In this work Hunter looks at the culture wars and how they play out in the fields of the family, education, government and the media. His book is well researched and makes several good points. For instance, he argues that both sides must agree on basic definitions and standards before debate can make any sense. I had trouble with two aspects, though.

First of all, although the first half of the book is devoted to our history and earlier culture conflicts, Hunter never adequately explains how those fights led to our present one. How, for instance, does Protestant-Catholic argument about Bible use in public schools translate into today's argument over condom distribution? How does discrimination against Jews cease while controversy over homosexuals increases? It is clear that new coalitions have formed, but it is less clear just why.

Secondly, Hunter has an bothersome tendency to sprinkle the book with sociological jargon. He may be a sociologist, but the terms don't add much to our knowledge. Groups are said, for example, to use positive and negative face when talking about themselves and their opponents. But in the end isn't mud slinging simply mudslinging. Isn't ugliness mere ugliness. And while any book of this kind needs examples, Hunter goes overboard by providing examples everywhere. As a result the book becomes hopelessly predictable at times.

This was a textbook for me in seminary. I am in a conservative Presbyterian denomination and studied at a very conservative seminary, and this book got some interesting reviews from the students.

For me, it was a little difficult, since I don't have much background in sociology, but as I trudged through it I really grew to appreciate it. Some of my other classmates loved it too, but there were several who were quite taken aback by it. They didn't like it because Hunter didn't come out and condemn those who were on the wrong side of the culture wars.

But that is just the point - in this book he does not try to point out who is wrong and who is right, his object is to demonstrate why neither side is able to persuade, or prevail against the other.

Each side in the culture war has it's own set of presuppositions and assumptions that it speaks from. Because of this, that which seems most persuasive to one side completely misses those on the other side, because they don't share the same presuppositions. We are talking past one another.

Another problem that Hunter addresses is the issue of extremes and inflammatory rhetoric. Hunter says that, by and large, the culture wars are being fought by people on the extreme ends of their positions. So, the battle of the culture wars is usually fought with inflammatory rhetoric that doesn't persuade, it just angers.

As a sidenote I recently read a story about how communists used to train their young recruits. This particular communist said that when a young person adopted communism the best thing they could do was immediately set them on a street corner passing out communist leaflets. They would get attacked mercilessly, but this attack would only serve to harden and solidify the young communist in his or her beliefs.

I think Hunter shows this - the inflammatory rhetoric used by those on the extreme ends of the culture war debates, only serves to harden the other side in their respective positions.

So, if you are looking for quick answers, or a strategy to defeat your opponents, you won't find it here. But, if you are willing to begin to at least try to understand your opponents, as well as the larger issues, this is a great place to start.

The most significant contribution of James Davison Hunter's Culture Wars resides in the controversy and extensive scholarship that followed the publication of his book. In this work Hunter examines the discourse and methodologies of contempporary social movement organizations, and arrives at an interesting conclusion: while denominational differences may have declined in the second half of the 20th century, significant struggles within the realm of religion remain. The main divide that the author focuses on is that between the "orthodox" and "progressives." While the author does an admirable job of making connections between politics, religion, and social movements, his final anaylsis seems a bit simplistic. Hunter suggests that most of the current debates within American public culture can be expressed as struggles between two monolithic groups. However, other authors who have responded to Hunter's work have taken issue with this point, arguing that in terms of attitudes toward economic justice, the alignments that Hunter describes do not hold. In general, Hunter has provided an accessible, provocative account of contemporary conflicts in the public realm. His conclusions about what these conflicts mean for the future of American democracy are also quite insightful. The main limitation of the work is that his analysis may be overly simplistic, with not enough attention paid to the nuances of the debates that he describes.

Obviously, this book is not going to have wide appeal. I bought it more to put on display than read. My grandmother had done the genealogy work long ago so I already had the information.

Russell Lee Davisson has done an admirable job of making a rather dry subject come alive. The illustrations are the best part, putting a face on some locations. I would have appreciated some anecdotes, or greater historical background of the time periods. At the end of the day it is a list of names. It is, after all, a genealogy book. The book itself is nice looking, and goes on display well. Nothing fancy.

Some of his conclusions are a little odd, and his references to "Gaelic Propaganda" reveals a strange prejudice. As a student of the Scots-Gaelic language with friends in Gaelic speaking Scotland, I found this off-putting.

