This is a wonderful book! The Reverend William G. Carter is a brilliant author.

Dr. Carter Shelly has written an outstanding interpretation of Genesis, chapters 12 -36, for contemporary preachers looking for up to date approaches to the text as well as the lay person who wants to see modern sensibilities applied to the text. It offers new ways into the chapters of Genesis that have been so fundamental in shaping the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic faiths. A preacher will be well served by this work and a lay person will gain a whole new perspective on the founders of our faith. I highly recommend Preaching Genesis 12-36.

"Prelude to War," the title of the first Sourcebook on the Civil War from the Library of Congress, is a bit of an understatement because it ends with the order to open fire on Fort Sumter on April 12, 1861 and goes all the way back the political debate in 1820 that led to the Missouri Compromise. This book reproduces many of the prints, broadsides, maps, and other historic works preserved in the Library's special collections division. What students and teachers will find within these pages are images of Northern industry produced for publicity or advertising purposes, propaganda pictures from the Mexican War and the efforts of the Abolitionists, as well as some of the early photographs that signaled the start of a new era in the documentation of American history.

"Prelude to War" begins with A Timeline of Major Events that devotes two-pages to each of the four decades covered in this book, broken down into World History, American History and Culture, and Slavery and Secession. There are pictures of the industrial North and the agrarian South, political cartoons on the Nullifications controversy and Kansas-Nebraska Act, a playbill for a stage adaptation of "Uncle Tom's Cabin," and a woodcut depicting the Nat Turner rebellion. Chances are you have never seen most of the illustrations in this book, even if you consider yourself well versed in American History. Most of the major figures of the time, from Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun to John Brown and Abraham Lincoln, are depicted as well.

Each two-page spread consists of two or more pictures with fairly detailed captions, along with a couple of paragraphs of text on various political and social topics. The other Sourcebooks on the Civil War look at "The First Battles," "1863: The Crucial Year," "The Road to Appomattox," "Behind the Lines" and "One Nation Again." The Library of Congress also has Sourcebook series on Colonial American and the American West, all of which make available original visual documents. All of these volumes are wonderful supplemental books for any American History class. For me the chief charm is usually the political cartoons, which always manage to capture the issues and passions of the time.

Several years ago, a young co-worker asked me about Jimmy Carter and my response was that he was a much better ex-president than he was a president. His subsequent work in areas such as Habitat for Humanity as well as international relations has been excellent. He has served as a goodwill ambassador, election monitor and has negotiated several international agreements that favored the United States. He has also continued to be a champion of human rights causes throughout the world.
Contrasting his success after his presidency with his performance while in office demonstrates the reasons why his presidency is generally assigned a mediocre grade. His idealism in championing human rights was the most obvious example of the truism that idealism may help get you elected, but it gets in the way of governing effectively. In the age of the cold war and international tensions, a cold, heartless pragmatism seems to be the only thing that works.
I found Kaufman's explanations of the Carter presidency to be the most even-handed and honest that I have read. Carter made many mistakes, had some made for him and in other cases was just the victim of circumstances. Nevertheless, he did have some striking successes, the two most notable being the Camp David accords between Israel and Egypt and the treaty relinquishing the Panama canal. In these events, Carter showed how much potential he really had as a president. I remember when the networks pre-empted their regular programming as Carter, Sadat and Begin came back from Camp David with the agreement in hand. It was a stunning achievement and it amazed the world. The magic of that moment is captured in the book, as well as the subsequent problems that continue to plague the region. Despite all the violence in the area of Palestine and Lebanon in the years since the accords were signed, the fact that Israel and Egypt still continue to have formal relations and are at peace show how sturdy those agreements are.
As someone who lived through those years and followed the Carter presidency in great detail, reading this book brought back a great deal of memories. Without attempting to boast, I do have an excellent memory, and the recounting of the events are all exactly as I remember them.
The author closes with a very important and often overlooked point. Carter's presidency is considered a failure, and yet he refused to negotiate away anything in order to release the hostages in Iran. Reagan's presidency is considered a success and yet he attempted a bribe for the release of the hostages in Lebanon by selling armaments to Iran. There is no doubt that on that point, Carter bests Reagan.
I would like to close this review with a personal point. Yes, Carter's pushing of human rights did create problems. But, when you consider that some of those whose rights were being violated, Walesa in Poland and Havel in the Czech Republic, rose to the leadership of their nations, perhaps he was just ahead of his time.

