Unfortunately, I must differ with the praise this book has received. For starters, even though the book covers over a year and a half, Andre doesn't grow and his hair remains nicely cut (Notice that his short pants in the beginning are the same short pants in the end) Even though the book mentions that he snuck scraps of food and water from the kitchen, it's hard to believe the author doesn't mention how hungry he must have been (Boys this age are constantly eating). And he looks so clean when he is found out, how does he do that? Where did he go to the bathroom? And then there's the unbelievable heroics - give me a break!! Realistic fiction for children, no matter the reading level, must be accurately told in both words and pictures. In this case the book fails on both counts.

Historical fiction for children, this tale is set in 1880s France. With simple, charming text and lovely, expressive illustrations, it tells the story of Andre, a young orphan in Paris, who visits the site where the Statue of Liberty is being built. As the statue is about to leave Paris, Andre decides to stow away on the ship that will bring it to America. Along the way, the ship hits a terrible storm. Will Andre and the statue make it to America together? Read this book and find out. My kids loved it. We highly recommend it

I am a criminal justice major and it was spoken by a teacher that this was a good book on gun control laws. I went and read it, and simply amased me.

This book is part of an emerging body of evidence that is showing what happens when society demonizes firearms.

Lately, we've now seen the disarmed UK populace subjected to higher and higher incidents of armed violence -- with no recourse of self-defense.

Kopel's book, along with more recent updated data shows unequivocally that the problem isn't in the inanimate hardware.

The only complaint I have is that the reader needs be familiar with statistical methodology, which I am not. Sometimes the numbers will make your head swim!

Banning's book is a repetative, prolonged and far too lengthy an essay. He imaginatively and masterfully reinteprets Madison's ideas and actions as a member of several deliberative bodies that preceeded and followed the writing and ratification of the Constitution, finding him to be consistent throughout in his views on a central government and the powers of the states. The reading can be somewhat tedious for its redundancies, but worth the effort. Bannings scholarship is impecable, yet the book ought to be only an article in a scholarly journal.

Lance Bannings book is excellent, and long ovedue. History has left us a view of Madison that suggested he was Jefferson's lieutenant, an apostate to his nationilistic views in the 1790's, one view even diminished him to a 'trimmer' of ideas. The average person knows little of the Father of the Constituion, and as Jack Rakove stated at Princeton this February passed, we are learning what Madison always knew. Most views of Madison are not the result of individual study and research, many opinions of Madison arise from previous treatments. Banning began with the exchanges of Madison and found the consistency Madison always claimed. The actual history of Madison reveals an enormously capacious, hard working force behind the Constituion, Bill of Rights,The Federalist Papers, 41 years of public service, and the workings and definition of goverment. Viewed by friend and political foes as, brilliant and ' one adept at committee work and reasoned argument, one who could be depended on to speak and write with precision and force what others could express but vauely and in part.' Banning has surpassed those before him in Madisonian scholarship, by ardously discovering The Real Madison. The attention to detail is excellent, and the scholarship is not self defending just revealing. As Madison's true nature unfolds the consistency is revealed, from lieutenant to an independent thinker, and finally to the proper position of one the key thinkers behind American government. Being one dependent on scholars for my view of history, and granting then occaisonally the keepers of arcanum a merit they do not deserve, it is refreshing to have Lance Bannings contribution not only to Madisonian scholarship, but also to American History. The ongoing efforts by Dave Mattern and the Papers of James Madison have brought enormous information to light in the last few years, and it appears the work of Banning may be the beginning of Madison taking his deserved place in our history and common parlance, a parlance altered by the independent and ardous study this book represents.

Had the critic who slammed Ms. Everett's history in SWEET VIOLET bothered to read it closely or read any other book in the series, she would have realized that the family owns property in town and that Violet's mother doesn't "commute" from the plantation because she has employees who run the shop for her, a shop she started 20 yrs. ago from economic necessity in the first book LOVING LILY. The reader also doesn't understand the lack of class structure in 18th c. America -- women did work and one of Williamsburg's most popular taverns today is Cristiana Campbell's named for its (historically accurate) female owner. Plenty of women worked in the Colonies; Violet's mother only moved to a plantation out of town when she married a landowner. Read the other books!

