This book is a must read for any resident of North Brevard County. It is a fascinating study through words and pictures. Having resided in Titusville, FL for nearly 25 years, I can appreciate the many changes which resulted in the progress we see today. This book satisfied my curiosity about the history of this unique community. Also, there are some interesting references to the founding fathers, such as Colonel Henry Titus and Britton J. Mims who was a cousin to the outlaw Jesse James. It is also noteworthy that many of the original settlers in Lagrange and Sand Point have descendants still residing in the same area as their ancestors.Overall, this book was very well written and organized. It is definitely a worthwhile investment for the history buff and curiosity seeker alike.

If you love things historical but don't necessarily love reading history, this book is a delightful way to learn about the South--not from a historian or a scholar, but from a mother teaching her children how to live in the times they were born in, nearly 100 years ago.

Sometimes we meet a person in a book we'd like to claim as family. Reading these letters of Ina Dillard Russell's found me wishing I were one of her 13 children--with a few dozen of these letters to call my very own.

The letters themselves are full of life-- as it was lived by real people-- in rural Georgia from the early part of this century to the Great Depression. They tell the story of a remarkable Southern family, headed by a remarkable Southern woman.

Born in 1868, Ina Dillard Russell grew up during Reconstruction. She married an Athens lawyer and future chief justice of the Georgia supreme court in 1891, and raised her family (which included future GA governor and U.S. senator Richard Russell) with a generous spirit, prudent advice, and loving guidance.

It's all there in the letters, which Ina wrote on any scrap of paper handy, usually as she held a baby on her lap! I found her comments on the challenges life presents and on how to rise gracefully to them, her tips on hygiene, diet, manners, and fashion, on study, perserverance and spirit, not only a tonic and a charm, but a key to the tenor of the times.

Since we can't all be Ina's children, the recipients of most of these treasures, we have Ina's editor (and grandaughter) Sally Russell to thank for selecting them from the nearly 3000 letters Ina wrote and passing them on. Russell's editorial comments to each of the five chapters are rich in anecdote, history and heart. She explains just enough about the people involved, and then wisely allows Ina to speak for herself.

For the letters themselves tell Ina's story better than narrative ever could. She gives herself so freely to the page, expends her energy so fully on paper, that by the end of the book I'd come to feel I'd actually met her, had spent time with her in the kitchen or on the front porch swing. She's part of my family now, and I refuse to let her go.

This book is a straightforward account of the life of one of the 20th century's five most important U.S. senators. However, it falls short in examining Russell's ideology, which is tied to his time and place when it is ever mentioned. A fully satisfactory biography will have to explore the man behind the rise of Lyndon Johnson, the coordinated southern resistance to integration, and much of Senate anti-Communism from an intellectual point of view.

Henry Clay. Daniel Webster. John C. Calhoun. James F. Byrnes. Robert A. Taft. Hubert Humphrey. Add Richard Russell to this list and what do you get? A collection of our nation's most accomplished and able Senators who never became President. All of these men were giants in their time, and Russell was no exception. The youngest Governor in Georgia history, Russell came to Washington as a Senator in 1933 and left in the early 70's, feet first. A legislator of uncommon ability, Russell was a master of the procedures, traditions, and customs of the Senate; of parliamentary tactics; and was constructive on all matters of domestic or foreign policy. His peers referred to him as a 'Senator's Senator', Presidents called him a 'President's Senator'. His hold over Georgia's political and business establishments enabled him to seek reelection every six years unopposed. Unfortunately, his refusal to change his political position or personal attitudes on the issue of civil rights doomed him to be a 'regional Senator' rather than a 'national' one. He sought the Democratic Party's presidential nomination in 1952, but won only the delegates from the states of the Confederacy. Despite the increasing liberalism of his party, Russell the conservative, voted the straight Democratic ticket in every election. Russell was perhaps truly the last great statesman of the Senate.

I purchased this work looking for a preaching aid to help me preach through Exodus. This one left me looking for others. The strength of this work lies in its textual criticism and ancient text use. The weakness of this volume was in helping to pull the major themes from the text and to help build the bridge to today. I had a wonderful time preaching through Exodus, but I found a little volume in the Tyndale OT series by R. Alan Cole to be more helpful than this one. If you are a preacher, keep looking.

Childs honestly admits that "the purpose of this book is unabashedly theological". As is expected from this author, his aim "is to seek to interpret the book of Exodus as canonical scripture within the theological discipline of the Christian church" (which means, of course, his version of theology). This may disconcert those who do not agree with his precise shade of liberal evangelism, especially in the sections headed "New Testament Context". However, once this hurdle is overcome, this book is packed with useful information. There are few if any thorough textual and philological studies of Exodus, and the notes here are probably the best available on these topics. The sections headed "Literary and Traditio-Historical Analysis" discuss (among other things) the Documentary Hypothesis, but Childs is not overly concerned with this aspect since he is more interested in the canonical form of Exodus. The most valuable parts are the "Old Testament Context", which discuss the meaning of the text and its relationship to the rest of the Old Testament. These sections, plus the extensive textual and philological notes, constitute an excellent commentary on Exodus and fully justify buying this book. The other parts can easily be ignored if you disagree with them.

