This is the book to read if, like a lot of us, you were outraged by the killing of the gay student in Wyoming and want to do something about it. "Hate Crimes: Criminal Law & Identity Politics" makes clear that what we SHOULDN'T do is adopt more legislation singling out hate crimes for special punishment. The authors are sensitive to the plight of victims. But they point out, in subdued, legalistic language, the morass of problems that can face us: Which groups should be included? Why is one victim's suffering worthy of more punishment than another's? Isn't there a danger that hate-crime investigations will end up being an inquiry into the criminal's thoughts?

The only problem with this book is the writing. It's not particularly bad. But it isn't compelling. The organization of each chapter is professorial (one of the authors is a law professor). Segments are pedantically labled, as if they were lecture notes and not a book about a widening legal and societal issue that is intrinsically interesting. The authors end chapters with conclusions that reiterate what we have just read. The writing feels as if the authors dictated it, then lightly edited it.

But the writing weaknesses are only a small impediment. A serious reader, worried about how to deal with crimes committed out of bigotry, will find this book thought-provoking and, at the end, convincing.

This book is a clearly written and well researched discussion of the notion of "Hate Crime". It clearly shows that the tendency of some states in the United States to pass hate crime legislation is a poor response to a complex phenomena. The authors show that in fact hate crime has been declining and the passing of laws probably lead society to become more divisive.

The statistical material suggests in fact that there has been a decline in prejudice over time and that current criminal laws handle issues of social conflict in an adequate way. The setting up of hate crime units and the passing of laws has achieved little and used scarce resources.

Hate crimes it would appear are an issue that is pushed by parties of the left in the United States. (Perhaps more accurately parties of the not so right). This attack however is not some piece of political rhetoric based on a political position but a clear inditment of poorly worked out social policy.

This short book covered virtually every possible angle that many liberals use to justify new laws seemingly every time a crime is perpetrated against someone who falls into on of the "so- called" minority or protected groups. These two authors should be commended on the fine job of laying out the facts. The task is noble but I think today most of Americans think that all our problems can be solved by the Government by passing another law. But as the authors point out in the book the facts just don't substantiate a "wave" of hate crimes to need any additional laws. In fact laws are already on the books that cover every conceivable crime. With the addition of new laws will be the incentive for many minorities to claim racism when attacked by someone white.

For the serious Civil War researcher, The Sultana Tragedy is a very seriously well researched book. For an average reader, The Sultana Tragedy is gripping only in that the subject matter has barely been covered anywhere else, and the book lacks any gripping narrative. What it is a very unbiased account of a little known disaster, the explosion and sinking of the steamship Sultana. Over 1800 recently released Union soldiers, heading home from Southern POW camps perished, setting a body count that was higher than that of the Titantic, but almost completely overlooked

One of the returning Union POW's on the Sultana was my 3rd Great-Uncle Pvt. Wesley Lee of the Ohio 102nd Infantry. Uncle Wesley was one of the fortunate ones. He survived that awful disaster. Jerry Potter has done a great service to Uncle Wesley's comrades who perished in the Sultana explosion and aftermath. His excellent research, along with Gene Salecker's earlier work, goes a long way to bringing to light what has to rank as America's most "forgotten" tragedy. No Civil War library shelf is complete without this book.

I finished reading The Sultana Tragedy: America's Greatest Maritime Disaster on December 7 while on vacation in Aruba. The news of that day was that it was 58 years since that infamous day at Pearl Harbor. Yet it struck me odd that practically no one today was aware of the Sultana tragedy of April 27, 1865. The 2300 killed by the enemy at Pearl Harbor were only slightly higher than the estimated 1800 who lost their lives that forgotten night with the Sultana.