Sweet Violet lives up to its name, a light and charming piece set in 1790's Colonial America that is sure to please most readers.

Dark-haired, gray-eyed Gabriel, Duke of Belmont is properly heroic and Violet isn't the complete slut one seems to find cramming the pages of many of today's romances. The plot holds enough twists and turns to keep you turning the pages, too.

However, as with her earlier works, the author has a huge hole in her historical research or a complete lack of regard for the well-known social mores of the time period, such as having Violet's mother run a flower shop. Ugh. Of course, Violet's father would have been ostracized from society for allowing such a thing. Not to mention that if the family truly lives on a plantation--does the mother commute to town via yea-old subway every day despite the fact it wouldn't be built for a few decades yet?

Despite such goofs, I can heartily recommend this one since it is a delightful change from the filth poured out by Susan Johnson or Stella Cameron.

If you want to understand some assumptions behind aversion to the concept of international treaties, this book may be revealing. This mid-70's rant is mainly diatribe against foreign aid, the United Nations, and that "liberal" Henry Kissinger. Helms makes some valid observations about personal responsibility, but fails to apply those principles to his analysis of international relations. This book deserves two stars for subtle psychoanalytic value.

Senator Helms outlines the complete conservate ideology in this thourough, yet compact work. A quick read but well worth it!

I really enjoy reading Lessig's blog and Balkin's blog. Jack Balkin is Professor of Constitutional Law Yale, and has very perceptive insights on the impact of the high court on the structure of political parties in the USA. Lawrence Lessig, Professor of Constitutional Law Stanford, is very interesting reading. His essays are insightful, and well reasoned, and are an example of the types of questions Constitutional issues are framed by. I mention these two gentleman to explain that I really like Constitutional law. When I saw the book by CHEIF JUSTICE SCOTUS Rehnquist, I expected an essay on Article I of the Constitution and English common law of epic quality.

My jaw hit the floor when I found that Mr. Rehnquist's standard of a correctly reasoned question of constitutional law is "public outcry." Your jaw will hit the floor when you discover that he doesn't consider half the States separating from the Union to be 'public outcry.' Your jaw will hit the floor as he ignores issue after issue, and doesn't ask any questions. Wow. Explains a lot.

'They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety'
-- Benjamin Franklin.

At no time in the history of the US has this quote been more appropriate. Rehnquist reveals himself in this trite piece of garbage as the shill he actually is, attempting to justify what most understand or intuit at least at some basic level.

At no time is it appropriate or necessary to give up any of our rights. There simply is no example of that ever working in the long term throughout history. Rather, history is littered with examples of how incorrect the premise is that Rehnquist is so poorly supporting in this book. The premise, that relenquished liberties in any form serve any purpose whatsoever, other than to reinforce the degree if control that those controlling the masses exercise, is simply ludicrous. What is even more amazing, is the belief that once the impetus that caused the relinquishing in the first place has been dealth with, the liberties lost will simply be given back. No, I think not, instead the result will be as it has been for eons. Those who have given liberty up, or in many cases, refused to defend their right to have it, have been oppressed to the breaking point. Then, thousands, or hundreds of thousands, and in recent history, millions upon millions of people die in a violent uproar.

For those of you that have read or do read this book and find yourself agreeing with the 'Judge.' You may decide to recant your testimony when you find yourself with a NationalID card in your wallet, a microchip in your car and perhaps you and your children. When you find yourself thumbscanning at the grocery store, and iris scanning at the bank you may think twice. When you are taking mandatory vacinations or going to prisons for refusing and getting them given to you anyway you will most definitely think twice. Or perhaps, that is simply not oppressive enough for you, and you will simply decide that you can forsake those liberties, and be happy with those remaining liberties that you do have. Until those are taken.

Chief Justice Rehnquist has now written 3 books, all of which I have read. I actually don't find them too controversial, although some of the internet reviewers seem to. I do find all of Rehnquist's books, especially this one, to be great reviews of the relevants cases and controversies about a given topic. He is especially thorough in this book, tracing the suppression of civil liberties in the Civil War, World War I and World War II. He covers numerous cases during the Civil War (McCardle, Milligan), as well as an extensive look at Johns Wilkes Booth's murder of President Lincoln and its aftermath.

