This is a timely book on the prospects for meaningful structural reform in the world's second largest economy, written by a long-time observer of Japan who served as a special advisor to Ambassador Walter Mondale in the Tokyo emabssy in the mid-1990s. Ed Lincoln examines the postwar Japanese economic model (an emphasis on indirect finance (banking) and a diminished role for shareholders in corporate governance; networks of affiliated firms (keiretsu); and government-led industrial policy) and the strains that globalization has placed on it. He argues that although the system has become sclerotic, that it satisfies the needs of enough political stakeholders to impede the formation of any stable coalition for fundamental reform. As a consequence, deregulation in Japan is often taken in half-steps, delivering far less than advertised by its proponents. Lincoln believes it is by no means certain that efforts underway will be sufficient to pull Japan out of its economic malaise.

From a US standpoint, Lincoln argues that a weak Japanese economy is fundamentally against US interests. Japanese economic weakness is likely to contribute to policy tensions with the US, and Lincoln recommends that the US government pursue a "low-key" agenda of encouraging reform.

The book is well documented with many tables and charts and fascinating examples.

The two most impressive things about Brendan January's "The Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" are that even though it is written for juveniles it provides a complete coverage of this event and the impressive collection of photographs and drawing included throughout the volume. After a concise summary of the Civil War as a means of explaining John Wilkes Booth's bitterness towards Lincoln, January moves briskly through the assassination plot, the assassination, and the last hours of the President. The capture of Booth, what happened to the other assassins, and Lincoln's return to Springfield for burial are covered much more quickly. If you read this book and then move on to more adult biographies of Lincoln or accounts of the assassination, you will certainly find much more details concerning these events but you will find that January has done a solid job of distilling this event to its essence. Young readers will not find themselves shortchanged by this volume. The collection of photographs is equally impressive, from the photo of Lincoln's funeral processing going past the open window in which young Theodore Roosevelt is watching to the only known photograph of Lincoln's body in death, laying is state in the Capitol Rotunda. There are photographs of all the conspirators and participants in this event, of the peephole Booth drilled in the door to Lincoln's theater box, of the box following the assassination, of the bedroom where Lincoln died shortly after the body was removed, and even a photograph of Harry Hawk, the actor who spoke the last words Lincoln heard before Booth shot him. January has written other volumes on Lincoln and the Civil War for the Cornerstones of Freedom series on "The Emancipation Proclamation," "The Lincoln-Douglas Debates" and "Fort Sumter," which you might find are equally well done.

This book holds the premier position in my book collection. It is a book that looks at how a man's environment and passion for life forces him to separate the right from the wrong, sometimes at personal peril. From the quintessential muckraker to one of the original socialists, Steffens was an independent thinker who shares his mistakes, his disappointments, and his fundamental beliefs in rich and passionate prose. Thought by many to be the greatest autobiography ever written this book, as well as his famous "Shame of the Cities", are considered two of the New York Times' greatest 100 books of the 20th century. And rightfully so. Don't expect dry historical narrative. Rather, be ready to be given insight into turn of the twentieth century life and to be inspired by a man's struggles while exposing and understanding truth and power in every form.

Read this book almosts a decade ago, and still remember it vividly. Life in a small and very emphatically segregated Southern town just before WW II (but it might as well be 1890). C. Eric Lincoln is an academic type, and his knowledge of Black history informs the book without turning into a textbook.

William Corlett is now perhaps best known for his children's fantasy quartet "The Magician's House", which starts with "The Steps Up the Chimney" -- a mixture of Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising", Kenneth Grahame's "The Wind in the Willows", and John Masefield's "The Midnight Folk" -- a story where modern children who move to an ancient country house find themselves caught up with the animals of the surrounding countryside, and the living spirit of a Middle-Ages magician who is battling evil forces. Strong stuff.

If Corlett had written nothing else after his first three books he would have been a children's writer to reckon with -- a Young Adult writer of great power, working before the term "Young Adult" gad been invented. Perhaps the fact that this trilogy, or triptych, starting with "The Gate of Eden", concerns a teenager at the end of his Secondary schooling, and then the same person as a man in his twenties, and then as an old man in a futuristic England rife with social collapse, explains why the three books have been neglected.

Yet the middle book "The Land Beyond" is extremely powerful: a modern-day story with a time-slip or time-blend with Ancient Delphi and the famous Charioteer -- a story where the ancient god Apollo is recognised by a modern sceptic as a great force of life. And the first of the three is a powerful exploration of the relationship between the central young man, an old and rather dubious English Literature teacher, and the young man's girlfriend. Subtly told, and moving, with hints of poetry, much play with language, and post-modernist narrative devices, all used decades before post-modernism was thought of.

