Para mí que he seguido con pasión el desarrollo social y político de la República Dominicana durante la última década, el libro de Jonathan Hartlyn es como una especie de bálsamo dentro la abundante y desigual historiografía sobre este tema. Armado de un marco conceptual novedoso y una excelente investigación de primera mano, la obra de Hartlyn analiza las causas de la continúa crisis del sistema democrático en Santo Domingo, después de la muerte de Trujillo en 1961. El autor reta las principales interpretaciones (especialmente la escuela de la dependencia) que explican el surgimiento de caudillos, dictadores y líderes autoritarios en la historia de la Isla, motivado únicamente por la debilidad del estado y el imperialismo norteamericano.
El proceso político dominicano, propone Hartlyn, tiene que entenderse como una interracción de los diferentes sectores sociales con las fuerzas de poder interna y externa: sin que una opaque la otra. Durante los últimos 40 años, los electores han tenido, señala el autor, que debatirse entre las prácticas autoritarias (de tipo neopatrimonial), encarnadas en la figura de Joaquín Balaguer, y en los intentos (fallidos) de los dos gobiernos del Partido Revolucionario Dominicano (PRD) por alejarse de esa posición antidemocrática. Los doce años de Balaguer (1966-78), productos del golpe de Estado al gobierno de Juan Bosch en 1963 y la eventual intervención de tropas norteamericanas en 1965, son vistos por Hartlyn como parte de la transición de la dictadura trujillista (calificada de neosultánica) a un régimen de características neopatrimoniales. Definición que el autor utiliza a lo largo de su libro para describir al "gobernante que maneja al país como sí fuera una extensión de su hogar"[la traducción es mía, p.3]
No obstante, en el último período del gobierno de Balaguer (1974-78) las condiciones -tanto nacionales como internacionales- que propiciaron inicialmente el fortalecimiento del estado neopatrimonial fueron declinando. En poco tiempo, fenómenos como la movilización del campo a la ciudad, la emigración y el urbanismo permitió, explica Hardlyn, una mayor independencia de los nuevos sectores económicos con relación al estado. De esta forma, los grupos en lucha fueron canalizando sus intereses y necesidades en estructuras políticas, en este caso el PRD, más abiertas a los cambios de poder. La victoria electoral del PRD en 1978 fue, arguye el autor, la oportunidad perfecta para abandonar el neopatrimonialismo y consolidar el proceso democrático en la República Dominicana.
Durante los ocho años de administración perredeísta (1978-84), ni Antonio Guzmán ni Salvador Jorge Blanco fueron capaces de eliminar los elementos neopatrimoniales legados de los doce años de Balaguer. Según Hardlyn, estancados los proyectos sociales y las reformas institucionales, Guzmán y Jorge Blanco optaron por prácticas neopatrimoniales para lidiar con la inflación y la paralización de la economía, afectando su popularidad rápidamente; unido al crecimiento de la corrupción y la lucha intrapartido, los líderes de PRD crearon, de acuerdo con el autor, las bases para la vuelta nuevamente de Balaguer en la década de los ochenta. Dentro de un marco social y económico distinto en 1986, Balaguer modificó el carácter neopatrimonial de su régimen, ajustándolo a las nuevas realidades de la política mundial.
Ante las exigencias de Estados Unidos y los organismos internacionales financieros y diplomáticos (el Banco Mundial, el Fondo Monetario Internacional y la Organización de Estados Americanos), Balaguer orientó, afirma Hardlyn, las funciones neopatrimoniales del estado en dirección hacia las zonas francas, el turismo y la tecnología como nuevas fuerzas de producción y acumulación de capital. Además de utilizar los recursos del Estado para mantenerse en el poder a cualquier costo; afectándose, de este modo, la credibilidad y la confianza de las instituciones en el proceso democrático. La constante del proceso electoral, tanto en las elecciones del 1990 como las 1994, fue las reiteradas denuncias sobre fraude en ambos comicios para beneficiar la candidatura de Balaguer, alega el autor. Sin embargo, la crisis poseleccionaria del 1994 puso sobre el tapete la intolerancia hacia las prácticas neopatrimoniales, provocando un ajuste en el propio proceso electoral a través de enmiendas a la constitución.
Por primera vez desde 1966, ni Balaguer ni Bosch corrieron como candidatos presidenciales, siendo electo en esta ocasión el joven Leonel Fernández, aspirante por el Partido de la Liberación Dominicana, agrupación política fundada por el propio Bosch en 1973. Para Hardlyn la victoria de Fernández, aunque ensombrecida por la alianza con el Partido Reformista Social Cristiano (PRSC) de Balaguer, mantiene la esperanza de un mayor fortalecimiento de la sociedad civil, en pro de un estado constitucional permanente y democrático. Esta es la agenda que los nuevos sucesores, a juicio del autor, tienen que asegurar.
Finalmente, el libro de Hardlyn es lectura obligada para repensar el difícil y complejo proceso democrático en la República Dominicana. A tono con las nuevas discusiones teóricas en el campo de las Ciencias Sociales, la obra llena con éxito las expectativas sobre el tema, como uno de los modelos que la historiografía política dominicana debe, a mi entender, emular o superar.

