An excellent piece of work by Richard Henderson. The only comprehensive account of the traditions of the people of Onitsha, who descend from the powerful and equally complex Benin Empire. The explanation of the traditions and the clarity of the ritual is truly marvelous - it is a shame it is out of print and worse still, most of those who were interviewed are long passed, leaving this as one of the few embodiments of a culture little understood even by those who claim to be its keepers today.

This is a great book! Lloyd Baird and John Henderson has drawn from their years of research in-sights in dealing with practical and real life issues in knowledge space. Concepts and anecdotes are interwoven in a meaningful way that I as a reader found easy to read and comprehend.

A very practical, 3-part resource for managers and leaders across a wide range of experiences. In Part 1, the authors identify 37 leadership and organizational skills and attributes. They define buzzwords and jargon that are often misunderstood and misused, and provide easy to understand examples of these concepts. This is especially useful to new or less experienced individuals. Part 2 provides easy-to-use assessment tools allowing managers to assess themselves in the 37 areas. It also provides tools designed to get feedback from peers, as well as from associates above and below them. Part 3 gives step-by-step approaches to improving performance in each of the 37 leadership areas.

The book can be used as the overall template of leadership development or simply as a tool to help tune-up one or more specific skills. The book would be ideal as a component of a corporate development program or an addition to any manager's library.

Deftly edited for contemporary readers by Alvin O. Turner, Letters From The Dust Bowl is a collection of letters and published materials written by Caroline Henderson (1877-1965), a woman who lived through the Oklahoma Dust Bowl and the Great Depression. Her articles on the Dust Bowl first began appearing in "Atlantic Monthly" in 1931, drawing the woes of American farmers into the public eye. Her correspondence and articles, which date from 1908 to 1966, offers insight into the daily struggle to put food on the table, and her descriptions of the dust storms that covered the Plains are unforgettable. Enhanced with a biographical essay and precise annotations supplementing this extraordinary compilation, Letters From The Dust Bowl is highly recommended for students of 20th Century American History.

Alvin Turner likes to quip that "Letters from the Dustbowl" is the "best written book" that the University of Oklahoma Press will publish this year. Indeed, Caroline Henderson, the author of the columns and letters it contains, may be the most quoted authority on the social aspects of the dustbowl. Her views on Oklahoma farm life were disseminated across the country both in her columns for "Ladies' World," and her "Letters from the Dustbowl," were published in "Atlantic Monthly." In selecting material for this book, Turner told me that he had twice as many columns and letters than would fit. Alvin Turner is the Dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at East Central University in Ada, Oklahoma.

Caroline Henderson moved to a farm near Eva, Oklahoma, in 1907. During the next six decades, she and her husband, Will, endured the hardship of depressions and the dustbowl on their farm, with really only one bumper crop to show for their labors. Turner's overall introduction, as well as his introduction to each section, does well to place Henderson's life in context. She had great dreams for her life, both as a literate woman and as a farmer but by the end of her life, she is disillusioned and considers herself a failure.

Most of Henderson's farming experience demonstrates that dreams can save a person from an otherwise mean life. In 1917 she wrote, "The fact that we cannot see the end does not relieve us of our obligation to push forward, to gain every inch we can in humanity's forward march." As a young farm wife, she met challenges with inventiveness, and hardship with strong will. Even as crops withered and neighbors moved away, she finds beauty in flowers and friendship in animals. However, too many failed crops and dried-up dreams took their toll on Henderson's optimism. In 1952, she wrote in a letter to her daughter, "Every day seems to bring some new sorrow in these last years of fruitless effort and disappointment." With dreams dashed, Henderson loses all sense of proportion and she reads each setback as catastrophe.

"Letters from the Dust Bowl" is as heartbreaking as it is inspirational. Al Turner is right; it's a very well written book.

In anticipation of several planned trips to the beach, I bought THE LITTLE BOAT for my 2 year old son. I love that it is written without punctuation. It is actually a poem...sometimes verses rhyme and sometimes they don't. The reader gets to decide when and where (and if) to pause. It is up to the reader to provide animated emphasis to phrases and to quicken or slow the pace. I like that. Like a song, the reader provides the "arrangement." When I read it aloud to my son, it sounds very different than when my husband reads it. The more emotion and variance in timbre, the better.

The first time I read it aloud, I was just feeling my way through and it didn't have a great impact on my audience. By the third time I read it, my son was very excited and now asks for this book nightly. If your toddler occasionally turns a page ahead of time, missing half a page doesn't really affect the lyrical flow of the book (and in most places, not even the storyline), which is a great plus!

This book is labeled for ages 4+, and I'm happy to be able to find an interesting children's book with great illustrations that shows a new slant on writing style. Especially endearing is the little song that ties the beginning and end together so sweetly "We are unsinkable, my boat and me." Of course, those words simply must be sung, not read (no matter what the quality of your singing voice may be).

In addition to the lovely poetic style of this book, the simple story of a toy made from scrap styrofoam/stick/string and it's descriptive journey across the sea from one child to another carries with it a multitude of lessons...materialism, nature, ecology, consequences, connection. I just hope my paperback version holds up over the years.

What a fun cookbook, America's favorite mom has created! It's filled with delicious recipes and delightful stories of Florence's childhood! You'll laugh, you'll cry...and you'll come to know the story of "a lovely lady" who raised four children of her own and survived a childhood as the youngest of 10 kids! She should be given an award just for that alone!

In a city where eating is a main attraction, New Orleans cuisine is as distinctive as it is succulent. A Little New Orleans Cookbook charmingly showcases some of the Big Easy's most beloved recipes. With every turn of the page you can almost witness the teeming city coming to life: streetcars clacking along the streets, the garish coronets of a passing funeral procession marching sedately along the Rue, and the tantalizing scent of chicory laced coffee and beignets wafting from the cafes. A Little New Orleans Cookbook is richly steeped in the fabulous heritage and exotic grace of New Orleans taste.

This is a very compact book. Mr. Henderson concentrates a lot of thought per page, so be careful, read it slowly. Every paragraph contains lots of concepts and ideas !

I think this is probably the most important book on strategy written. Some theorists will say it is outdated, but look around and see that the concepts presented in this book is behind the most succesful corporations today.

Reading The Logic of Business Strategy is basic if you want study or develop Business Strategy.

My nine year old daughter virtually consumed this biography. This is the 3rd book she has read in this series, and she has asked for more. I have read them along with her--they are appropriate for 8-10 year olds, interesting, accessible, but never condescending or preachy. Based on my knowledge of the subjects, they are only marginally fictionalized. In a world of pop singers and barely literate actresses, it is a pleaseure to be able to provide real heroes and heroines that modern kids will enjoy and be inspired by.