All in all, a nice book if you happen to be a Davisson

Russell Lee Davisson's genealogy book will of course be of primary interest to all the Davissons, Davidsons and Davisons who happen to be kin. It should be noted, however, that he went out of his way to make his book interesting to non-genealogy buffs by including more than just a list of names, dates and genealogy charts. He was thoughtful enough to incorporate interesting historical facts along with wonderful maps and illustrations provided by Pierre Bergem.

Anyone who has done genealogical research will understand that it is not easy to come up with cute anecdotes for each ancestor. Most people searching for their roots are primarily interested in finding out who their ancestors were, where they lived and died, and most importantly, who their children were starting with Daniel Davison "The Exile" in the mid-1600s and being able to trace them down to the current Davisson generations. In this, Russell Davisson has done an exceptional job.

Russell Davisson concentrated on the Davissons who migrated from Massachusetts to Long Island, on to New Jersey, and on to West Virginia, Kentucky and Iowa. His dedicating a chapter to each generation and his numbering system for each generation makes it simple to keep track of a particular family line from Daniel in 1650s Massachusetts to the present. It took me less than half an hour to trace my wife's ancestors up to "The Exile" and saved her hundreds of hours of research.

Also of importance is the fact that Davisson, Davidson, Davison descendants who have ancestors in this book will get a tremendous bonus in the outstanding 33 page index of other surnames to pursue other branches of their family tree.

I feel fortunate to have a few copies of Russell Lee Davisson's book, "The Davissons". As my grandmother was a double Davisson in that both her parents were Davissons and it was from her that I came to love to hear about our family heritage and learn our genealogy, I am very interested to know more about this family and their time in America. Mr. Davisson's book is very informative and I too like the drawings that are in it. I am glad to have my copy as well as a few extra to give to new found cousins who also exhibit an interest in this family history.

Most of Hunter's writing, with it's cumbersome, lengthy sentences full of sociological jargon, is hard to read, and the tiny type (10 point?) doesn't help. The section on the history of the techniques used for the moral education of our children, from the 18th century forward, is more straightforward. In the U.S., we started with commonly-held morals based on biblical commands and progressed to each of us making up his own individual set of values. The author is pessimistic about things getting any better. Don't look for solutions to the problems he enumerates. Rather, he sees us sliding down a slippery slope of disintegrating morals into eventual chaos. Honestly, if I'd known what the book would be like, I wouldn't have bought it. Having bought it, if someone had told me what it would be like, I wouldn't have read it. On the other hand, it was fascinating to see, from the history he details, just how we got from there to here.

Author James Davison Hunter is a very smart man who does a great job of tracing the changes in moral and social temperament over the years to show how weakened values and ideals have made their way into today's youth. "The Death of Character" has lots of important things to say about the "transformation of moral education" (the title of the book's largest part), and though Mr. Hunter's views are erudite, his writing is really hard to absorb. I'd be inclined to rate this more highly were it not for the fact that it took me forever to read. This book would be great as a university text.

Much of what is explained about how our children are turning out revolves around three strategies for moral education: psychological, neoclassical, and communitarian. I learned quite a bit reading about these approaches and their influence on not only "why Johnny can't read," but more importantly, "why Johnny lacks character." There's some good stuff to contemplate, and I found myself comparing my formative educational years with those of today's school kids. Yep, big difference. What Mr. Hunter has to say about the state of our youngsters must certainly be frustrating to the typical parent; however, there's not much in this book that addresses what to do about it. Disappointing in that regard.

Each page of "The Death of Character" is chock full of well-referenced, expository writing: full of discussion, argument and expanded viewpoints. Although truly interested in grasping all that Mr. Hunter had to convey, I found myself getting bogged down amidst cumbersome wording within too many long sentences that had me reading them over and over again to zero in on the point. My mind wandered frequently. The more than sixty(!) pages of notes were occasionally intimidating (some notes cover multiple pages of even tinier type).

Overall, the importance of the topics covered were outweighed by the low "readability factor." I'd have to tackle this book again to get out of it what I'd expected.

Character education is an inherent part of teachers' jobs. Whether intended or not, students learn just as much from the examples teachers set as the curriculum they teach. Formal character education, however, has become a recent outgrowth of growing concerns that our schools are not doing what they should to impart the common culture, or that schools are the panacea for society's ills.

Programs attempting to remedy these needs of society have been around as long as public schools have existed. As Hunter points out, these programs are not just a sign of the demand that exists, but are also a measure of the intensity of our fears.

