John has written a very personal book, somewhat vitriolic in its attacks on both Bob Gates for politicization and Directorate of Intelligence managers in general for being both ignorant and lacking in courage. It is essential reading for anyone considering improvements in how we do intelligence analysis, and includes an eighteen-point program for reforming both the process of intelligence and the management of intelligence analysis. The figure on page 226 comparing the Traditional, Opportunity-Oriented, and Opportunism-Oriented "Schools" of intelligence analysis is alone worth the price of the book. Includes a number of interesting original internal documents from his fight with DI management.

The book gives good scientific explanation of the theory, easy to understand and follow. I was able to loose weight fairly easy using it, and kept it off.

The books I have read in this series, Black Americans of Achievement, have all been terrific. They are clearly written and easy for children to understand. They have marvelous black and white illustrations and photographs throughout. Each illustration and photograph has a caption that gives the reader more information about places, people, and events related to the subject of the biography.

The length of the books is just right. These books are long enough to cover the important events in the subject's life and to meet the requirements that teachers often give for book reports (a book longer than 50 pages. Yet they are short enough that they don't intimidate elementary school children. (This biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar has 110 pages.)

These books are well organized and informative. In the back are an appendix, a chronology of the person's life, a bibliography, and an index.

The biography of Paul Laurence Dunbar was fascinating. I am curious to know more about this poet, especially his religious beliefs. Also, I would like to read more of his writings. He had many obstacles to overcome, such as being poor and black at a time when racism was rampant. (He lived from 1872 to 1906.) Yet he worked hard, took risks, and persevered until he achieved his dream of being a successful poet and author. He was a very talented poet who inspired other black poets such as Langston Hughes. However, the latter years of his life were sad and tragic as he became chronically ill and developed an alcohol problem. Details about his alcohol problems were omitted, as is appropriate in a book written for elementary children. I am now interested in reading an adult biography and am curious to know if he turned to God for comfort in his despair.

This is not a book for those new to Chinese studies. While Brook's Confusions of Pleasure and Quelling the People are both written to be easily understandable, this book grew out of his Harvard dissertation and, though fascinating, is not readily accessible to everyone. Those familiar with Ming or ancient world history will know of the monetization of the world economy in the 1500's due to massive amounts of precious metals coming from the Spanish New World.

Much of this money flowed into China, 'freeing' wealth from land ownership and allowing merchants to become truly powerful in China for the first time. The gentry, the level of Chinese society that controlled land and society through the law, symbolic support of cultural keystones and government service, were suddenly in competition with merchants' sons for these bureaucratic posts that defined a large portion of their self-image. Brook's book looks at the mid- to late-Ming defense of status undertaken by the gentry through support of the Sangha, or Buddhist church.

Their monopoly on education, government service and wealth undermined, the gentry connected themselves to 'the people' through the support of the Sangha and to each other through cultivation of artistic tastes. While Craig Clunas is the expert on the latter phenomenon, Brook explains the former in this book. Exploring the gentry culture, dispelling ideas of conflicts between Confucianism and Buddhism and summarizing huge socioeconomic shifts in China, Brook has written an important book. Any reader who has read through the long sentences and generalizations in this review can make it through Brook's work, which is no more unclear and is far more interesting than my review. All those versed in basic history and interested in social shifts should read this work, but those trying to begin a study of China or of the Ming should not begin with this complicated work.

Lewis uses diaries and other personal writings to support her argument that the value Virginians placed on family and emotion changed from the late 1700s to the early 1800s. Virginians of the pre-Revolution era equated happiness with independence (freedom from debts or even social obligations to others). Their primary goal was a "peacable life," which was attained when one was independent and had domestic tranquillity. Emotional outbursts could upset domestic tranquillity, so displays of emotion were to be avoided. Parents displayed their affection for their children by financially establishing them in the world (providing them with independence) and children displayed their affection for parents by being obedient and cheerful. Moderation in all things, including emotion, helped to maintain the desired domestic tranquillity. Moderation applied to religion brought the non-emotional, rationalistic Deist religion into favor. Unfortunately, this moderation applied to child-rearing habits produced genial but lazy adults.