This volume is by far the best English language analysis of Dominican politics to appear in the last decade. Hartlyn's extensive in-country experience and theoretical understanding of politics in developing democracies make this a premier case study. While his sophisticated analysis of neo-patrimonial vs neo-sultanistic regimes will be beyond the vocabularly of casual readers, it will delight professional political scientists. His critique of conservative as well as liberal administrations since Trujillo is even handed and insightful. What he omits in terms of comprehensive economic trends and pressures, he more than makes up for in terms of detailed interest group manuevering and inter-party fights. His analysis of the influence of US policies vis a vis the Dominican Republic during the last century is equally insightful.

Whit has portrayed his adventures with herps with amazing wit. Each chapter begins with a narrative about an episode that his zest for "research" placed him in. I read a couple of different chapters to a friend over the phone (imagine an alligator in the cab of your truck!) and we both laughed so hard we were in tears. At the end of each tale is a lesson in sound zoology. Most field biologists will recognize themselves in this book.

Whit Gibbons gives a truly funny account of his time as a graduate student and professor, chasing reptiles through the southern US and abroad. It's funny, it's informative. This is no textbook, but rather tales of life and animal research.

This book should be the standard text of a course in critical thinking taught in every high school in this country. The citizens of the United States need a book like this as a way of teaching people how to sort out the deluge of opinion and cant that spews out of every orifice of the media. Somebody please get this book back into print!

This is the true use of critical thinking written by a political scientist. It presents a down to earth practical application of critical thinking. The type of thinking we all should use to make inportant choices.

Mr. Peterson is so great at modernizing the words of Paul. As a result of reading this book, it would be difficult to misunderstand the truth intended in Paul's letter to the Galatians throughout the centuries. These pages exemplify freedom upon freedom. Truly, I believe Mr. Peterson is one of the best Christian authors of our time.

Peterson develops his devotional commentary around the relevant central theme in Galatians of FREEDOM. Contains simple and powerful insights to aid any who feel pressured to conform to external religious standards in order to find acceptance with God or the religious community. Peterson delivers with conviction and passion. Full of excellent illustrations and applications. An aid both to understanding each passage and flow of this Bible book (notable are his well thought out chapter divisions and contemporary textual paraphrase), but also grasping and applying its central theme. Very readable.

My copy is well worn for my frequent return trips. Buy it! You won't be disappointed.

This book is an essential addition to the library of every rheumatologist, internist, and dermatologist.

This treatise, both usable and scholarly, is destined to become known as the authoritative source on the topic.

Lovely!!!I'm from a faaaaaarrrr country(Brazil!)but it arrived very quickly.It just arrived and I strarted reading.I still reading and I'm lovin' each page of this book!It's wonderful
If you are a real fan,you have to have this book.It's essential!
It's worth the price.It's cheap!And the pages have a very good quality.
Very good.I recommend

This book is amazing! I got it yesterday and I stayed up all night reading it. It goes in depth into the guys' childhoods and how they cope with all the glitz and glamour. Lots of pics, Great pics! Highly recommended for ANY Westlife fan...Girl or boy! This book will tell you what you DIDN'T know about Westlife. So buy the CD "Westlife" then right after you buy the CD buy THIS book! Take care & God bless. WL 4-Ever!