As my fifth and seventh grade sons stepped into the overheated Jacuzzi to listen to Jerry Potter's story, the initial shock of the excessive hot water put them in an appropriate listening mood. Memphis Attorney Potter's study of the disaster is no doubt the most comprehensive examination of this 133-year-old incident. Why, I wondered, why did this disaster become lost in the memories of America? While I have vague memories of the Sultana from my Tennessee history professors and Memphis law school days, Potter's book easily captivated my attention as I roved through its 300 pages with 655 footnotes, pictures and a comprehensive list of the passengers. Perhaps, this history was lost because of timing. April 1865 had seen headlines of the end of the Civil War, the assassination of President Lincoln and the capture of John Wilkes Booth. And the Eastern newspapers were apparently not that interested in what happened on America's western front.

My sons being very familiar with last year's top movie, "Titanic," gave their full attention as I explained what I had just read. As a 31 year veteran of the Army and history buff, it puzzled me also why the Army has not covered this topic substantially. The Titanic's 1522 deaths are less than the 1800 who died with the Sultana. Of the approximately 765 individuals who immediately survived the disaster, nearly half would die within days of their recovery from the dark and cold Mississippi River. These U.S. prisoners of war had just endured the worst of all times at the infamous Andersonville and Cahaba prison camps. Over 20,000 US POWs had died during imprisonment while the South had over 23,000 of its prisoners to die in Northern prisons. Many recently released prisoners, weighing in at less than 100 pounds, believed that they were finally going home after the War. The worst was over they thought.

The Sultana Steamship, one of the largest and best steamers supposedly every made, was only designed to carry 376 passengers. In the hurry to leave Vicksburg, an estimated 2500+ passengers crowded aboard, including crew and other non-military passengers. The Steamship Captain hurried a boiler repair that remains the primary suspect of the explosion, yet others believed that perhaps a revengeful Rebel might have placed explosives in the coal. Bribery, political influence, greed, indifference, criminal misconduct, and gross stupidity allowed the overloading of the ship at Vicksburg, Mississippi. Visions of being home in a few days perhaps were worth the crowding in the minds of these ex-prisoners who had seen much worst.

Prior to departure, the steamer's first clerk remarked that this would be greatest trip ever made on western waters since there were more people on the Sultana's board than previously carried on any one boat in the Mississippi River. The Sultana also carried a large store of freight of sugar, wine, mules, hogs, and the crew's pet alligator. Due to the spring time floods of the Mississippi River, water was cold and swift; the river spread several miles as it flowed over fields and its banks. Even though other steamers were available, the ship's crew and passengers wanted to get the trip on.

At approximately 2 a.m., April 28, 1865, the worst nightmare that could occur happened. The Sultana's boilers blew sending scalding steam over many passengers; decks crashed pinning hundreds of passengers in an inferno to burned alive, and it was miles to the shore in icy cold water- and there was only one lifeboat. For days following, bodies were found floating in the Mississippi - many unclothed. Animals were found lunching on human carcasses days later.

My sons asked why no movies tell the story concerning the Sultana since it includes hundreds of touching stories. Assuming Potter's accurate description, perhaps it is really too tragic for viewers to envision. I wondered where could actors be found to portray the large group of frail men on the steamer? Absent Hitler's holocaust camps, perhaps there have been no collection of humans as frail as these released Confederate Prisoner of War Camps survivors.

While citizens of Memphis, whose allegiance had been with the opposing force, opened their homes and care giving to the survivors with true Southern hospitality, the aftermath of seeking fault and blame paints a sad story. Potter's research included the investigations that followed. Further, the lengthy court-martial of Captain Frederick Speed who was convicted but then set aside by the Army's Judge Advocate General. No doubt this explosion should not have rested on one lowly Captain when others were equally or more responsible. Although it is apparent that there were many faults in arriving at the disaster and even questions as to what caused the Sultana's boilers' to explode, the matter was swept under the rug.

Most tragic is the manner in which this country treated these victims. This feeling is best summarized by a bitter survivor: "The men who endured the torments of a hell on earth, starved, famished from thirst, eaten with vermin, having endured all the indignities, insults and abuses possible for an armed bully to bestow upon them, to be so soon forgotten does not speak well for our government or for the American people."

