Written as a response to sladerous accusations of lying and insincerity, Cardinal Newman composed one of the best autobiographies in the English language. To properly defend himself, he develops the history of his religous opinions from his earliest memories, through Oxford movement and finally to his conversion to the Catholic Church. Along the way he gives the reader some of the best prose that has been employed to descrbe religious experience. The book concludes with a point-by-point refutation to the arguments of Rev. Kingsley, that incidentally contains some of the best arguments against Sola Scriptura and other guiding principles behind Protestantism.

After publication, Newman's Apologia helped raise the esteem of Catholics in the eyes of the English people and helped make him a Cardinal. I whole-heartedly recommend this to anyone looking for a moving spiritual autobiography.

There are few autobiographies as moving and eloquent as Newman's "Apologia." This is his "defense" of his life's choice to leave the Church of England and "go home to Rome." It's a moving testament to an individual's struggle with spiritual issues and theological dogmas and how they inform our lives. I know of no other spiritual autobiography of such importance other than Augustine's "Confessions."

Yet, for all these superb reasons to read this spiritual autobiography, perhaps there is one "secular" reason to read Newman: His command of the English language. Newman has an excellent command of rhetoric, logic, and exposition that makes him a stellar example of Victorian belle letters.

I'd recommend the Norton Critical Edition over the Penguin edition, obviously, not for the "translation," but for the criticism that helps put the issues involved in context for the 20th century reader.

since the "Confessions" of St. Augustine of Hippo 1600 years earlier.

In this book, John Henry Newman, in order to defend himself from (rather unfair) charges of insincerity, outlines the history of his spiritual development, from his beginnings as a liberal thinker, to his conversion to the Evangelical wing of the Church of England, to his ordination as an Anglican priest, to his gradual move toward Catholic thought, practice and worship in the Church of England, to his leadership in the so-called "Oxford Movement" and its call to holiness and Catholicity in the Church of England, and finally to his ultimate submission to Rome.

Whether one agrees or disagrees with Cardinal Newman theologically; whether one can accept his particular conclusions is not important to the enjoyment of this book. It is an honest account of a spiritual journey, written by an articulate man, which should prove inspirational to all persons of faith, and to all on a spiritual pilgrimage.

This book would be better if it had pictures of any of the dishes, the only picture is on the cover, also most of the dishes are almost exactly the same. If you don't like green or red peppers or cumin I don't suggest you buy this book!

I find the only time I am really successful eating healthfully is when I have a simple, good tasting eating plan that fits into my lifetstyle. I was raised on FOOD so a dry grilled chicken breast and plainly dressed salad greens just doesn't do it for me. But leaving the house at 7am returning around 7pm I find it too difficult to research, plan and prepare more interesting dishes. If you enjoy being involved in the food you eat rather than just scarfing down whatever fast-food or prepared item is around then this book should be great for you too. The low-fat, low-sodium and super quick cleanup are great bonuses. 95% of the meals I've tried so far have been really good. Don't expect the richness of a gourmet meal - you just won't get that with low-fat, low-sodium cooking. But having said that what I love about these dishes is that the ingredients and flavors are complex enough to make them fun to prepare and very satisfying to eat. Finally the built-in portion control facilitates easy dieting as well. Great job.

this is a great book. i just love it. it is very simple and directions are very clear. i and my husband have both found most of the receipes to our liking and surprisingly very tasty! I would highly recommend it and have just now purchased Ms. Hughes other book (the 1200 calorie a day cookbook).

As one who coaches and encourages military spouses in their efforts to pursue a career while there partner serves on active duty, I read this book with great interest. The similarities between military spouses and those of foreign service officers far outnumber the differences, and I found many of the quotes and themes portrayed in the book strikingly similar to those I hear from military spouses.

This is a thought-provoking book that raises some important questions about the presumptions and expectations concerning these spouses. Among them, you will find exceptional talent, outstanding credentials, and often tales of foresaken or unstable career progress, confused identities, and unappreciated and unrecognized contributions.

I sincerely hope that Hughes' book will provoke discussions within the State and Defense departments concerning the valuable contributions, frustrated achievements, and untapped talent within these groups, and lead to a long-overdue evolution in the perception, roles, and individual rights of foreign service and military spouses-- and improvements in resources available to ensure their personal and professional development and well-being.