After the Revolution, Virginia's economy faltered and the genial, but lazy, offspring of the pre-Revolution Virginians could no longer rely on their parents to set them up financially. People who grew up not expecting to work for a living, and who grew up looking down on those who did, found themselves needing to "run after money." Many who were unsuccessful placed part of the blame on their own laziness which they attributed to how they were raised as children.

Evangelical religion also became popular at this time. This emotion-filled religion described the world as a dark, cruel wilderness which could only be escaped by dying and going to a peaceful Heaven. This bleak description of the world hit the mark for the Virginians who were having a difficult time in the changing Virginian economy, but the only hope religion offered was death. Virginians began to turn to the family for emotional fulfillment and to the home as an asylum from the cruel w! orld. Family and emotion became preferred over financial success and independence. Now parents displayed their affection for their children by giving them love and an education that would enable them to be self-reliant. Children displayed their affection with love as well. Family and emotion reigned supreme.

This is one of those books that is long overdue. I was just beginning in radio when I first met Tillman Franks. It was through this legendary bass-fiddle player, personal manager of super stars, songwriter and country music promoter ... all-in-one ... that I met most of those mentioned in this book. Tillman was not only "there when it happened" ... in many instances, he was responsible for many good things in country music "happening" in the first place! It was through Tillman that I first met Elvis. I would appear on several show with 'Old El'. It was also Tillman who introduced me to Johnny Horton, David Houston and so many others. Although I never met my idol, Hank Williams, Sr., Tillman Franks was also responsible for much of Hank's super stardom. This book, written in the easy, Louisiana speaking style of the author, not only takes you backstage with so many legends, it takes you to the dressing rooms! Yes, Tillman was there when it happened ... and I'm glad he was. You don't have to be a fan of country music to enjoy this very good book. It's musical history, told by a man who belongs in our Country Music Hall-of-Fame ... which will eventually "happen", of course.

In 1885 Texas, ranch heir Ace Durango owes his mom for bailing him out of jail. However, he is mortified when his mother makes him pay his debt by insisting he escort prim schoolteacher Lynne McBride to the Governor's Ball. At the gala, he becomes even more embarrassed when Lynne wears a suffrage banner saying "Votes for Texas Women". A fight breaks out and Lynne and Ace end up in jail.

His father blames Ace for leading Lynne to jail and decides his son needs to learn responsibility as only a cattle drive can give him. He demands Ace take cattle on a trail drive to Dodge City, something rarely done anymore. Lynne needs to go to Dodge City to attend a suffrage conference. So she dresses up as a teenage boy and joins the drive. Eventually, Ace and the crew realize that Lynne is not a boy. However, since she has done all they asked of her and more, the crew wants her to finish the drive with them, all that is except Ace. Not long afterward even Ace's secret admiration for Lynne turns into love.

TO TAME A TEXAN is an interesting western romance that uses the women's suffragette movement to propel the plot forward as actions and reactions to the late nineteenth century women's movement seem so vibrant. Fans will also enjoy Lynne's efforts to further the cause, but feel frustrated that an intrepid individual like the heroine fails to accept responsibility for her actions. Though Ace's obstinacy can become irritating, readers will want to come along on one of the better trail runs since Westward Ho the Women.

Harriet Klausner

This book was required reading for my History 302 class this term, and yet it still managed to be an interesting read, something that is shocking for college material.

It tells the story of a parson and squire in 19th century England who alone would be totally uniteresting in the grand scheme of history, but together they engaged in a battle that was well documented in their diaries, and which gives a good example of the way life was in Victorian England.

All in all, this was a very good read and a must for any English history buff.

I found this book to be a very helpful collection of documents for understanding the life of medieval women. I recommend it to anyone interested in studying this topic.

The author has brought together representative documents and provides incisive commentary.