Supreme Court justices do not often publicly announce their philosophies outside of their opinions. Although Rehnquist seems to be objective for the most part, this book is still a fascinating look into the mind of one of most influential justices of the past quarter century.

Throughout the book, you will not find any graphical illustrations or screen shots for application interfaces.

Despite the promising title "e-Commerce Applications...", the book fell short of from what readers will expect. The book title and its back cover promise to take you the "promised land" where you can use Oracle8i and Java to build an "Online Coffee Shop" and other applications. What a combinational power technologies: Oracle8i and Java!

Also the book was claimed for user level of "Beginning-Intermediate", but how it could be useful if the author writes a Java GUI application book without screen shots and graphical interface illustrations? I don't think so. I feel like the book was not prepared well and rushed to published.

This book provides a solid introduction to Java technology and how to take advantage of it using Oracle8i -- all within the framework of building an e-commerce web application.

While the book doesn't require any screen shots to explain the process (as opposed to step-by-step instructions), it does not include the actual code to build the e-commerce code. Instead, the author focuses on explaining the technology (Java and Oracle8i) and how everything hangs together.

Chapters 1 to 3 cover the Oracle database architecture as well the means to create and develop a database.

Chapters 4 to 10 explains Java, its components and how it fits with Oracle8i.

Chapters 11 to 15 cover advanced topic including optimization and security.

Overall, this book would be ideal for the beginner to intermediate reader who would like to get a medium-to-high level grounding in Java and Oracle8i technology in the context of building a web app.

The text is well written and covers Java and Oracle8i in enough detail with ample examples to get you started.

I found the book to be very well written. The author has discussed all the issues that one can face when developing e-commerce applications making use of Oracle8i technology and Java.

Using an online coffee shop as an example the author has done a great job in showing how Oracle8i technology can be used.

Throughout the book the author gives important practical tips on issues such as security, scalability and performance - all critical issues for e-commerce.

Enough information about Java language is given so that even a novice Java programmer can easily understand how to use Java efficiently.

The best thing that I liked was that I was logically taken from the ground up through the whole process and introduced to the issues and solutions associated with e-commerce development.

I was rather disappointed when I read this book. What I basically got from this book was that it is okay to do sexual activities such as sexual petting, heavy petting, and all of the above...including sexual intercourse depending on your circumstance. I was disappointed. If this is the case then where does chastity and purity end and immorality and impurity begin? He contradicts himself by saying that (heavy) petting is ok but then says one mustn't confuse himself by thinking that he/she is chaste if he does decide to pet. Well then what is the point? There were many contradictions in this book.

The next problem I had dealt with the pornography section of his book. He states that it is ok for the husband to look at porn as long as he isn't comparing that porn to his wife and other things. I don't know a woman in the world that enjoys being married to a man who wants to view porn. (I'm talking about Christian women.)

I remember reading the book and putting it down close to the end out of disgust! I'm not saying his book is totally horrible. There are some things addressed in there that are actually good...however, these things are very few.

If you believe that sexual petting and all the other stuff that comes after that is ok, then you may like this book. If you don't, then I'm sure that you will be, like me, disappointed. Don't agree? Again...this is just my opinion.

I found this book really made me take a second look at my views of what the Bible actually says and does not say about our sexuality. I have been very afraid of looking at this issue, as I suppose most are, because of a lot of tradition that has arisen around christian dating and exceptable christian physical ethics which are not stated in the Bible. It has been truely educational to see that someone has used godly wisdom to discern where the Bible does not speak. It asks the questions everyone has asked and brings to light what many born again christian's struggle to find answers for. He supports the Bible fully where it speaks against immorality but encourages thought where the Bible does not and christian tradition has stepped in. Although there are some parts that do not need alot of thought about whether it is wrong or not, such as the morality of transexualism (clearly wrong) which he covers and stands biblically. I think that I, along with many other christian's, have found sexuality to be a burden, though it is God given, instead of looking at it through the Creator's eyes. I encourage anyone to read this book atleast to reasses what they believe and why. Smedes does not encourage us, like most to cut out a part of our redeemed being which many hope to use once they are married. Christian's need to think and think hard.