This is a well-crafted romance set during the American Revolution. Many of the characters are actual historical figures doing precisely what they did during the early 1780s. The story revolves around the actual Francis Marion, nicknamed by the British "the Swamp Fox."

I love this book! no words can describe how much i loved this novel by patricia potter! i've read this book 3 yrs ago, and being a new reader of romance, i was totally engrossed with this story! i cried, i laughed, i smiled.. it truly is a memorable book, and will always have a special place in my heart! i totally recommend it, you won't be disappointed.

When I read this book I was 12. I know that what I was doing was forbidden as I was, according to my mother, " Too young to have romance messing her head!" Well, being a rebellious 12 year old, I decided that I would continue reading whatever I wanted to. Looking over the synopsis of 'Swamp Fire,' I was interested. After reading the book I was in love. The book managed to bring to life a tired storyline and made it into a completely fresh and entertaining story. The characters were so vivid and normal that I felt as if I knew them and that, if I turned around just then, I would see both Sam and Connor there behind me. Patricia Potter manages to bring out the emotions and dilemmas that her characters go through and manages to bring her readers into it. I loved the way that Connor acted when he discovered that Samantha was a girl and I enjoyed their romance. I also cried when Connor left Samantha because it felt as if I was Samantha. The portrayals of the characters were so skillful that the whole story has stayed with me until this day eventhough I had read the book 8 years ago. . This is definitely one book worth reading over and over again.

Salt crystals are cubes, angular and edgy. So too is Mary Potter Engel's first novel. It's taken me months to finish. The yearning pain of this woman's search for wholeness is sometimes bitter, sometimes frightening, but never whining or sentimental. MEP's use of traditional Rabbinic storytelling forced me to remain constantly uncertain but open to different understandings of her pain...Perhaps that is what made the hard sharpness of her woman worth months of wondering reading.
I look forward eagerly to Mary Potter Engle's next work...and wonder how the conflicted bond of love she discovers, might evolve...I find myself yearning to witness how the angles and edges morph.

A Woman of Salt is a beautifully written novel, composed of soulful language with a down to earth description of life. The midrashim, akin to the interludes in a song, are not only enlightening but enrich the novel. I thoroughly enjoyed this book not only because I could relate to the protagonist but also because it is the story of all those women whose lives are a constant struggle between light and darkness, the mind and the body, God and the world. The novel is not just a story of mother-daughter relationships but more so the determination of a woman (Ruth) not to let her past drown her but swims through it to the shore, to a new life. It is the tale of a woman who swam through the tunnel with darkness closing in around her and yet lunges forward to find the light at the end of the tunnel; a woman who took along her past to live the present. It tells of the courage of a woman who is not afraid to look back and become a woman of salt, a woman of spirit and substance, not turning away from God but toward God. It actually is the triumph of good over evil, a journey of faith - a twentieth-century woman of faith's confessions where Ruth puts her life through a microscope. She looks at the events of her life individually (abuse, drugs, suicide attempt), overcomes fear and anger - the two things that hinder the working of the Spirit - and learns to take responsibility and move on. A Woman of Salt is the tale of the journey of the soul, of self-examination where Ruth realizes that she needs to let go of the intellect to take on the body , the reality of existence. The novel is the story of a woman who decides not to be a victim but a victor, a sea turtle that dares to stick her head out of her shell and hold it up instead of being weighed down by her shell of burdens.
A Woman of Salt makes one think about what it means to reconnect with those who do not follow us. It reminds us that we need to be broken to be able to reconnect, to be made whole. A broken bone is stronger once it reconnects and knits together.

The character who tells the story of "A Woman of Salt" always feels that her mother is watching her. In her most rebellious moments, she knows that her mother knows, and that her mother always knew she would turn out this way. Yet this sense of being haunted by her mother's presence and disapproval is not entirely a morass of self-pity. Like our relationships in real life, this one is not one-dimensional.
The book's disjointed episodes are linked by a commentary on the biblical event in which Lot's wife turned to a pillar of salt, and the question the reader must ask is, who is the woman of salt in the novel? Who is really central to the story?
The writing is vivid and polished. Sometimes I had to stop in midstream because a sentence or phrase was so compelling. However, I couldn't put the book down, although I tried. I wanted it to last a long time. Unfortunately for me, it is a short book.
I recommend this book to any woman who ever struggled with her relationship with her mother (and who doesn't?) or to anyone who ever wondered what really made Lot's wife turn around.