I've read many books by Arthur C. Clarke, all of them were very good, clear, and right to the point. The Rama series (only the ones written with Gentry Lee. Rendezvous With Rama is an exception), on the other hand, are not written by our beloved scifi master. RamaII, Garden of Rama, and Rama Revealed are all written by Gentry Lee, LITERALLY. I have read their online interview, and Gentry Lee said that ALL THE TEXT IS WRITTEN BY HIM, and that ACC only reads it and points out the corrections. I believe we all see what's going on here. The idea presented in Rendezvous With Rama is no longer of any significance in the book. Your eyes must endure the burden of reading BORING descriptions of main character's lives , feelings, memories, mystic visions of Nicole, and all that nonsense. The writing style is absolutely not consistent with Sir Clarke. Everything is so slow, so indirect, so allusive. The whole book seems like an unbelievable fantasy story. I am purposefully not commenting on what it is about, because you wouldn't want to read it. Many vocabulary words in the book are repeated much too often, it even seems that he(who wrote this) was sitting there in his study browsing in the dictionary, looking for words to put in. The plot at the core is very simple, it would interest many people, teens, and young adults. However, although there is nothing unknown for them in here, this book is not appropriate for younger readers, and even some of the more traditional adults. There are too many unnecessary scenes of sex, which you will never find in any of the other REAL books of ACC. Dillemmas about reproduction and human line preservation which the heroine has to face, are also too inapropriate for a book with Arthur C. Clarke's name on it. Nonetheless, this is a very interesting book to read, it's a real page turner at SOME parts. I sometimes got very involved in the story and was reading it late at night. In the end I was not happy, ending was disappointing. I even wish I didn't read this book at all, so that I'd still be guessing Rama's purpose. Please don't forget to rate my review.

Will people please stop comparing this book to "Rendezvous with Rama"? Of COURSE the 3 sequels in this series aren't the original. Let's move past that.

When I read Rama II, I was disappointed in many ways, but pleased in others. ACC is fantastic at what he does, but character development isn't it. So I was happy to have characters with some sort of depth to them. Sadly, these characters seem to lose depth with time. (Aside: Why is it that middle-aged scifi authors always write about exotic women with French accents who just happen to be amazing in bed?)

As another reviewer noted, the "revelation" of Rama was a bit of a cop-out. That's okay, because I'd known for years that ACC and Gentry Lee had painted themselves into a corner with the Ramans. Nobody could have pulled off a genuine revelation of the Ramans. Really, disappointing though it was, a cop-out was the best way they could have handled the revelation.

So, if the characters were terrible and the plot disappointing, why 3 stars? Simply because it was a valiant attempt, as was the entire series. ACC never intended to write a sequel to "Rendezvous," and the book on its own did not deserve one. He presented us with a mystery of stupendous magnitude, but nothing else. The sequels are worth reading simply because they attempt to put the mystery into HUMAN terms. We might not like or believe the characters, but it's good to see that they at least have names.

First, I read all four RAMA books back to back to back to back in 3 weeks. They all run together a bit for me (except for Rendezvous...different characters), but of the three Clarke/Lee books this one had some of the best and some of the worst material. The bad news: 1.Cliche ridden story lines--like another reviewer here, I found the tyrannical leader, addicted whore daughter, jailed good guy, etc.etc. a bit TOO overblown. 2. This book (and Garden of Rama) had an annoying tendency to use character dialog to explain details that really would not have been talked about in such detail--example, when one of the characters asks another about the octospiders' time system, the character responds with what sounds to me like a technical report on it--totally unrealistic dialog! Even scientists talk like regular humans occasionally! The good news: 1.Fantastically interesting and creative aliens!!! The octospider society is compelling and original. The other alien environment in Rama on this journey (sessiles & myrmicats) is a wonderful work of imagination. Those parts of the book were extremely enjoyable. 2.Overall the story of the node and universal intelligence was also original and fascinating. A good completion to the series, despite the shortcomings.