This is a fascinating study, and should be read by all who want to see how globalization affects the home and the family.

I purchased this book a short month ago and am amazed at how many friends and family members have begun reading it over coffee only to walk out of my house with it under their arm. It is returned to me ... sheepishly ... with a small "thank you". One couple that read the book, he a retired officer from Canada's Foreign Affairs, and she his wife, both thought the book should be in the library of every Canadian embassy and in the headquarters in Ottawa. They also thought that the various support groups for spouses of foreign affairs officers should have at least one copy. Needless to say, they took the amazon.com address.

While this seemed like a good guide while planning the trip, in actual fact it was not terribly useful. It's poorly organized, so trying to figure out, on the fly, if there is a decent restaurant near an attraction means flipping back to the index too many times. The author also gave starred attraction prominence to a couple of places where she qualified it in the description with, it may take too long to get here for too little to do. Hmmm. Also the restaurant guidelines needed some sort of a noise index. This is one of those books that assumes kids will only be happy in an atmosphere of Disneyland-like frenzy. I like my kids to eat a normal variety of food (not chicken fingers or cheeseburgers only) in normal restaurants. The two restaurants we tried from the book were so unbelievably loud with non-stop sensory stimulation we couldn't speak to one another. After that I ducked into a bookstore and bought Fodor's Around NYC With Kids and packed this one permanently in the suitcase. I want a guide that lets me know if a place can tolerate a crying baby -- I don't need the waiters always dressed in "character" doing floor shows to get my kids to eat.

Our family just returned from a long weekend in NYC. We found the book invaluable. The book recommended the Doubletree Hotel as the best 'kid-friendly' place to stay, and they were right on. The rooms were spacious, modern and clean. The hotel also had a great location right on Times Square. The book also suggested John's Pizza which turned about to be a great call. The pizza was great, the restaurant loud enough for our kids and we were able to walk right in and get a table on a Saturday night.

Our family just returned from a long weekend in NYC, and this book was invaluable. The book's recommendation of the Doubletree Hotel as the best 'kid-friendly' place in town was right on. Spacious rooms, modern, clean and a great location. The book suggested John's Pizza which was another great call. The pizza was great, the restaurant was loud enough to handle the kids and we were able to get a table quickly on a Saturday night.

Annie's father Mr. Dawson owns a mail delivery company called the Pony Express and it's in the 1800's when one of the horses gets hurt her father blames it all on one person but he is Annie's friend and Annie knows her would never hurt a horse. How will she prove her friends innocents?

11 year old, Annie Dawson lives in a mining cabin in California. Her father works for Oakland Pony Express. Lately, her favorite horse Magpie has been acting strange. Her father says that he has no choice, but to shoot her. Annie begins to protest and is sure that someone is poisoning Magpie. It is up to her to help save Magpie before it's too late. This book was a little bit boring and it strongly resembled other History Mysteries. The plot is always the same. Young girl who has a passion for something. Soon that passion is taken or trying to be taken away. The young girl tries to find out who is trying to take this away. In the end everything is perfect. After reading a few history mysteries, I am beginning to tire. The history mysteries that I suggest you read however are, Secrets on 26th street and The Smuggler's Treasure. All in all, however this book was good enough to rank 4 stars.

Would you like to live in the west and work at red Buttes Pony Express Station? Well that's what happens to Annie as she goes through action, adventure and danger in HOOF BEATS OF DANGER by Holly Hugh's. This book is good for ages 9 and up. This book may not have pictures but the author describes the scenes so well you don't need them. So find out what happens to Magpie Annie's horse. I like this book a lot because it has a lot of action. The lesson or moral is love others.

This is a wonderful book. It's about 4-year-old Alfie and a birthday party for his friend Bernard, who is as boistrous as Alfie is shy. At first Alfie refuses to go to the party without his blanket and refuses to put it down with the coats, but in the end, he learns that he can get along without his blanket after all. He bravely decides to put it aside so that he can cheer up a little girl who's even more bashful than he is. Alfie is a sweetie.
The illustrations (by the author, Shirley Hughes) are colorful and engaging, depicting a delightful array of characters. Ms. Hughes has a keen eye for how people really look. All of her Alfie books are terrific -- this one is my family's favorite.

