S.L.A. Marshall was an official historian for the Army during World War II, Korea and served as an advisor in Vietnam. Most of his work deals with the mental, physical, and emotional problems men faced in combat. He always wanted to show what did not work and why tactics failed in the hopes that people would learn from past mistakes. With that goal, Marshall tends to focus on the "bad" side of combat -- men dying needlessly and commanders who botched operations. Battle at Best is not one of his normal books. Marshall culled his interviews (all his research was carried out in the field with combatants who had just finished an action) and came up with examples that show great heroics. Instead of focusing on what went wrong, SLAM delves into what went right and how officers and men came to make the correct decisions. I am a great fan of Marshall's work and this, along with Men Again Fire, is the most enjoyable and enlightening books that I have read.

This book was one of the best books on this battle I have ever read

Of all the books I read as a child, and I read everything I could get my hands on, Beautiful Joe's Paradise was the most wonderful of all. It stired in my heart such hope and faith that all my incredible companions would not just cease to exist, but would be with me forever. I am 50 years old now and I read it still. I showed it to my children and it is their favorite as well. Something in the way this book was written spans time and touches the heart of readers today. It is so exciting that it is available again. All animal lovers (as well as everyone else) should read this book!

This is a terrific book. Every article in it is well-written and interesting, unusual for an anthology as they almost always contain at least one or two flawed pieces. Not here. And what a range...from the usual suspects of Fortune, Wall Street Journal, etc. to the Detroit Free Press and even Mother Jones. The next volume for 2002 is also great.

I believe Catherine Marshall is one of the best writers of the century as Ifeel she describes God as a friend--is honest about her doubts, spirituality--timeless in descriptions,makes readers want to know about how God works in lives without being preachy or holier than thou. Wonderful reading for those of us who have lost spouses. We need more books on younger widow raising children alone. Christy, first written 30 years ago is so timeless, it thrives today with at least l2 videos, l6 childrens adapted books. Catherine is talented in describing how God works in the lives of people in her books such as the young man with no money whom people helped through college. How her and her mother prayed for money to go to Agnes Scott college. Descriptions of how her mother, though poor cooked delicious meals--how the children played, how real God was to them and worked through their lives. Makes her husband Peter Marshalls sermons come alive and readers wishing they could have known him. All of her books have greatly enhanced my faith. thank you for including her books in your website.

I read the book 'A man called Peter' last summer. It was a wonderful book, and I LOVED it!!!!!!!!! Then I decided to read some sermons by Dr. Marshall. I checked 'The best of Peter Marshall' out at my library and literally could not put the book down! I must say, they were at times challenging and convicting, but that's exactly what I needed. I love the way he got right to the point and said what you needed to hear without beating around the bush, but yet wasn't overbearing or boring. His sermons are full of humor and at times I found myself laughing out loud. I HIGHLY recommend this book, whether you have read 'A man called Peter', or have never even heard of Peter Marshall. You will enjoy this book if you are seeking God's will for your life.

This book is unique in that it brings the New Testament vision of Justice into direct and critical conversation with contemporary practices of punishing crime. It provides a rich resource for anyone convinced of the necessity of a turn from retributive justice to restorative justice. Highly recommended.

As the title suggests, this book is about the inspiration of the Bible. I. Howard Marshall, an evangelical Christian scholar, looks into this important Christian belief. In the opening pages, Marshall examines various views on the inspiration of the Bible, from total and complete inerrancy, to the belief that the Bible is inspired in the same way a good piece of literature is. While it is hard to figure out what view Marshall himself takes because he is so fair in his treatment of all views, I am sure that he views the Bible as the infallible word of God. This does not mean he thinks the Bible is inerrant however. He means that God divinely preserved all that he wanted us to know, and with the precision he wanted us to know it. So there are indeed some areas in the Bible that are unclear, and perhaps that is okay. Marshall is not a big fan of the divine dictator view that God simply told the writers what to write. Rather he believes that there was a concursive method. This means that the writers said what God wanted them to say, but by means of oral and literary traditions, and within the authors' own styles, rather than as a result of some type of divine trance.

Marshall asks many questions, such as "What Does the Bible say about its own inspiration?" and "How are we to interpret the Bible?" The book is made up of 125 pages of answers in plain English. Marshall's view may not harmonize with many people's view that the Bible is totally inerrant, and that there can be no error, whether historical or grammatical. However, I must say I found his treatment of the issue to be extremely relevant after I took a secular Bible course which emphasized the inconsistencies in the Bible. In a way Marshall helped me keep the faith after taking such a class. Don't think that Marshall obscures the facts. He does not twist anything to keep his theory from falling.

