5 comments about Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past.

1. This book is phenomenal. I read this while finishing up my degree in History. It is an amazing book that goes through commonly held ideas about the Founding Fathers and the events surrounding the Revolution. This book is not for everyone. Raphael is an actual Historian and cites other well-known historians who focus on the Revolution, like Pauline Maier and Alfred Young. Unlike McCullough, Raphael is a real historian with a doctorate to prove it. He will go from source to source proving his point, like any historian. And like any historian, he fills up the back of the book with pages and pages of sources. This book may seem to agaisnt the grain, but it in fact does not. It is the first truly popular book that gets the point across that has been held by most historians in the field of the Revolution. The point is that it was not a Revolution led by a few great men, but by the People. The People in fact drove the Revolution and the Founders caught on at the end.
   The ideas in this book may seem far-fetched, but this is nothing new for people who have studied history in college and so on. This is not a book for people who read about US history for fun. This reads more like a historical monograph than something on the bestsellers list. It is, though, a very worthy read and something, in my opinion, that all people should read.
   Anothe



2. Ray Raphael has written a well documented, episodic guide to introduce the casual reader to the America Revolution as some of it actually happened as well as a simple primer on historiography. Thank goodness this work is being done and finding an audience beyond the professional journals. The whiny and critical reviewers obviously already have their minds made up about Raphael. Nobody wants anyone to feel guilty about America, just proud and knowledgeable!



3. The author dislikes heroes, indeed, all heroic individual effort. For Raphael, heroism leads to hero-worship, which in turn can be used as propaganda and lead to militarism and ethnocentrism. True enough, but heroic individuals do populate history, and we have a very human need for them which can be life-affirming. But Raphael's disdain for heroic individual effort, and his obsessive belief that only "communitarian" effort has value, comes off as heavy-handed propaganda itself. Take the first chapter. Paul Revere did make that memorable ride to warn the patriots the British were coming. That it wasn't all that renowned until Longfellow later wrote a poem about it, and romanticized the episode, doesn't take away from Revere's heroism. But for the author, Revere's individual effort is an affront to the nameless patriots who also acted heroically. So it goes, in every chapter, the author peppers us with the embroidery that has accrued to historical figures, in an attempt to pull them off their pedestals, and then warn us that our American heroes had warts. As if a multitude of contemporary historians hadn't already pointed that out.



4. Often it takes time for history to prevail over mythology, but it can happen, as this author proves. The book is well documented, and the references check out. The one-star reviews speak for themselves - neither really addresses any of the issues raised in any substantive manner.
   Yes, Americans have generated their own mythology surrounding what Americans consider to be key events or key instruction points in their history. No surprise there - every nation does that. (The Serbs still celebrate a massive defeat on the plains of Kosovo in 1389, almost 620 years ago!)
   The author's point is that the truth actually reveals more about what is most laudable in the American character than do the myths. He argues quite convincingly that the truth is both more interesting and more worthy of remembrance than are the myths. His arguments are thoroughly footnoted and his sources are well documented.
   I will not spoil the book for those who have not yet read it, but I do highly recommend it to any and all who are more interested in truth than in mythology.



5. Some of the reviewers critical of this book are missing the point. The author does indeed debunk some of the mythic events of our revolutionary past. However, his purpose is NOT to prove that the founders were somehow evil, or to argue that the US is not a great nation, or to make young Americans cynical, or even to show off by attacking other historians.
   
   Rather, he's arguing that the founding myths-- the amazing (and often fictional) achievements of people like Paul Revere, Molly Pitcher, Patrick Henry, etc.-- obscure an important reality: The American Revolution was one of the broadest-based political movements in human history, and all of the patriots who participated deserve credit, not just the "heroes."
   
   Why does this matter at all? Because the genius of the American idea is that we are both a nation of "the people" and a nation of individuals. Focusing on individual accomplishments obscures the truly amazing nature of the accomplishments of the founding generation as a collective whole.
   