Ellis Rivkin has written a book that confronts head-on the erroneous perception that the Jews crucified Jesus. This would be a surprise to most Christians. It was to me. With a reasoned and enlightened style, Rivkin takes us back to the historical, religious and political context of the New Testament, with special analysis of what it was like to be an observant Jew living in Israel under total Roman domination at a time when Jews, as today, were doctrinally divided on key interpretations of Scripture, such as the resurrection from the dead, temple worship, and messiah. Essentially what Rivkin does for us is to provide the vital historial, religious, and political context to the New Testament (NT) narratives, a context that is missing or out of focus for most Christians, who, wanting to focus mainly on the Gospel message, also absorb the palpable anti-Jewish tone throughout the narratives. Rivkin points out repeatedly that the anti-Jewish tone must be understood in the right context and cannot be construed as being anti-semitic in intent or interpreted as some kind of justication for the Christ-killer libel that has been propagated against Jews for centuries. In other words, for Christians, there is no justification based on NT Scripture that the Jews crucified Jesus; and, for Jews, there is no justification for slandering the writers of the NT by saying that they hated the Jewish people and thereby have spread their presumed hatred to the world through the NT Gospels, Letters, and histories. There is much more to this book, and it is worth the inexpensive price. It should be read by itself for the analysis and style, although it is repetitive in places because it is apparently an edited compilation of speeches by the author on the topic of Christian anti-semitism. An if any Christian doubts the extent of Christian anti-semitism in Church history and today, let him or her also read another seminal title, "The Anguish of the Jews" by the eminent and scholarly priest-author Edward Flannery, who died in 10/98 in his 80's. These books deal with a topic that is as current as today's headlines, on an issue that is at the heart of peace and justice in the world today, and at the heart the prophetic stories in the Bible. Importantly, Rivkin's book can give Jews and Christians another reason to understand and even trust each other a little bit more because of their common heritage and their G-d, in spite of doctrinal differences.

The author uses a unique style of analysis to bring new meaning to the documents and events we have read about for years. His understanding of the need for adaptation of social organism, imitation of structure and the need occasionaly in the crisis of survival to mutate old belief is crucial to an understanding of both historical Judaism and the subsequent development of Judaism's most powerful idea: monotheism. The reader will under stand all of historical religious development when the central question of religious history is kept in the foreground: How do we explain that the one God of the universe will take care of the covenant that was revealed to Abraham. Each stage of faith is a result of any answer to that question.

I loved this book it will make all pro-capital punishment people think otherwise immediately...what a beautifully written book...ive never seen anything like it...one word...magnifescent.If there was a sixth star this book would definately get it.

The idea is that the death penalty does not deter crime.Countries such as Sweden, Netherlands, Denmark, Switzerland, and Belgium have not carried out executions since the early part of the century, yet these countries have not experienced a rise in crime rates

This beautiful classic nursery rhyme by Eugene Field has comforted children off to sleep for generations and has endured as a favorite for good reason. The lovely, peaceful verse sings to us of a river of crystal light, a sea of dew, twinkling foam, nets of silver and gold, a moon that laughs and a wind that ruffles the waves. The illustrations that Johanna Westerman has supplied are the perfect compliment to this treasured story and are executed in watercolors using mostly sea green, blue and torquoise to create a moonlit vision of dreamland as the three children, Wynken, Blynken and Nod, set sail with their cat in a charming boat shaped like a wooden shoe. This is a soothing and gentle bedtime story and I highly recommend it.

My father used to recite this poem to my sister and I all the time. It's truly a beautiful poem that can still bring a sense of tranquility. This version is beautifully illustrated. I bought it for my nephew when he was a baby and since he was about 6 months, he was enthralled by the pictures.

An intriguing topic, but on close inspection the author's ideas appear to be irrational nonsense spiced with a lot of wishful thinking.

What creates what we see is a big mystery, which finds a compelling answer to my utter surprise in the book Theory of Interaction the Simplest Explanation of Everything by Eugene Savov. The proposed answer shows amazing picture of the universe supported with many confirmations from ambient and distant space, testable predictions and calculations. For example, the existence of planets in binary stellar systems had been predicted and it was later confirmed by observations.

The drawn SINGULARITY FREE cyclic behavior of the universe is revealed from thought experiments and qualitative considerations. The proposed "firework universe" beginning and unfolding is confirmed by the found normal galaxies at the fringes of the observable universe. These most distant space objects have to be older than the big bang universe because it takes too much time for their light to reach the earth. So less than enough time after the big bang is left for these galaxies to form.

The book brims with discoveries and it is also entertaining with strange metaphors and conjectures. The described findings will shake even the most skeptic minds.

I recommend Eugene Savov's Theory of Interaction to scientists, non-scientists and everyone puzzled by the conundrums, meaning and working of the universe and its inquisitive observer.

The big bang cosmology and its standing questions are briefly described in the book at most popular level. Eugene Savov tackles the problems of infinity, perception, space and time. He offers a pattern for the solar wind-magnetosphere interaction and then he makes a miraculous jump from this pattern into the structure of the universe. Afterwards Savov reveals an amazing world where everybody comes from its discovered source. The principle of economy says to avoid the vanity of doing with more what can be done with less. This principle is followed in the author's quest for a simpler and clearer picture of the universe. The suggested theory of interaction explains the origin of life and consciousness and also offers unexpected answers to many hard problems and puzzling observations.

Scientists and laymen will find the ideas of the theory of interaction attractive and rewarding. This book is a must for everybody sensitive of the enigmas of the space bodies, life and consciousness.