I must say I enjoy his writing style tremendously. I rarely became uninterested when reading this book. I wanted to find out what was on the next page, mainly because his answers were so important to me spiritually at the time. I would recommend this book for those who want a well thought out, and even-handed (Marshall presents the strengths and weaknesses of all popular theories of inspiration) treatment of the issue of Biblical Inspiration. Anybody can benefit from reading this book, even if he or she does not reach the same conclusions of the author.

The Biography of Satan is ideal for Christians, Athiests, Pagans, Witches/Wiccans & Satanists alike, giving a fantastic insight into the developement and roles of the Devil in all his forms throughout history. It describes the root mythologies and evolution of Satan, Hell etc as we understand them today in simple, digestible terms. It gives an understanding of the antagonist and his origins and dispells his cloak of shadows, describing the assimilation of classical figures and concepts of malevolence and the church's demonisation of ancient deities during the middle ages. The development of the snake symbolism and origins of the concepts of eternal damnation & the fires of hell were fascinating. Well researched, easy to understand, it's a definite must-have for anyone at all with an interest in ancient and/or modern mythos.

This volume brings together what are probably the two most atypical Greek comedies by Aristophanes. "The Birds" is one play where for once Aristophanes does not seem to be attacking some specific abuse in Athens, while "The Frogs" is actually the first "serious" attempt at dramatic criticism. This is not to suggest that "The Birds" ("Ornithes") is nothing more than escapist entertainment. Certainly there are those who see it as a political satire about the imperialistic dreams that resulted in the disastrous invasion of Sicily (which happened the year before his play was produced in 414 B.C.). Then again, this could just be Aristophanes bemoaning the decline of Athens.

Pisthetaerus ("Trusting") and Euelpides ("Hopeful") have grown tired of life in Athens and decide to build a utopia in the sky with the help of the birds, which they will name Necphelococcygia (which translates roughly as "Cloud Cuckoo Land"). Pisthetaerus and his feathered friends have to fight off those unworthy humans, malefactors and public nuisances all, who try and join their utopia. Then there are the gods, who come to make some sort of agreement with the new city because they have created a bottleneck for sacrifices coming from earth.

Because it is a more general satire, "The Birds" tends to work better with younger audiences than most comedies by Aristophanes. Besides, the chorus of birds lends itself to fantastic costumes, which is always a plus with young theater goers. In studying any of the Greek plays that remain it is important to I have always maintained that in studying Greek plays you want to know the dramatic conventions of these plays like the distinction between episodes and stasimons (scenes and songs), the "agon" (a formal debate on the crucial issue of the play), and the "parabasis" (in which the Chorus partially abandons its dramatic role and addresses the audience directly). Understanding these really enhances your enjoyment of the play.

On the one hand Aristophanes's comedy "The Frogs" is a farce, but it is of more interest because it presents the earliest known example of dramatic criticism. Presented in 405 B.C., the play tells of how Dionysus, the god of drama, had to go to Hades to fetch back Euripides, who died the previous year, because Athens no longer had any great tragic poets left. The first part of the comedy involves Dionysus, who has disguised himself as Heracles, and his slave Xanthias on their way to Hades and features several interesting songs by the chorus of blessed mystics and the chorus of frogs. However, the high point of the comedy is the contest between Euripides and Aeschylus.

Each of the two great tragic poets denounces the other and quotes lines from their own works to prove their superiority. We discover that Euripides writes about vulgar themes, corrupts manners, debases music and has prosaic diction. In contrast, Aeschylus finds obscure titles and is guilty of turgid prose. In the end Dionysus finds that artistic standards of judgment are useless and turns to a political solution. This makes sense since the problem facing Athens is a political one: what to do about the tyrant Alcibiades. What is most interesting is the implicit belief that the tragic poets had a social responsibility towards the audiences of their dramas. "Frogs," in addition to being one of the better comedies by Aristophanes, is also of interest because it contains the only fragments from several tragedies by Euripides and Aeschylus that have been long lost to us.

Because "The Birds" and "The Frogs" are not typical comedies by Aristophanes, this is not really the first book that people wanting to understand the Greek comic playwright are going to turn. Better to start off with "Lysistrata," "The Clouds," or "Peace" before proceeding to these works.