community makes the meaning, and sees it exemplified in Kierkegaard, who allowed this process to be governed everywhere by the rule of faith. Polk notes that even Fish saw Augustine's rule of faith as a model for how interpretation works. Following K, Polk then provides readings of James and Job to show how it works. Very helpful for providing examples of what happens when hermeneutical insights are pursued to the actual text of scripture.

professor balas, restitutes the origins of brancusi's works back to the romanian folk traditions. in doing so, the author 1) compares brancusi's output to romanian folk art (employing photos of sculpture, tapestry, etc.), 2) quotes brancusi, 3) places brancusi's works, conceptually, as a reflection of romanian fairy tales and myths.

when balas looks at the touted influence of african art on brancusi she does so very carefully and manages to convincingly limit the scope of such influence--in time and artistic output.

as a footnote, the author, coming herself from romania, shows a great level of understanding of the brancusian formative environment.

the only exception one would take with this work might be with a note associating brancusi with a romanian-hungarian tradition. it is hard to see such association and it should probably be considered an oversight.

for a conceptual approach towards brancusi's place in the space-time continuum called history, mircea eliade in his 1967 essay 'brancusi and mythology' (available in 'ordeal by labyrinth') offers great insight too.

this book was ver facutal and illustrated step-by-sep information on how mummies were made and how the process worked. There were many spells and religious activities that were involved with all of this and I thought that it was a very good book. A professor advised this and said it was reliable in its source.

This is a fun book to read. I think that Emily's friend Dawn Bosco is an obnoxious, materialistic child-snob. When she grows up she will probably be a yuppie who's goal in life is to impress the Joneses. DAWN IS NOT A GOOD FRIEND TO EMILY. She makes Emily feel shabby. She acts like she is better in every way. If I knew Dawn I know I could not stand her. Dawn is not a friend. Emily should have told her to get a life!