This is a very useful and intelligent book for beginning cellists. There is a wealth of information about cello technique, and an abundance of musical and even physical exercises (along with detailed instructions on how to read music). I am very glad I bought this book -- it's a gem.

This book culminates a top quality effort in pedagoy in cello technique. It is intended for beginners in the cello, but probably should be on every amateur cellist's book shelf as a valuable resource guide. There is probably a good three years worth of material here. I'll let you know when I finish it!

This effort to present the art of playing the cello in a systematic way--a "cello method", however, both enhances and detracts from the lasting usefulness of this book. If you follow through this book step-by-step, and gain some proficiency in a topic prior to moving on to the next topic, you will eventually learn the cello.

But the systematic presentation makes this book difficult to use in diagnosing difficulties in technique that are the result of improper form, or motion. The material is there, but sometimes it takes a good while to find the exact presentation you are looking for. But still, the author's insight into the difficulties students tend to accumulate are well worth the effort required to track it down. Who knows, maybe you will learn something else while you are perusing the book. But I find it difficult to come up with an approach that would accomadate this usage, so I do not criticise this. On the contrary, I think more non-beginning amateurs should get this book for this purpose! The effort is worthwhile.

The only criticism of this book that I have is that it does use pictures to show posture, and so on. I am sure that in the early editions of this book, the pictures were wonderfully clear and illustrate the subtleties of form and posture precicely. But the current printing quality leaves a lot to be desired, sadly. It would be well worth someone's time to replace the pictures with line drawings, which do not lose content as the printing quality deteriorates. And a fingerboard chart would really be helpful.

This book is a definite must!

Beatrix Potter was born on July 28,1866 in London, England. Her parents were Rupert and Helen Potter. She had a brother named Bertram. She was an author and illustrator. Beatrix's real name was Helen Beatrix Potter but people called her Beatrix. She got engaged to her editor named Norman Warne, but before they got married Norman got sick and died. Beatrix was very sad. But then she got married to a man named William Heelis. Her first book was "The Tale of Peter Rabbit". Beatrix died in 1943 at the age of 77. And her children books are still loved by kids all over the world today.I liked this book because since she was an illustrator and author it encourages me to reaad and write more.

I was so fortunate to find this book. I had to find out historical facts about Beatrix Potter because I was doing an author study on her. This book helped me out so much. The illustrations were wonderful. The book told so many facts about her childhood and the things that she liked to do as a child. There were so many things in the book that I did not know about her. I still would not know the information about her, if I had not found this book. I read it out to my class instead of taking notes out of it because it was so wonderful.

I have NOT seen this book, but I saw the PBS special it is based on and that was 5 stars. I am in fact desperately looking for the video of it. Breshnahan is able to fuse his art, a sense of environmentalism, and a back to basics attitude to produce works of clay that are magnificent in of themselves, but the process behind making them is even more so. A great American artist.

This is an extraordinary book. Richard Bresnahan's life, and his pottery, reflect ancient traditions of Japanese pottery and Midwestern pragmatism. His arrival at St John's University where he establishes not only a new pottery but an inspiring lifestyle. This is the story of craftsmanship, spirituality, self-sufficiency and an environmentally alive way of life. The photos of the pottery are exquisite. The explanation of where the pottery fits into the tradition is informative. The story of the man - Bresnahan - and his passion for pottery is inspiring. You will learn about pottery in this book. More importantly you will be exposed to a way of living, a lifestyle of craft and an approach to the environment that is truly spiritual. I have been reading the sumptuous hard bound... but there is also a ... paperback version. This book would be an excellent gift book for any friend who is a potter or passionately involved with another craft. Bresnahan's life and work will inspire you to get out of the fast lane and find a more integrated way of living. You will return to this book over and over again. I have - and each time I learn something new, or some new insight breaks through the busy routines of family and work. The text is clear and to the point. The artfully done photos are a delight in themselves, with detailed captioning that describes the pottery piece, how it was fired and how it might fit into the ceramics tradition. A special thanks to the Afton Historical Society Press for putting out such a wonderful book.