I should say from the start that this is a very good commentary that most readers will find very helpful. It does suffer from the general lack of focus in Childs's canonical method. Because his method includes a review of the history of interpretation of each passage, a canonical commentary on Exodus necessarily includes a discussion of source-criticism, which dominated Exodus scholarship for a century. But this is exactly the kind of atomizing approach which Childs has repudiated. This commentary proves, however, that a critical approach to the book of Exodus simply cannot ignore the features of the text which motivated the source-critics in the first place. A thorough history of interpretation does serve to raise most of the central interpretive issues in each text. Childs is a gifted exegete, however, and even with a fuzzy method the results of his reading of Exodus are impressive. Furthermore, he does place the expected emphasis on theological implications. There is a shortage of critical commentaries on Exodus. Until Propp finishes his second volume, Childs's is probably the second best complete commentary after Durham's.

This autobiographical work, written in a bold, brash, and breezy style, chronicles the journey of Buddy Crenshaw, a shy farm boy from rural Tennessee, who travels along the rocky road of transexualism. It is a journey which culminates in a career in the entertainment field as Aleshia Brevard. It is also an interesting, though bumpy ride, as "Buddy" comes to terms with the gender identity issues which so occupied her early life. Buddy finally made that leap of faith, and, in keeping with the maxim "to thine own self be true", metamorphosed into Aleshia Brevard.

Her life's journey is written about with a great deal of humor, as well as pathos. Ms. Brevard is certainly resilient, having encountered sexism on both sides of the coin, first as a "sissy" boy, later as a buxom, bombshell starlet. Hers is a fascinating life, replete with questions as to what it really means to be a woman in today's society. It also offers a unique glimpse into the early history of surgical intervention for transexualism, as well as a candid view of the transgender experience. A transexual's journey is not an easy one, by any means.

Through the author's experience, the reader can see that women may have come a long way, but still have a ways to go. It is interesting to see Ms. Brevard initially try to conform to stereotypic female norms, only to ultimately question a woman's assigned role in society, as she matures. In breaking away from societal expectations, she eventually becomes all the happier for it. Her journey in life is a quest for self-acceptance and an affirmation of the resiliency of the human spirit.

Laughing through the tears and whistling past the graveyard and surviving to write it all down. This book is the humourous, down-to-earth account of a very brave boy who never was and woman who longed to be. Brevard takes the reader on a wild ride from the backwoods of her (his) Tennessee childhood in the 40's, to San Fran's Finocchios in the 50's, to the horror of self-castration,required for gender re-assignment surgery in the 60's.

The book evokes the humor and pathos of following this real life adventure. The injustice of having to hide is mixed with Brevard's insecurities and submission to the male dominated attitudes of that time, until finally resolving, within herself, the true value of her life and existence.

The book can occasionally be hard to follow because it moves quickly through many events, but whatever effort is expended, it is well worth the read! In this book, the reader becomes intimately acquainted with one of the most courageous yet charming, engaging and beautiful women of our time.

I have just read this marvelous book and I can't stop thinking about the people and places I saw, through the eyes of the author, that I had never seen in just that way before.

It so happens that I know the author (but I never knew ANY of THIS!). When I met her I immediately admired her -- but I never knew why. I mean, other than the obvious, which she did not stress in her book but which I can personally attest to -- how SMART she is -- which is quite obvious in the book.

Aleshia tells us how, at her dear mother Mozelle's urging, she went to college (which is where we met!). She dashes off her college degree while battling husband and health problems, and it's the latter two that she finds taxing. She breezes through her practice teaching, making it all look easy (and it WAS NOT EASY). Apparently she often made things look easy that cost her a lot.

Later she gets mad because some snotty actor "one-ups" her with his Master's degree. Just to "show him," she goes and gets herself a Master's too! So there! You see, my dear Aleshia, not everybody is capable of doing that, only people who are smart, literate and know how to learn. That's a quality so prevalent in the book. Young people should read this to see how a smart person survives in a hostile world, indeed a lesson for us all.

People on campus who knew I knew Aleshia would sometimes crassly ask me if I had heard that "she" was on sports teams as a boy back in high school. My answer was heartfelt. "I don't know, but I do know that she's more of a woman than I'll ever be." It was true. She admits in her book, she was a slave to the times of Jackie, Marilyn and a woman cleaving to a man not only for food and shelter but also her identity. This "pre-feminist" era is difficult to explain to anyone who wasn't there, but Aleshia does a very fine job.

So yes, I have always admired Aleshia, and I really admire this book. As someone who has known her (off and on) since college, I will tell you that this book is just like sitting down with her on a cozy evening and saying, "So, you castrated yourself, huh?," and she takes it from there, an honest, earnest, touching and amusing story of sexual (genetic?) confusion.