Shirley Hughes created such a lovable character when she created Alfie! My children are in their late teens and early twenties and we still talk about these Alfie books! I am so sad to see that "Alfie Gives a Hand" seems to be out of print. If you can get a copy used here on Amazon, DO IT!

The illustrations are priceless - they depict REAL children and REAL life. One of the reviewers here said that she felt it was too long a story for a 2 year old and I probably agree. I think 3 to 6 year olds would understand the point more.

After all these years, I remember the story so well. Alfie is invited to his first birthday party. His mom gets him washed up and in clean clothes and off they go, with Annie Rose in her stroller. Alfie is a little scared of this new experience (and don't you have little ones in your house who can identify?!) and he takes his blanket with him for comfort.

The birthday boy turns out to be rather ill-mannered (that happens sometimes too!) and one present gets thrown all over, and he blows bubbles into his jello (my kids got a big kick out of that!). Then it comes time to play a game in a circle. There is a little girl who is even more scared than Alfie and she doesn't want to play. Alfie makes the courageous choice to put his precious blanket down hold this little girl's hand. It works - she happily plays the game because of Alfie's kindness. And Alfie discovers that it pays to help others, even if it means putting down your blanket for a time!

I highly recommend ALL the Alfie books!

...Alfie Gives a Hand is my two-year old's favorite Alfie story. We have read it over and over and over again and he delights in pointing out things in the illustrations. My daughter also loved these stories when she was two and three.

Scheper-Hughes's book is certainly the most impacting book I have read in months. I cannot call it entertaining but it is riveting in presenting a mind-boggling situation of abject poverty in Northeastern Brazil with its consequent infant and child mortality and impacts on the family structure.

Death Without Weeping is a very original, very relevant, and carefully written book although not perfect. The book is the result of extensive field research by Dr. Scheper-Hughes, Professor of Anthropology at the University of California at Berkeley but nevertheles very readable. I could understand and enjoy most of it without having had extensive training in Anthropology.

The author does a wonderful job in translating Alto do Cruzeiro reality into something the average American can understand. This "translation" certainly adds a bias but is still indispensable in my opinion. I consider that the author's religious beliefs strongly affected the outcome of the book and that I think could have been avoided.

I understand that the author has it's ethics and wouldn't reveal in the text the actual location name for Bom Jesus da Mata. I'm not tied by the same ethics so I can tell it: Bom Jesus da Mata is actually Timbauba, a 60,000 inhabitants town on the outskirts of Recife. The book subtitle, "The Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil" couldn't be worse. Timbauba is not Brazil. It has its own very specific problems and to read the book without understanding the great diversity among Brazil's regions would be very unfair to the country. Even in a local scale, Alto do Cruzeiro is not Timabuba and Timbauba is not Pernambuco. If you read the book don't rule out the possibility of going down to Brazil and having a wonderful time there. Tourism is a very good way of alleviating if not solving the problems presented in the book.

I have read now dozens of books written in English by the so-called Brazilianists who most of the times are not Brazilians themselves. Most of the books have the same problem of Death Without Weeping: there's a total sloppiness in spelling the Portuguese words. I can't believe UC Berkeley couldn't hire a Brazilian graduate student to proofread the originals. Moreover, the Geraldo Vandre quote on the very first page of the book, which gives the book its name was completely fabricated. Disparada is a great song and for writing songs such as "Disparada" and "Para Nao Dizer Que Nao Falei Das Flores", Geraldo Vandre was captured and tortured by the military dictatorship in Brazil. He was later released but severely braindamaged. However, the verses Scheper-Hughes quoted do not exist in "Disparada".

I was shocked to learn on the book's Epilogue who Seu Jacques, whom the book is dedicated to, was. But this suspense I'm not going to break.