I found alot of info. about William WcKinley in this book. It is very good.

Carter Heyward is awesome! As a senior in high school her book had a massive impact on my young life. She not only inspired me to further explore the priesthood, she inspired me to further explore myself. Her book was a life changing experience that everyone should have!

It is inevitable that Albert Einstein's "private lives" will fall under the dissection knives of historians and biographers. There are already dozens of excellent biographies of Einstein on the market, ranging from the extremely scientific to the extremely personal. As the Einstein Papers Project continues to explore the personal correspondence of this remarkable scientist, we can expect the personal revelations to continue. Einstein, as were all great figures of history, was a very complicated person, and a very human one.

In this work, the authors take a very personal look at his life between the high school years and the publication of special relativity. Specifically, it focuses on his first marriage, to Mileva Maric'. Much about this relationship was kept intentionally hidden for years by Einstein's secretary Helen Dukas, and scientist Otto Nathan, who became the de facto protectors of the "Einstein image." Since they had known him in the era of his marriage to his cousin Elsa, they understandably sought to minimize and downplay any factors from his younger years that might reflect negatively upon him, and a failed first marriage, with an illegitimate child, could certainly be seen as less than flattering.

Highfield and Carter's book draws heavily on the work of the Einstein Papers scholars Stachel, Renn, and Schulmann. Einstein's voluminous correspondence from those years has shed much new light on such questions as the fate of the daughter Liseral, but without providing definitive answers. Considerable time is also spent on the issue of Mileva's role in the development of special relativity - topic that exploded with the force of a bomb in recent years.

Einstein has been dead for nearly half a century now, and it is certain now that his private life will be subjected to as intense scrutiny as has special and general relativity. This book, along with Overbye's "Einstein in Love" take a respectful but straightforward approach. Any Einstein admirer or general fan of the history of science should read this book.

This book is fantastic! Considering that it is really the only book available to U.S. customers right now I find it truly a miracle that it could be so good(being the cynic that I am). Do not be put off by the fact that the book is illustrated rather than having photographs of the plants. The illustrations are accurate,botanically speaking, as well as being exquisite. The jacket says "This 1st major international bk on protea's covers more than 130 species.It includes banksia's, leucospermums, waratahs,+ others, + cultivars." Book is divided into plants from, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, South America & other. There is from 1/2 to 1 pg of information on each plant, a glossary, a bibliography & cultivation info. But word to the wise according to publisher it is OUT OF PRINT! Timber did still have some copies. Believe me fellow flower lovers this one is well worth the $45, I would pay even more if I had to! You will be very sorry if you let this one get away, especially those protea ambitious gardeners out there. As I said before the all color illustrations/paintings are great. There is one per plant described. The author does not just stick to the most commonly known varieties there are also some of the more unusual ones described. That being said if I were to want to change one thing, it is that the author does, in some respects, direct his focus to gardeners and to those plants which could be cultivated in the home garden or hot-house. There is plenty of information given on what each plant requires for this to be successful. That said, us arm-chair gardeners will also find more than enough to fantasize about in this great book.

This is excellent reading by Dr. Carter. I've had the honor to hear him preach. He is an excellent preacher and teacher. Buy this book it is worth your reading time.

The Quilt Encyclopedia Illustrated covers all aspects of quilting from materials and patterns to history and uses. It teaches you how to quilt, showing the many quilting options available to today's quilter - patchwork, whole cloth and applique for bed covers, clothing and decorating are just the beginning. Detailed in the book is the history of quilting through many different cultures, including the reasons quilting began and how it developed. The illustrations and photographs are not only beautiful, but supportive of the text and inspiration for many projects. If you enjoy quilting and want to know more about the how and why of the art of quilting, this book can take you to that next level.