This is the only Washington biography written by a contemporary who knew him and served with him in the Army. Certainly the longest Presidential biography I know of written by a U.S. Supreme Court Justice. According to Senator Beveridge's later biography of John Marshall, Marshall wrote it in installments, and sold it through the U.S. Post Offic distribution network, to make enough money to pay off his massive Virginia land purchsse which in turn enabled Marshall's children to live out their lives free of the need to write books or make land deals. And it worked that way. But that's not all this is.

The first entire volume says little about Washington, because Marshall felt he needed to set the stage with a condensed history of the colonies prior to Washington. Few of Washington's later biographers went to such subsequent introductory lengths, but then Marshall's law practice ended up acquainting him with the early pre-history of the deeds and conveyances of Virginia, the further elaboration of which can be interpreted as enveloping the rest of the colonies.

This is also a history of the U.S. Army, and how it fought and starved in successive cycles which are described in minute detail exceeding most other accounts. Some of this covers organized military campaigns preceding the declaration of independence, the scope of which I had not heretofore realized by undergoing annual waves of pilgrim-study in "My Early Education."

Leading and embodying this story of land and armies, and ideas, Marshall gives us Washington, illuminated most clearly by excerpts from Washington's own letters. Marshall also gives us Marshall, distilling out of military examples and instances of weak government preceding 1789, potent arguments for increased federal power to do the things our federal government has since done quite well: raise armies, raise taxes, subdue the Indians, kick out the European powers, build a strong navy, and take no back talk from smallish tyrants resentful of centralized governmental power directly and simultaneously exercised on each citizen, and on each state.

When Hamilton wrote that we need "energy in the Executive" he had to have been thinking of Washington, and Marshall catalogs this energy with meticulous documentation of each British officer leading campaigns against us, each subordinate officer on our side under Washinton's command, and how the constant maneuver of armies up and down the length of our seaboard was accomplished--usually without many shoes and without much dry powder.

So Marshall knowing Washington probably insulated him from too much disconnected iconography, and his writing is free of modern fixations on negative or unseemly personal or pychographic tidbits of trivia. Modern readers are left to cling to factual reporting of how Washington handled this British Lord or that recalcitrant congress.

There's a lot here in all five volumes, and the flow of the over-written parts isn't that bad once you get used to it. When one man had such a central role in all of the key events of our country's founding, and rode out the formation into its institutional phase, thereafter to die in bed at home, Marshall may not have been able to write it any other way than to go over all of the events, to catch the essence of the man.

Neat discovery: LaFayette was only 24 years old while commanding the French at the battle of Yorktown. Marshall quotes from the letters of Cornwallis (or maybe it was Sir Henry Clinton) who refers to LaFayette as "the boy." This is the same boy who later presented Washington with the key to the Bastille, which today hangs on the wall of the stairway of Mount Vernon going up to the second floor.

It's rare that you find such an easily adaptable and practical book with great ideas and examples of the actual processes. My company used to research and compile our own annual review of best practices in leadership development. Now we have more time to consider what practices match our business strategy and culture. Keep it coming!

Filled with gorgeous full color photography, Professor Marshall Craigmyle's The Long-Flowering Garden is an impressive and superbly illustrated encyclopedic listing of more than 500 plants of all types, with each entry offering a given flower's common name, height, spread, aspect, preferred soil type, hardiness, means of propagation, flowering time, short description, and perhaps most useful, a listing of the pros and cons for choosing that specific flower for one's garden. An index makes looking up basic information on any flower a snap. The Long-Flowering Garden is excellent as a quick reference, and simply wondrous to page through to admire the brilliant horticultural photographs on every page.

This is an excellent book for assisting in solving all types of crosswords. It is a must have. I have an old, rather sad looking copy of this (due to lots & lots of use!). I am looking for a hardcopy which I am hoping will last better (or a better condition soft copy).

I do not know why they have discontinued this publication - I am sure it is/was well used.

My 3 1/2 year old daughter checked this book out from the library, and then begged me to read it over and over and didn't want to take it back. My 5 1/2 year old son liked it equally as well. They would take turns saying the letter, and guessing the picture on the next page. They would fight over who's turn it was. I was, quite frankly, surprised that they liked it so much, and that's why I'm writing this review, because it was quite a hit!