This is THE best book I've ever read on the subject. Smedes presents a biblically sound view of sex and in so doing allows Christ to bring joy and freedom to our whole person.

what was mr. garrow thinking when he wrote this book? obviously he wasn't thinking about the well being of the country. his book is one sided and uninformed. i think he should do some real research before writing a book. anyways, what can he say about abortion? he's a man! it's certainly something he'll never have to deal with.

I purchased this text for an Indepdendent Study course, figuring I could at least flip through the book and gain a summary idea of the case's depths and legal foundation. Although I prided myself on a good grasp of Roe prior to this point, reading the expansive text gave me a greater understanding and appreciation for the case.

While this book might be better suited for policy wonks and/or those with some legal training, the substantial read is definently worth it. Even if it is not as animated or lively as other histories of the historic 1973 Supreme Court decision, it is essential to understanding that case in the larger context of constitutional law and public policy. The right to privacy had gradually been building prior to the Roe case, and did not happen in a vaccum as some opponents would later claim.

The book concludes with an equally impressive account of the years following Roe and the combined impact of subsequent/rulings and legislation. Because this book does not rely on the "interest groups/grassroots" perspective, individuals in search of such information need to be prepared for further research.

This book is a must read for anyone exploring the law surrounding reproductive rights in this country. I would highly recommend it to anyone with an interest in the law, in the legal right to privacy, and who is willing and eager to learn. It is by far the most enlightening and simply outstanding book I have read on the subject.

I like this book, I really do. I love the idea of working on one project through the entire book. Since I'd like to program games at some point, the project described in the book (a game based on Mastermind) is one that has some relevance to me. There are problems however:

1) Not completely appropriate for the target audience - Jesse Liberty at least implies that this book will teach you enough to learn C++ and be able to program in it. This is misleading. In the beginning, things move smoothly, concepts are explained and understood. As time goes on, more concepts are added and _usually_ incorporated into the growing project. This is where things get difficult. I much prefer understanding concepts in programs designed specifically to show how these concepts work before including them in a larger, 'holistic' project. Yes, he does this in some cases, but usually I find these cases inappropriate. Linked lists is one example he uses, and for the true beginner (or even one with programming experience) this is not an easy subject without some build-up.

2) Disjointed - The book is sort of like the 'X-Files' which has its 'Mythology' episodes (the ones that contribute to the overall story arc) and the 'One shot' episodes (monsters, weird occurrences unconnected with anything else). In the book you have the main project and every so often Liberty will jump off to the side to discuss a feature of C++ in some detail (linked list mentioned above). The effect is a disjointed one, often breaking the flow of understanding.

3) Restrictive - Probably my biggest worry is the effect on programming practices to a newcomer to C++. The concepts are taught, not with an eye for overall understanding, but rather in how they can be used for one very specific program. As new concepts are learned, often times the result is that a part of the project will be rewritten to use the new concept, leading to the impression that the earlier concept was obsolete and really has no purpose. I prefer being told not only how to use a concept, but when and where the concept is useful, what pitfalls there are, and see a few examples that show different ways to use the concept. Otherwise it's too easy to have tunnel vision, seeing the concept as only useful in limited circumstances.

So... I said I liked this book, didn't I? I do, but with a very specific recommendation for people who buy it. Get both a general Primer (I recommend the Waite Group's C++ Primer Plus) and an intermediate text (Thinking in C++ is the one I recommend). Learn C++ using those and then read C++ from Scratch to see how many different concepts can fit together. This book would probably have gotten 4 stars if I had not felt it inappropriate for its target audience.

I bought this book to refresh my C++ knowledge. It does a good job on this. I think this book is not good for newbies in programming, as some programming concept teached in this book will confuse them. I couldn't give a higher rating as there were too many typos and some small inaccurate statements that I found in this book. But I like the idea of this book. If you want to buy only one book to learn C++, then this isn't the right book for you.

This is an awsome book on C++. From the very beginning no assumptions are made on the reader's knowledge or capabilities. You are made to feel that you can accomplish learning C++ easily and with confidence. I would recommend this book to anyone wanting to learn C++ and Object Oriented Programming! The reading is light and keeps your attention. I have read and own many books on teaching yourself C and none of those grabbed my attention the way this book has on C++. I do not feel like I need to buy another book on C++. Keep up the great work Jesse!