As a resercher in the historical field (Egyptology), I have to admit a little bit of disappointment. A better historical background should have been necessary than the "dozen books" mentioned by the author, to address such a subtle problem as slavery in the ancient Near East with a young public in mind. Nothing to object to the first chapter, where the treatment of the presumed origin and developement of slavery is reliabile and objective, although an approach in term of "involuntary labour" would have been appropriate: the reality behind the generalizing term "slavery" is quite eterogeneous. Yet several more or less evident flaws lies scattered inside: no Egyptian king ever owned and decided the destiny of all the slaves; that slaves were employed in pyramid building is unsupported by evidence; never heard of acts of mass-enslavement of foreigner (1550 a.C.); no archaological or epigraphic evidence of the "exodus" exists at present outside the Bible (just to mention a few points I am more concerned with). More than that, criticable and potentially missleading in my opinion is the confidence with which the matter is considered in the yet bare lack of agreement or clear formalization of the problem even among the experts (diffrently from the Greek-Roman world). More caution, I would also dare to invoke, in educational contextes addressed to a younger public in using as sun-bright thruths biblical references or names to enrich an historical portrait to which their original pertinence is far from being demostrable or accepted.

Studies into slavery at the earliest stages of human civilizations are tricky because we lack a lot of information we have later on in Greece, Rome, Hebrew society. Add into this the fact that the cultures being discussed here use languages which only a few scholars know and you are set for very limited information. Greene does a better job at finding useful information for the layperson in this book than in her other book on slavery in Greece and Rome. I was pleased to see the book laid-out according to culture and not just pushing all of the Mesopotamian world into one section. There are some things I'd disagree with but overall it seems like a very simple introduction for a younger junior high student. She needs better references on slavery itself to help such students further their independent interests.

I was somewhat misled by the title. This book is really just a very complete list of all the schools in the country, the contact names and the sports in which they offer scholarships. There are no helpful hints on the process, just a list. If you want a list and are shopping all over the country, this is your book. If you want advice, this isn't it. Much of the info here is available on the web.

This book should be called "Sociological essays on the era of the Revolutionary War." It is not arranged as an encyclopedia and has relatively little material on the Revolutionary War. You will not find the words "regiment" or "battle" in the index, and a search for date-specific material will be nearly fruitless. Less than a third of the 34-page poorly arranged parallel-stream "timeline" concerns the period 1775-1783. If you want specific material on the Revolutionary War, look elsewhere.

This is the 3rd collection of early detective stories edited by Greene. I have to admit that most stories are very badly written. But of course, it is not the fault of the editor, but of the incompetent authors.

Desmond Tutu, Bishop of Peace by Carol Greene is, at its heart, a book about inequality in South Africa. While the book tells the story of Desmond Tutu, from being born in a gold-mining town as a sickly youth to his decision to become a member of the clergy because he could not afford medical school, the story is really one about the people of South Africa.

Desmond Tutu, Bishop of Peace contains many black and white photographs. There is a picture on nearly every page. One picture, taken in 1986, is of two white police officers checking the passbook of a black man. Photos like this clearly depict the racial strife, disharmony and inequality present in South Africa. They add another level to the book. Unfortunately, many of these pictures are often not relevant to the material found in the text of this biography. The first few pictures mirror the text. There is a picture of Desmond Tutu at a press conference after he received his Nobel prize. On the next page, there is a picture of Desmond Tutu and his family at the same press conference. On the pages opposite each of these pictures, the text discusses Desmond Tutu having been awarded the Nobel Prize. A few pages later, a picture is of black children raising their hands in a classroom. The caption discusses how all schools for black students were closed. The text does not match that. Rather, it discusses how Desmond reacted to the disposal of free lunches for white students when black students went hungry. On the page following the previous example, the text references Desmond Tutu's move to Johannesburg and his subsequent schooling in that town. The picture above the paragraph is of a shantytown in Sophiatown. The disharmony between pictures and text continues sporadically through the last half of the book.