Leonardo Alves - Houghton, MI - October 2002

Nancy Scheper-Hughes' book "Death Without Weeping" is an outstanding piece of a true anthropological approach to studying a difficult concept: Mothers in Brazil do not mourn for dead infants. Coming from America, it seems difficult to understand the lack of innate "Mother Love." Scheper-Hughes looks at both the political-economic problems in Brazil as a coutry as well as the beliefs and meanings that mothers living in a Shantytown place on their infants (dead or alive). By looking at records, talking to officials, and researching the history of Brazil, Nancy Scheper-Hughes is able to understand how the state of the political and econimic system in Brazil is partially responsible for the horrible deaths and indifferent mothers living in these shantytowns. Alternatively she has been able to get a true understanding of what meanings these women place on their infants death. By looking at both sides, the way Scheper-Hughes has done, we can obtain a better understanding of the true problem and how the people deal with it. Although Nancy Scheper-Hughes does not offer solutions in this book, she tells all of the clues needed to find a solution. Great Book!

I have seen death without weeping. The destiny of the Northeast is death. Cattle they kill, But to the people they do something worse. --Geraldo Vandre, Disparada

"Death Without Weeping: Violence of Everyday Life in Brazil" is a brilliant anthropological and sociological depiction of life in the Nordeste region of Brazil. In Death Without Weeping, Scheper-Hughes carefully analyzes the Mother-Child relationship in a region of Brazil with the highest infant mortality rate in Latin America. Centered in the village of Alto do Cruziero, Scheper-Hughes continues to work with the community she had first joined as a Peace Corps volunteer decades before. Rekindling her relationship with the villagers and the land, she takes a new perspective to study the emotional and physical strain on a region where every life is touched with the pain of infant mortality. She examines the frightening reality of a place where mothers have absolutely no safety net and cannot protect their children from the disease, hunger, and destitute living conditions.

Scheper-Hughes further discusses the role of international corporations and their influence (usually negative) in the Nordeste region.

Death Without Weeping is absolutely brilliant. Scheper-Hughes is at her finest, and her work is impeccable. This is one of the finest works of sociology and anthropology I have read.

This book provides detailed descriptions of most V8 models (it leaves out the 355 and 360) and the year by year changes. It is useful for somebody who is trying to select a specific model to purchase or possibly as a reference for concours preparation. As a book to read cover to cover, it isn't terribly compelling because only objective facts are given and there is no hint about what it is like to drive the cars. There also aren't any performance figures. I'm certain the author never actually drove any of the models, just looked up the detailed facts. There also are frequent repetition of facts in the book -- the same point might be explained 3 times for a particular model. It's a good book for contrasting the models, but don't expect to get any insight about how the different models drive.

If you're thinking in buying a Ferrari V8 this book will help you and ask your questions every time. It gives you the opportunity to overview all the original equipment and specifications of your dream car. It also will tell you which spares are the most likely to break down and what's the one needed exactly for your car. Plenty of information (in fact many useless information, true), nice pictures and some restauration technique will help your Ferrari come again to an "as new look and feeling". Only complain is the lack of information on some "rare" models.

This book provides a thorough overview of original equipment and specifications, but it is disappointing in its lack of perspective. It would be more useful if it compared and contrasted models and gave would-be purchasers and restorers an idea of what to look for in a potential purchase.

I enjoyed the author's sense of humor, but found it grating after a while. The characters did not seem real to me. Instead, they were overdone and somewhat stereotypical. It felt like the main character was trying too hard to amuse us with her witty take on everything. I hate not to finish a book that I have purchased, but I gave up on it. The storyline definitely had potential, but I wouldn't recommend this for people who prefer more serious suspense novels.

I loved this! This has my vote for one of the best books of the year

I loved it! After reading two other books by Charlotte Hughes, I picked this one up and didn't want to put it down until the story ended!

I thought this book was okay but noot as good as the first because ther was not as much action as the first. But the ending battle with Dr. Exo was pretty good and detailed.

This book was ok. Althoe it did get kind of coffuseing when he started to look back at his past. I liked this book better than the first one. It deffently could of used some more work. Like the first one it keeps you guessing! If you liked the first one you will probably love this one. And, if you are like me. You wont be able to put it down.

This book is good but alas not as good as the first. The main reason is the fact that there are no "WANGISMS" without them it sounds like Lo Wng is two different people in each book