     Intrigue at the highest levels of royalty...a ghost story set in the burial chambers of a pharaoh's pyramid...a mystery to test the mind and loyalty of a hero and determine the fate of Egypt herself - these are the stakes at risk in the twin books EYES OF HORUS and LORD OF THE HORIZON, by Joan Grant. 

     These two books were written to be published as one, but: The year was 1942 and author and publisher were in wartime England, where there was a severe paper shortage.  So, the book was made into two, with one published in 1942 and the second in 1944.  Each is complete and easy to read, but to experience the vast sweep of historical significance in the events of the stories, one should read first HORUS and then HORIZON. 

     Both are recommended for all who are interested in spiritual enlightenment, ancient Egypt, and grand writing by an author with a sweeping command of language, history and imagery.

"The Lord's Prayer" is a great book for children to learn to understand why people pray, how to pray, and what can happen when you pray. The illustrations are nice, eye catching and simple. Not overdone as in most bible stories. The best part of the book is the rhyming verses . . . children take to this so well. Overall, very simple, easy to understand, and extremely fun to read!

Frank Kermode once remarked that the literary impulse in the Bible was quite as powerful as the religious. At the very least, they are inextricable. And yet, despite the significance of the literary impulse in making sense of Scripture, study of literary typology and analysis of literary form have been largely reserved to the scholarly realm.

Into this void comes Marshall Johnson's useful and knowledgeable book. Marshall introduces general readers to the major types of biblical literature -- wisdom literature, the poetry of worship, historical narrative, prophetic writings, legal collections, apocalyptic literature, letters, and the Gospels. In successive chapters, he fully delineates each type, reviews its background, discusses its distinctive features, explicates several major examples, and includes a final section of how to "read" the particular form. Johnson accomplishes all this in clear, readable, and non-technical prose.

As is often the case with books I wish I had written myself, I have some questions about several of Johnson's choices. For instance, is the Book of Job truly an example of "wisdom literature" or should it be treated separately as a unique type of biblical literature, perhaps as a poetic dialogue? Can Isaiah, a complex blend of historical experience and poetic concerns, be as easily pigeonholed into the category of "prophetic literature" as Marshall believes?

But these are mere quibbles. Johnson's knowledge of the Bible is voluminous, his theology is mainstream, and his perceptions are telling. His overarching goals are to help readers grasp the shape of the Bible as a whole and to become self-aware in their dialogue with the text. To this end, Marshall D. Johnson has written an excellent book, one which I strongly recommend. The highest accolade I can give "Making Sense of the Bible" is that, if I were still teaching my course on "The Bible and Literature" at Drexel University, I'd use it as a textbook.

In this article, Prof. Fisher creates a framework to point out the benefits of supply chain flexibility. Though the notion of flexibility is an old one, Fisher adds in substantial anecdotal stories on how exactly it could be done.

In the most important example in this paper, the authors focus on Sport Obermeyer and how delaying orders until the company has a glimpse of demand (a trade show) can help improve forecasting and thereby the profitability of the entire supply chain.

Though the example is focused on Obermeyer, there is enough information in this article to help a reader find for himself ideas on how to improve their own supply chain's flexibility and the benefits of implementing such solutions. This is definitely a very good, easy to read article that can help any supply chain manager convince others of the benefits of flexibility.

This fascinating book balances rigorous historical research with a respect for the profundity of the *I Ching*. Marshall argues that the central text, the "Zhouyi", contains identifiable historical references to events in ancient China. Specifically, Marshall argues that the date of the Conquest of the Shang Dynasty by what would become the Zhou Dynasty can be located in the year 1070 BCE, on the basis of evidence in the "Zhouyi" --- including a hitherto undetected reference to a solar eclipse in the text of Hexagram #55! In the course of his argument, he brings to life the semi-mythical figures of King Wen & King Wu (virtuous founders of the Zhou Dynasty) and Zhou Xin (depraved tyrant, last Shang ruler). He cogently suggests specific links between Shang bone oracles and the text of the "Zhouyi". By citing Chinese characters in the text, and providing a glossary of them in the back, he allows the reader to feel a part of the detective work he is doing. Overall, I enthusiastically recommend this book to anyone with an interest in ancient China and to anyone who works seriously with the *I Ching*. The former will find historical bases for figures often dismissed as mythological, while the latter will find profoundly meaning depth in some of the *I Ching's* inscrutable phrases.