Although another Latin translation of a modern book is most welcome, I was a bit disappointed in the lack of an introduction by the authour shedding light on the experience of translating this book into Latin, and the lack of a glossary in the back with the "difficult" words.
The other annoying thing is the fact that the authour begins sentences with lower case letters. What was he thinking of? This is simply distracting/annoying.

This is a smooth and clever translation, perfect for the person who wants an enjoyable quick read to refurbish fluency in the language. The bright style of the original is preserved, and it is obvious that the translator has his own sense of humor as well, playing with words and phrasing without sacrificing accuracy. This book would make an excellent supplementary text for students at about second-year level.

I would like to see the other books in the series put into Latin, although I know that is too much to hope for; however, these books would be a wonderful study series if translated in accord with the level of the book in English, each becoming more complex.

Although I am not a Latin teacher and haven't really kept up with Latin since I took courses in college many years ago, I found this book delightful. The Latin is grammatically easier even than Caesar, and the vocabulary for the most part within the typical vocabulary of high school courses in Caesar and Cicero (but "Gestatio"?), with the usual invented modern words and some that seem to be from late or medieval Latin. For the most part, the meaning even of the unusual words seemed to be fairly apparent. The story is much better than I expected, and the Latin more manageable than Winnie Ille Pu or even Regulus. I might have preferred "Henricus Figulus" -- but there's no reason to be picky with such a delightful book. I'm actually looking forward to Harrius Potter et Camera Rerum Arcanarum.

maybe It's because I'm not a potter fan... I've read his books, and liked them, so I got this book from a freind and read it It's not a bad book... It's just intended 4 the hooked. If u r 1 of them buy it, and you'll enjoy it very much, but if you're not - don't waste your money... the characters and the plot that make the other potter books are much less interesting in this one, and it's realy not 4u.

We have all of the sticker books and it is nice to see what the characters look like. It is also fun to play with the stickers and set up different scenarios. These sticker books have helped Harry and friends come to life.

I purchased this sticker book and absolutely love it. Great stickers that show the characters in the Harry Potter Book series in great detail. The stickers bring them alive. Would recommend for any "Potter Fan"...

Lo disfrute en espanol, lo que me sorprendi que podia. Me pregunto: a lectores espanoles y latinoamericanos, suena la traduccion como espanol en verdad o mas como ingles traducido palabra por palabra? Espero seguir con El caliz de fuego, y quisiera encontrar otros libros de esta nivel de dificultad para desorollar mas mi capaz de leer. Gracias, J. K. y traductores.

Harry va para su 3er año en Hogwarts, como siempre, con problemas con su parentela muggle (mortales sin magia), huye de la casa y el mismo ministerio de magia se encarga de llevarlo a al colegio. Sirius Black, el presunto complice de Lord Voldemort, ha escapado de la cárcel de Azkaban... Los guardianes de la carcél seres que absorben la fecilidad de las personas, tienen en jaque y mate harry; Hagrid tiene un nuevo monstruo, Hermione tiene su primer gato que entra en conflicto con la sospechosa rata de Ron. Más intrigas y verdades a descubrirse... leanlo... es bueno. Debilidades: Mucha descripción pictórica y detalles inconcluyentes que dejan un final parco.

Harry potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is a great book! I enjoied it very much in spanish. Harry Potter is once again having many adventures, but one could cost his live. Who will help him with his troubles, what obsticles will he meet, but most important will he come out alive? They only way to find out, is to read this facinating book! Now people of all languages can enjoy all books in the HARRY POTTER seires!