Finally, I look at the picture of "Buddy." I look in "his" eyes and I see the Aleshia I know. It's ALESHIA. I don't have the words, but it is the soul, the essence of "buddy/aleshia," one person... Anyway, whether man, woman, boy or girl... SHE IS. Thank God for that!

P.Murphy
(Fellow Speech & Theater Major at MTSU, now a writer in Hollywood)

As a conservative evangelical I was afraid to see what Childs had to say regarding the theological role of the Bible. However, after finishing this daunting book, I found many thought-provoking insights and interesting conclusions that may challenge Christians (especially those of the fundamentalist stripe) to re-think how they do biblical theology. Childs book is really divided into two main sections: The first section deals with theological methodology and the canonical shape of both testaments. The second section deals with the theological themes of the Bible. Many will find the first section quite dry and tedious (although his chapters [2 and 3] on models of biblical theology are quite interesting and informative). Here Childs deals with methodological and canonical issues that shaped the Christian bible. He gets into the details of the sources of the beliefs that shaped the religion of Israel and the early church. Depending on what your interests are you may find this section quite useful or useless. The second section is what many may find interesting and illuminating. He deals with major topics of biblical theology like God, covenant, law and gospel, humanity, etc. Many traditional and conservative readers may not like some of the conclusions Childs draws but one cannot ignore them as irrelevant to the church's theological mission. Childs' main sticking argument is the theological and canonical integrity of the OT in light of the revelation of Christ in the NT. How does the Christian understand the OT as a Christian text without doing damage to the textual and theological integrity of the OT? This is a common question Childs like to bring up in the book. Though many evangelicals will not like the way he handles the unity of the bible issue he does an admirable job trying to give the OT a voice of its own without relying on some overarching Christian theological construct (e.g., covenant theology, dispensationalism, salvation-history, etc.). This is a valuable resource for students who want to study more about biblical theology in a more moderate evangelical context.

This is one of the most influential general introductions to the Bible ever written. After more than 20 years, it is still much discussed and much misunderstood. Childs is a devout Christian who advocates a new approach to Biblical criticism, called Canonical Criticism, whereby you should consider books of the Bible and indeed the whole Bible in the form in which they are accepted as canonical (namely inspired and authoritative works) by Jews and Christians. You may agree or disagree with his approach, but read this book carefully and think hard; whatever your conclusions, you will gain a lot of insight. Of course, as its title indicates, it covers only the Old Testament.

There has been so much written about the Book of Isaiah that it would take a huge, multi-volume work to do justice to it all. This book cannot do so, but it does cover a surprising amount, though at the cost of being too concise for easy readability. He includes everything from textual criticism to his controversial canonical criticism (see his book "Introduction to the Old Testament As Scripture"). The latter means, in this case, that he does not deny that the book can be split into Isaiahs 1, 2 and 3 but he dismisses it as irrelevant and concentrates on the book as part of scripture. Someone making a detailed study of Isaiah would want several commentaries, of which this should be one. Someone wanting a more modest library with only one commentary on Isaiah could do worse than choose this one.

Brevard Childs, noted scholar of the Hebrew scriptures and biblical theologian, has provided the church with a helpful sequel to his OT "Introduction". As a true Yale-schooler (Cf. Lindbeck and Frei), Childs brackets out the various historical-critical issues in order to deal with the Scriptures as the church's canon. This is not a true "Introduction" in the order of Guthrie, Kümmel, or Brown, but is properly an introduction to canon-critical method. Although NT scholarship has surpassed many of his historical-critical conclusions (hence 4 stars), Childs achieves theological profundity in many places. He also writes in an elegant, preachable prose that theologians, pastors, and students will find refreshingly welcome.

This book is a very scholarly work that deals with major themes of Old Testament theology. Childs writes from a moderate position, but interacts with many critical and non-evangelical OT scholars. Though the book is fairly short, all the major themes of OT theology are dealt with. However, the book is very dry, and many will have a hard time reading through it. It is a very scholarly resource, but lacks the evangelical "enthusiasm" you find in many theological books written by conservatives. 5 stars for scholarship; 1 star for readability. Average: 3 stars.

Prof. Childs does not refer to his work as canonical criticism, but he does suggest that interpreters will produce more fruitful theological insights if they consider the canonizing process when reading the text. Childs asserts that the Church ought to embrace the whole of the OT, which it has received and regarded as authoritative for the better part of two thousand years.

Trained in the historical-critical method, Childs has come to believe that the tedious historical questions of biblical scholarship have not led to theological illumination. He feels that recent systematic theology could benefit from the work of biblical theologians if they would consider the text in its final form. After all, God's revelation supposedly lies within the text and not in historical-critical studies.

Though Childs has harsh words for "theologically bankrupt" historical studies, many readers will find that his model is not without problems of its own. Overall, though, he constantly includes references that bolster his argument and anyone interested in biblical or theological studies should be familiar with this book.