"Bloxworth Blue" is less experimental, perhaps reminiscent of William Mayne or Robert Cormier or Robert Westall when they write strong stories about families in crisis. As with other Corlett books, haunted by forces from the past, legendary imps (mini-demons) that were a curse on medieval Lincoln cathedral, and were turned into gargoyles, come to life in the Twentieth century. They are released, to wreak their own kind of havoc, when a family visits the cathedral, each member carrying a burden, a secret, an urgent need. An elderly uncle, the marriage difficulties of the mother, the first sexual encounter of the teenage daughter, the son's exploration of the cathedral and discovery of his uncle's bitter secret -- these narrative threads weave together, with glimpses of the larger outside world, including a rare blue butterfly, the Bloxworth Blue.

Corlett is always a strong writer, seeking new territory, striving for the precise image, the words that express extreme feeling, the tension that conceals ideas that can only be inferred. As with "The Secret Line", a story of teenage breakdown, and the healing bond s that develop between young person and old person, "Bloxworth Blue" repays careful reading.

Well worth finding -- like a rare butterfly, or a suddenly discovered stone face in an unexpected and startling place.

Mary Lincoln founded the Boston Cooking School. Her book contained the lessons and recipies. There are lessons on how to build a fire in a wood stove and explainations of proper diet for the "sick room" as well as a complete discussion on wheat, yeast and bread making. Learn "how a new housewife without near neighbors" can make her own yeast for her breadmaking. This was the first cookbook to use standardized measurements. In addition, the advertisments put an interesting historical perspective on many of our familiar brands. Mary Lincoln hired Fanny Farmer to be the school's principal. Fanny put out a second edition under her own name without any credit to Mary Lincoln....

I like this book cause the girl who got teased got revenge on the other girls. It had a lot of action in the book. You've got to read it!

Given Gordon's background, he is THE authority (and luckily THE brasilianist) to write such a piece.

I was a AMAZED by the ammount of good documentation and multiple sources quoted in the text from almost every possible source. Only improvement here is that it seems that the wave of info available on the Internet caught the author by surprise (it could have been much more up-to-date).

One can hardly expect a foreigner to have a deeper understanding of brazil's history than the person who was the US ambassador for several years, and a self-declared brasilianist. A grain of salt comes from the fact that pro-US, pro-trade behaviors and positions are an obvious consequence of Gordon's origin.

It's a shame that the version I read wasn't written after Lula's election and his first day as a president, but I learned more about Brazil in this book than in any other one. Very good job showing data and facts to support the positions and analyzing the underlying facts that took brazil to the position where it is now.

"Building a New Nation: The Federalist Era: 1789-1801," the seventh volume in "The Drama of American History" series has nine chapters, which is usually how many you find in any two given volumes. The approach of Christopher Collier and James Lincoln Collier in this series aimed at 6th-9th graders is aimed at providing the "core content" rather than deluging young students with names and dates. The previous volume looked at just one topic, the creation of the U.S. Constitution. However, the three years in which George Washington and John Adams were in the White House was the equivalent of (1) Setting Up a New House, which justifies the unusual number of chapters.

(2) The First Elections is something of a misnomer, because Washington's election was a forgone conclusion. What then became important was his decision to create a cabinet in general (which is not outlined in the Constitution) and to appoint Alexander Hamilton as first Secretary of the Treasury. (3) The Whiskey Rebellion is essentially the first crisis of the new nation's federal government as some Americans decided taxation with representation did not thrill them either. (4) Foreign Problems looks at how problems with the British, especially in regards to shipping, continued, while the French Revolution affected relationships with America's closest ally. (5) The Rise of Political Parties reminds young readers that originally the nation did not want political parties; the Federalists did not really exist until the Jeffersonian Republicans were created. The beginning of political parties in the United States does not look any better than the recent activities of the current pair of such creatures. (6) Washington's Farewell looks at the significance of his departure from the national stage and the fact that his speech is still quoted today regarding the dangers of foreign entanglements. (7) The Administration of John Adams basically boils down to one good thing (avoiding war) and one bad thing (the Alien & Sedition Acts).

I am not sure why, but the last two chapters of this volume are essentially covered in more depth in the next volume in the series, "The Jeffersonian Republicans: 1800-1823": (8) The Revolution of 1800 is about the end of the Federalist period with the election of Thomas Jefferson, which was the first peaceful transfer of power between two "sides" in world history. (9) A Coda: Marbury v. Madison talks about the Supreme Court decision that established the principle of judicial review.

The end result is that "Building a New Nation" covers in broad strokes the important things that happened during this time period. Certainly this was a period of trial if not outright error and what becomes apparent is that the success of the nation came down to what its leaders did during these early days. If young students learn anything from this chapter it will be that what Washington, Hamilton, Adams and Marshall did were of supreme importance in the creation of the new nation. They will also understand that for the most part, their actions are still considered to have been the not simply good decisions, but the best of all possible decisions.