Strategies we have devised, Hunter asserts, aggravate rather than ameliorate the problem. This comprehensive study of the history and philosophy behind the character education movement provides an insightful view of just why our best intentions tend to go awry when these attempts are administered.

Perhaps what we should be questioning is whether these are truly our best attempts. As Hunter says, "One need not listen very long to realize that children have become a code for speaking about ourselves. In claiming to put children first, we often place them last -- or at least subordinate to ideology."

This is a recommended read to any parents, teachers, or administrators thinking of putting into place a structured character education program in a school.

I suppose this is one of those book you either love or hate, and while I tend to love dark and dreary stories, I sure didn't care for this one. Originally published in England some five years ago, this sparse semi-thriller is so flat one wonders why the publishers decided to revive it. The brief story tells of a freelance worker for MI5 (the British FBI), whose task it is to take incriminating photos, break into people's houses, wiretap people, and soforth'all outside the normal system, so that MI5 can never be implicated. Divorced and alienated from the world, he sleepwalks through life rather like the fellow in Camus' The Stranger, spending most of his time soaking in the tub or getting drunk. When this "understapper," Henry Fielding, witnesses a murder by a cabinet minister, he begins to question his purpose in life. This leads to some rather haphazard attempts to change his life, but he seems to be stuck within the dark government machine. Davison writes in short and sparse sentences designed to evoke a very empty and dark tone, however the result overwhelms the book and kills any interest in the actual story. It's a style that actually might work much better on film, and it just so happens a TV movie was produced for Irish TV that will apparently air in late 2003. Those who loved the book will be glad to know it continues in McKenzie's Friend and The Long Suit.

Even before I read the reviews of the others the word delicious had come into my mind - not exactly the way I would normally describe a book but after seeing it described as "lean but tasty" I new I was in the same mind frame as some of the other reviewers. Every page offered something new, it was never boring- it was refreshing - not wordy, drawn out - and the characters were themselves - in other words no matter what bizzareness they were involved in they seemed real - I really liked it!!

This novel is rather unlike anything I've ever read before. At best, I could compare it to Camus' The Stranger, as it shares the same dark, surreal quality of narrative. However, in The Crooked Man, the protagonist, Harry Fielding, does manage to make a hint of peace with his circumstances, but it's a hellish sojourn before he obtains even that much.

Fielding is employed by the M15 to do someone else's dirty work, which puts him outside of the law, more or less. Although Fielding manages to escape the legal consequences reserved for ordinary citizens, his deeds do not go unpunished. As he goes through his existence making choices according to a half-anesthetized morality, he begins to become aware that he, as an individual entity, is being eclipsed by the shady manipulations of his unscrupulous boss. That sense of powerlessness breeds in him desperation, and as he makes his slow and steady way toward damnation, he discovers that potential exits are really deceptions that lead him back to his previous course and there are no u-turns to go back and undo past deeds. He also finds a singular yet grim consolation in knowing that he is not alone in being punished far more than he deserves, and becomes a sympathetic witness to the desperation, fear and suffering of others, from incidental strangers to his neighbors, friends and family. In the end, Fielding manages to thwart fatal resignation and comes to terms with his situation, acknowledging wryly the twisted means of his survival in a world dominated by desperation, confusion and moral ambiguity.

Author Davison's pithy and direct writing style is effective in evoking the sense of desperation and confusion felt and witnessed by the narrator. It's also a notable accomplishment by the author to have been able to capture the protagonist's disorientation so effectively while making the novel so readable. Additionally, Davison has a much more profound understanding of irony then many of his contemporaries, which affords some of the novel's most quotable bits. He does an equally commendable job in creating sympathetic, believable, even haunting characters, including smaller, marginal ones such as the drunk carrying the bag of coal. These characters are disturbingly memorable, as they become as etched into the reader's mind as in the protagonist's. Overall, this is an excellent, recommendable book, providing a poignant and unforgettable narrative of a very flawed and very human individual making his 'crooked' way in a very grey world.

I think we all agree that we would like to be good and moral people and to raise children who are good and moral. I have some problems around Coles' ideas of how to achieve this. He disregards well-researched principles of infant psychology, e.g. that a parent cannot really "spoil" a newborn baby. Nowhere does he refer to the research of people like Bowlby, who have found an association between secure attachment between parent and infant, and psychological health of the child.

