As a resident of New Hampshire and High School Guidance Counselor, I became interested in William Wirt because of his involvement in the Dartmouth College Case. (Wirt represented New Hampshire, Daniel Webster the College). After reading this biography, I discovered that there was much more to Wirt than the law. Orphaned at age 7, Wirt was self educated and became a practicing attorney at age 20 in Madison County, Virginia. There he became a friend of Thomas Jefferson, James Madison and James Monroe, who encouraged the young man to excel in many fields. Wirt wrote "Letters of the British Spy" and an oft-quoted first biography of Patrick Henry. Wirt also wrote thousands of personal letters which were preserved. The author excerpts the most interesting portions of these letters to Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, John Adams, John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster, Dabney Carr, St. George Tucker and others in this well-witten book. Before his death, Wirt ran for president in 1832 (winning only Vermont), and attempted to form a sugar cane "colony" (Wirtland) in Florida, using German immigrants as an alternative to African-American slaves. I found Wirt a fascinating historical figure and this book a well-researched and easy-to-read biography.

This a Bed & Breakfast guide which assumes that the Bed & Breakfast itself is a signficant part of the vacation. It tends to focus on accomodations in quaint and stately houses in quaint and stately locations. For this reason, you will find listings for historic Galena, Illinois (a small town, nearer to Iowa than any major center in Illinois) but none in the Chicago area (even the more historic older suburbs). Although there was nothing for Chicago, there were listings for B & B's in New Orleans and San Francisco.

This is also not a budget guide. The examples mostly seem to be top-of-the-line. There isn't any attempt to identify best buys, for example. These are accomodations for major vacations, not improptu stopovers.

That said, the descriptions of the various B & Bs are very thorough and attractive- they make you truly want to go there. They include historical information about the buildings and information about what the owners bring to their businesses that makes them special. The editors take pains to note that the entries are not paid advertisements but included only because of the writers' judgement.

One detail I often found to be missing was information that would help me orient myself quickly in a major city. There wasn't a whole lot of "close to downtown." I've been to New Orleans, so I know what "near City Park" means. By contrast, I could sort of tell that some of the San Francisco listings were in urban neighborhoods but it was often hard to tell how convenient to the center of things one would be. A map, of course might quickly resolve this problem but it's even more helpful to have it right there in the text- especially since the book has no maps of its own.

American Negro Slavery is Ulrich Phillips' attempt to provide an overview of the practice and institutions of slavery in the Americas from its inception through the 19th century. Writing in 1918, Phillips hoped to provide an account of slavery based upon historical evidence and modern methods of research, rather than polemics or ideological motivations. He thus drew his evidence from the plantation records and letters of slave owners, contemporary travel accounts, court records and legal documents, newspaper articles, and in some instances the recordings of slaves themselves, rather than what he viewed as more biased sources such as abolitionist writings and other agenda-driven polemicals. While this approach was not systematic, and led him to base many of his conclusions upon anecdotal evidence and an over reliance upon particular chroniclers of the South such as Frederick Law Olmsted, the bulk of his findings are supported by subsequent scholarship.

Indeed, in the descriptive portions of the work, Phillips was generally on target though lacking in depth. It is in the analytical portions that latter-day historians would take exception to his findings, as they are based more upon his personal beliefs concerning race, rather than documented evidence.

Phillips mainly concerns himself with the economic and political aspects of slavery; the bulk of the book is therefore devoted to an examination of how westward expansion (from European exploration through American settlement) coincided with economic development and resulted in the creation of legal institutions protecting slavery in those regions where a deficit of labor and a surplus of arable land combined to make it a viable method of production. He seldom concerns himself with the experiences of slaves themselves, though where he does he finds that most were well provided for materially and treated with less than brutality by their masters, who for both economic and moral reasons had an interest in the happiness and well-being of their property. He does not deny that slaves were whipped, performed dangerous or tedious tasks, or were separated from their families, but indicates that such occurrences were the exception rather than the rule. Nor does he find that slaves were particularly susceptible to laziness or criminality, or that the threat of slave uprisings was as great as contemporary whites assumed, since the racial characteristics of slaves included loyalty, geniality, and a predisposition to manual rather than intellectual labor. Phillips also explores the profitability of slavery as an institution, but finds that further investigation is required, as while the tendency of slave owners to keep their capital invested in slaves rather than industry resulted in a lack of economic diversification in the South, it also resulted in great profits during times of high demand for agricultural products.

Despite his racial assumptions, Phillips was certainly no apologist for slavery. He is quick to point out the cruelty and immorality of the system, and is less than persuaded of the greatness of European civilization as an excuse for the enslavement of Africans. Watching the collapse of Europe in WWI and experiencing its effects firsthand (he wrote the book from an Army camp) may have contributed to his outlook. While he may be criticized for his racial beliefs and lack of interest in the social dynamics of slavery, in this he is a product of his times. The fact that he wrote in the interest of scholarship, attempting to produce a work based upon historical evidence rather the promotion of an ideological agenda, makes American Negro Slavery a valuable contribution, still useful in its basic descriptive findings.

This book is just full of all those latin phrases you hear or read and pretend to understand. It tells you their english equivalents, and gives examples of usage so you can become one of those annoying intilectuals who knows what te moritori salutante means. The Webster's of latin phrases.