One of the nice things about this book is in addition to the pictures, the text also gives insight beyond Desmond Tutu's life. This is brought up by paralleling the political and social situations that occur with events in Desmond Tutu's life. The other way the book does this is by emphasizing causes that Desmond Tutu supported and his views on the political and social issues.
Overall, this book contains much useful information about Desmond Tutu and apartheid that will enlighten young readers who have not heard of Desmond Tutu and the situation that existed in South Africa. Unfortunately, this extra information seems to come at a detriment to the biographical details of Desmond Tutu. There is a lot of information that seems to have been skimmed. The biography did not seem to cover motivation, and how Desmond Tutu felt when he witnessed actions that were morally reprehensible. The novel seemed to skim other details about his home, his schooling and how he interacted with others. This information is explored in many other children's biographies. This book would be best used to supplement other information for students researching apartheid and Desmond Tutu.

Charlie Greene's mother is the prime suspect in the murder of her next door neighbor, and there are more murders to follow. The actual storyline wasn't very captivating, but the big cast of characters kept your brain turning. The major downside to this book was that this was Charlie's first visit home to Boulder since she left sixteen years ago as a pregnant teen. The mystery of who fathered Charlie's daughter, Libby, almost took top billing over what was supposed to be the actual mystery. The book was okay--it makes for a light weekend read.

As a translator of Hafiz Shirazi myself(in Norwegian), I know how difficult he is to meet. Go to Hafiz with an open mind; not looking for his "immoral" teaching as his contemporaries did. Don't go to him as the Sufi mystic with "secret messages" everywhere in his ghazals, as our contemporaries tends to do. He is a complexed writer and as all writers should be; full of surprises in every aspect! "News of love" has obviously a translator decided on finding "Hafiz the Sufi Master" searching for The Wisdom of Sufi wherever he can, and of course he finds it. But he forgets how important the poetic beauty of a ghazal is(Have we forgotten why it's called a ghazal? God's most beautiful creature next to man!). The poems "dry up", the intellectual student of Sufism gets what he wants dusty like the streets of Shiraz, but the admirer or sybarite of love and beauty, with "wein, weib und gesang" in his mind, is untouched by these translations. In his lifetime Hafiz was for everybody, so don't let us make him more esoteric then he is. I read the book when it was first published in 1984 and I've read it again now. This is not my favourite Hafiz-anthology.

Given the world-class reputation of the author, I assumed I was in for a treat -- or at least a solidly diverting yarn. Unfortunately I found myself aching to put this book down and pick up something else. The story is about an assassin working for munitions suppliers who kills an influential British anti-war figure in the days leading up to WWII. He is betrayed and races to confront his betrayers before the police catch up with him. Sounds like good stuff, but for some reason it isn't. Part of the problem is that Greene gets sidetracked into painting little portraits of every peripheral character encountered. While well-fleshed out characters are required ingredients for any good story, Greene goes overboard and the story drags and suffers as a result. Next time I'll try one of his more famous books.

Given Greene's world-class reputation, I assumed I was in for a treat -- or at least a solidly diverting yarn. Unfortunately I found myself aching to put this book down and pick up something else. The story is about an assassin working for munitions suppliers who kills an influential British anti-war figure in the days leading up to WWII. He is betrayed and races to confront his betrayers before the police catch up with him. Sounds like good stuff, but for some reason it isn't. Part of the problem is that Greene gets sidetracked into painting little portraits of every peripheral character encountered. While well-fleshed out characters are required ingredients for any good story, Greene goes overboard and the story drags and suffers as a result. Next time I'll try one of his more famous books.

Mr. Greens book fails to mention how the Marshals Service is the oldest Federal Law Enforcement Agency which is constantly prodded and kicked by politicians who appoint untrained idiots into federal appointments, who then answer to a management staff who spend millions of dollars to travel around the country doing things that could be done by email, phone, or fax. The Service has at its core great people who are capable of doing even greater things, yet because of the dysfunctional method the 94 districts interface with their headquarters under this administration, one only knows how things couldn't have gotten any worse?