A truly remarkable book that debunks the reductionism of social scientific and (to a somewhat lesser degree) psychoanalytic thinking with regard to the astonishing complexity of morality in thought, word, deed. Through discussions with children in the U.S. and Brazil he illustrates how difficult it is to completely understand or delineate morality however it may seem to manifest; how much its development is affected by and affects its social context; and the significance and malleabilty of religious beliefs. His respect and even reverence for the children he meets and describes is a beautiful thing. Despite new heights of Manichean reductionism in our current political scene, this book's discussions of the civil rights struggle, poverty in Brazil, and nuclear weapons are timeless. Worth reading and re-reading, and thinking about at deeper and deeper levels. Thank you, Dr. Coles. I look forward to reading many more of your books.

The TARDIS arrives above Earth in the year 2084, where things are quite tense. The world is broken in two hostile power blocs, fingers poised on their respective buttons. The TARDIS arrival is in the area under surveillance of an armed satellite, the Doctor dematerialises the ship and arrives in a Seabase, one of the lines of defence in Earth's cold war. There arrival corresponds to the plans of the Silurians and Sea-Devils, the original inhabitants of Earth...

This novel by Terrance Dicks is based on the original script by Johnny Byrne, who previously wrote 'The Keeper of Traken' and 'Arc of Infinity'. While Mr. Byrne's scripts started out quite good, they deteriorated over these stories (and one must ask to what extent script editor Eric Saward played in this...).

The problem with 'Warriors of the Deep' is that it is notionally a sequel to the Third Doctor stories 'The Silurians' and 'The Sea-Devils'. It contains references to previous encounters with these races - but which has no real resemblance to the earlier stories.

Reading the book gives you a huge advantage over those viewing the TV serial - you don't have to look at the Myrka, and you can imagine a truly horrendous monster...

Coffey examines John's life from his childhood days watching his father show up intermittently with money overflowing his pockets to John's tough early days seeking employment in Cleveland to his controlling of virtually all of the US oil supply. Coffey mentions repeatedly that John was "the most hated man in America" but focuses more on his charitable giving than on his inducing spite. John is portrayed as a hard worker and one who made some opportune choices in which industries to pursue, but he was not a particularly inventive businessman. He did surround himself with quality partners, though. One shortcoming is that the extent of John's wealth is never made clear; how did it compare to other financial giants of his time as well as how would it compare (taking into account inflation, of course) to people like Forbes and Bill Gates today? Also, a few items are alluded to but not developed, such as the enmity within the family for John by his brother Frank (and possibly others?) and the lack of friendship between John and J.P. Morgan. Being intended for a young adult readership I wouldn't expect all details to be present but since the book repeatedly mentions that John was "the most hated man" focusing a bit more on specific individuals who disliked him and how that dislike was manifested would add to the story. In general though the portrait of the intense, charitable yet borderline unscrupulous business tycoon provides enough details of personal and business life to satisfy.

This book deals with the life and times of a cow in Iowa.

Wasn't what I expected, but did have a wonderful ending.

Don't read this at night when your all alone in the house!

This book would make even William Randolf Hearst blush. McCartney uses innuendo, falsehood, and fabrication to create a highly skewed view of the well-known engineering construction company. While seemingly a "well-documented" work, he in fact uses "off the record" quotes and otherwise unattributed sources to paint a extremely unflattering picture of the company and its founders, owners and officers. Despite the apparent effort spent in researching his subject, he demonstrates a consistent ignorance of the industry he writes about including its practices and terminology. He casts a wide net of aspersions on the individuals who built the company by quoting unnamed sources and reiterating disproved allegations. He has a positive gift for making any legitimate business activity seem highly suspect, and alludes to "rumored" charges of impropriety without providing any documentation of such. The reader should view this work in the same manner as the depiction of an industry dinner in Washington D.C. recounted in the book's closing pages. The event described did in fact take place, but Mr. McCartney's insertion of Steven Bechtel Jr. into it is a complete fabrication.

An excellent book that provides an interesting insider's view into one of the largest engineering and construction firms of modern times. From the Hoover Dam to the Middle East to the United States Government, this book shows how the Bechtel Corporation did what it wanted to, when it wanted to, and used whom it wanted to as long as it made the few controlling members of it's management very rich. And all this was training for the government deals to come. This book offers a historical detailing of this company's ethical and social violations as well as the building of an empire. Read it.