Dear Could-Be Reader of "Applications of Statistical Physics": First of, I am one of the editors of the book that I am going to review. Therefore, because of clear reasons I wish to underscore that the book stands formally for an imprint of the Special Issue of Physica A 274/1-2, which means, an international and quite commonly accepted journal on statistical mechanics. This book is, in my very "privite" opinion, a collection of things that reflect at first glance: (i) quite commonly noticeable nowodays tendency of stat physics to get more and more specialized topics as well as areas of exploration, i.e. a tendency to split up into applications in different areas of interdisciplinary research done, for example, in biophysics, physical chemistry and electrochemistry, medicine, economics&finance, epidemiology, meteorology, etc. (a GLOBAL character of the 'state of the art') (ii) wishes of stat physicists to have their tools as being more and more efficient and self-contained to be capable of revealing just the germ of a certain phenomenon under study (a LOCAL character of the 'state of the art'; see, applications of the so-called scaling concept in different areas of research). This having been said, the book contains a GAP between the globality and locality just mentioned, so that it is somehow DISCONTINUOUS as probably all the physics books nowadays seem to be. But this undoubtedly means that this book stands on a real ground, reflects this way at least some of fears of modern quantitative science, and shows somehow, perhaps indirectly, how to remedy the situation that appeared also in (statistical) physics at the millennary turnover (or, at least, how to go on in a few next steps). In other words, I wish to say that the book is therefore so much interesting, because it reveals, just by its content, necked (also, promising) truth of the discipline under presentation. In my opinion, the truth sounds probably: The research must proceeds in a "complex way", which means, in inderdisciplinary, though very specialized but interactive groups of researchers. Moreover, the book contains a SELECTION of invited papers as well as contributions of very world-wide physicists, working in this area of interest, including the Nobel Price Winner'91 in Physics P.-G. De Gennes from Paris (opening paper) as well as many really prominent scientist and their possible successors. With best regards. Yours, sincerely, Adam Gadomski /editor/

with this book is that it's too short. I have found it useful as a solid tool to interact with the historicity of the Bible. Oh, one more problem...there needs to be an updated edition. It's great, even for practical pastoral work!

After Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain," the two most important Arthurian Chronicles were Wace's "Roman de Brut" and Layamon's "Brut." This Everyman Paperback edition presents these two works as translated by Eugene Mason circa 1912. The name "Brut" reflects that of "Brutus," the eponymous founder of the British race and history. Robert Wace was a Norman-French writer, born in Jersey circa 1100 and educated at Caen. While Wace does follow Geoffrey in terms of order and substance, he did have access to additional sources as well and adds not only new scenes to the Arthur legend but made him even more courtly than Geoffrey had accomplished in transforming the folk-hero of Welsh legend into the epitome of the Christian monarch. Little is known about Layamon, except that he lived at the end of the 12th century and was connected with the church of Arley Regis in north Worcestershire. Layamon is the first important poet to write in Middle English and his "Brut," a direct imitation of Wace's "Roman de Brut," is the first story about Arthur written in English instead of Saxon. In addition to Arthur we find stories about Lear and Cymbeline along with other prominent English legends. Layamon downplays the French influences and transforms Arthur into an English hero, "English" in the sense of "Beowulf," which menas more of a Germanic hero who is brave and daring. In this account we find a more complete account of the founding of the Round Table and Layamon even works in elves that attend the infant Arthur and bestow upon him gifts. Consequently, these Arthurian Chronicles continue the evolution of the Arthurian legend from its Welsh legends and Geoffrey's history, adding episodes and transforming the central character. Geoffrey of Monmouth's "History of the Kings of Britain" remains the primary original text for King Arthur and is the obvious first choice for any class covering the Arthurian legends. But these works are important for a more complete understanding of the Medeival Arthur. Mason's translation is somewhat stilted, but actually suits the texts somewhat, so it is not as disconcerting as translations down during that same period of Greek or Latin works.

Although containing example code in Common Lisp, the Common Lisp is of Steele's 1st edition variety, (NOT 2nd. edition). Logical symbolic processing employing manipulation of some truth maintenence systems and nets is informative.

Reading Aucassin and Nicolette was amusing and enjoyable. The love story of Aucassin and Nicolette is entwined with battles, journeys, and rebellion. It is a light-hearted parody that inlcudes mocking the church, fighting wars with fruit and cheese, and a king in childbed. The issues of medieval times are demonstrated when Aucassin and Nicolette's love is challenged by social order, land, and isolation. Overall, every reader should find this story delightful in its simplicity.

Kennedy and Charles present a view of how trust has been eroded in American society. This leads to difficulties in many areas of our lives: marriage, family, religion, the professions. The authors contrast authority with authoritarianism. This lack of trust (stemming from the Vietnam years, in my opinion) results in traditional authority being degraded. Thus, unhealthy situations are created as use of authority is somehow a violation of one's rights. Through the internet, information is more readily available, flattening corporate heirarchy. These changes are difficult for some. The authors give anecdotal examples in the various areas mentioned above.The one difficulty with the book is the abrupt ending. The summary of the book is the introduction and first chapter. As a manager/leader, the book heightens awareness of the need to build trust and not appear to co-workers as authoritarian.