   Further, some of the myths Raphael debunks actually distort our history in important ways. For example, the myth that the Revolution essentially ended with the British surrender at Yorktown denies the important reality that the fighting continued for more than a year afterward, and the outcome was very much in doubt for that whole time. The myth that all of the fighting in the Revolution was British vs. American patriots ignores the reality that in the southern colonies, the Revolution was a vicious civil war between American loyalists and American patriots, a struggle that was to have consequences for the next hundred years.
   
   Those who see this book as the explication of some sort of egalitarian bias are welcome to their views. However, the simple fact is that Raphael is correct. All of his analyses and assertions are supported by ample documentation, and I'd be interested in seeing the sources that the reviewers who are attacking him are relying on.
   
   This book is well worth reading and thinking about. I recommend it highly.

5 comments about Principles and Practice of Infectious Diseases e-dition: Text with Continually Updated Online Reference.

1. As an infectious disease fellow, I recommend that anyone who want be an ID man should have such a book. Most infectious problems and diseases have been detailed in this book, although there are far going of emerging diseases and new antibiotics.
   The only shortcomes of this book are lackiing comprehensive details and reveiw of antimicrobial therapy for some disease entities.



2. This book is a must have for everyone that studies ID .The chapters are made to be read by themselves, they include the latest in the subject matter and the themes are reviewed in depth.Overall the best book around on the subject.



3. I ordered an online e editon 2 volumes and CD
   I didnt not get the online pin number. I wrote to amazon and Still I havent heard from them
   It is a total cheating



4. I am a hospital pharmacist. An infectious disease pharmacist showed me how much you could find in the previous edition of this book when I was doing a residency. Because many of the patients get admitted to the hospital due to some type of infection, this book has been invaluable in helping me understand details of any disease state. It has helped me understand antibiotic drug therapies and the reasons behind them more than any other written resource. And most importantly, it is a known and respected reference to the hospitalists that I can refer to modifying drug therapies or answering drug information questions related to infectious diseases.
   
   It may seem expensive, but it has laid down multiple blueprints for looking at the complicated field of infectious diseases. I encourage anyone who is going into the field of pharmacy to make sure they can at least access these books.



5. This book is the mother of books about infectious diseases all around the world! This is an obligatory book that has to be on your library. Has excellent reviews of the majority of illnesses with great quality images. Even this version of the book includes a CD with images info to make your own presentations. Currently, I think is the best book about Infectious diseases.

5 comments about The Making of a Marchioness.

1. Though famous for her children't books nowadays, this is one of Burnett's books for grown-ups. It is a sort of cheesy romance, but oh is it fun! Republished by Persephone Books, an independant published in London, this book is well worth purchasing: you'll read it again and again whenever you're looking for a fun, light, and well-written book on a rainy day.

   Written a hundred years ago, there is a sort of paternalistic-bordering-on-rascist attitude towards the Indian characters, but I don't think it's anything too egregious.

   When you've read this book, read "Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day," by Winifred Watson and also published by Persephone.




2. No one understood the fantasies of late Victorian and early twentieth-century England better than Frances Hodgson Burnett. THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS (and its sequel collected in this volume, THE METHODS OF LADY WALDERHURST) spoke to the fantasies of many a schoolgirl in the very early twentieth century that anyone uncomplainingly slavish enough to the titled classes might be rewarded with a prince... or at least a marquis. What makes this novel so peculiarly perverse is that it is as if Burnett had just enough class consciousness to realize the inherent bizarrity of the class fantasies this book illuminates to exploit them for all their creepy masochistic potential. The heroine, Emily Fox-Seton, is distantly related to the aristocracy; though she can barely make ends meet, she is so delighted to be allowed to attend her social and economic betters in their fabulous garden estates that she doesn't mind being their devoted dogsbody. Ultimately she finds true happiness with the widowed Marquis of Waldenhurst, who is not handsome nor clever nor even terribly sensitive, but who is rich beyond the dreams of Croesus--which is apparently all that matters. What he and Emily will find to talk about after their marriage is given little thought, but apparently a ruby on an engagement ring "as big as a trouser-button" were all that Edwardian schoolgirls wanted in marriage, because this book was an enormous success in its day.



3. Quite delightful little novella - written about 1884 or somewhere in those Victorian times. A woman's romance from start to rather abrupt finish.



4. I adore "the Secret Garden" and "the Little Princess", so I was excited to see this book for adults by Frances Hodgson Burnett. It was ok, but not great. It features a plucky heroine, but there's just not very much character development or attention to detail.



5. Very happy to obtain a copy of this book. Could have taken months haunting used book stores. In very good condition, esp considering it's age.

1 comments about Corinne, or Italy (Oxford Classics).

1. Corinne, or Italy, is a difficult book to weed through because the plot will seem outlandish and over-romanticized to many. The story of star-crossed lovers, Corinne and Oswald spend perhaps more time contemplating their relationship and brooding over the secrets that each one keeps from the other which will ultimately doom them than they do actually being in love. There's no surprises here; it is obvious from the beginning that none of this will end well. But if you are interested in reading about the historical Italy and learning more about Romanticism, this book will hold some interest.

5 comments about Indiana (Oxford World's Classics).

1. Remembered mostly as the lover of Chopin and other celebrities of the nineteenth-century art world, Sand seems to be little-read these days. Yet in her day, she was the most respected woman writer in the world.
   
   This was her first solo effort. She collaborated on a previous novel, but referred to Indiana as her first. Some of the dialogue is decidedly overheated; real Harlequin Romance, bodice-ripper stuff. The story however, is very strong, with constant surprising twists, right to the end. As usual in melodrama, the villains are more interesting than the heroes, who at times make you want to shake some sense into them.
   
   The theme has obvious parallels with Flaubert's "Madame Bovary" and Kate Chopin's "The Awakening". Ironically, the latter author, sharing the name of Sand's most famous lover, is more widely read today.
   
   The novel has many references to French social and political life, and more than a few pages which are pure polemic. We learn more about Sand's views on French society than about Indiana's. Some readers will welcome these as fascinating historical insights; others will regard them as annoying distractions. The timeline of the story includes the revolution of 1830 and although this action provides a background rather than taking center stage, it neatly meshes with the mental turmoil of the heroine.
   
   The Signet Classic edition has an excellent introduction by Marylon Yalom.



2. My first experience with Gerge Sand was her Fadette in Japanese translation. The translation was poor, but the story was quite interesting and what she was trying to get at was very fresh and different. I enjoyed it very much.
   This one, Indiana, however, was a real sentimental melodrama. Or, perhaps Danielle Steele 19th century edition. The hero and the heroine are bathed in ill-fortunes from their births, pounded by miseries and heartbreaks, starving for love, but exhibit great courage and virtue under the grip of uncontrollable fate. In the end, the heaven will smile at them.
   The characters are rather flat, very predictable and uninteresting. I had a very difficult time sympathizing any of the characters. The narrator pities them too much and doesn't give you room to sympathyze them.
   Speaking of the narrator, I thought for sure it was a woman, because of the way Indiana's sufferings were narrated, but in the end I found out that it was a young man! Perhaps young men back in those days were as melodramatic and emotional as this narrator. I don't know.
   
   Yet, there was something to this story. Sand seemed to have a lot to tell, she had a point of views, some messages to tell. And there was enough depths and intellect to what she was trying to deliver. And that's what kept me going, and that's what kept this story from falling vulgar and becoming Harlequinn romance.
   
   I contemplated on selling this book after reading it, but I'm having a second thought. Maybe I'll keep it after all.



3. George Sand's Indiana dramatizes and explores a wide variety of concerns in the nineteenth century with a brilliance one rarely finds in a first novel: Arranged marriages, what it means to be a Creole, colonialism and plantation profiteering, slavery, the beginnings of the deterioration of Old Europe, and the rise of the businessman. In terms of narrative style, this may be one of the most unique novels I have read. The use of narrator to facilitate multiple endings is ingenious as well as baffling. Once you get to the end and discover who the narrator is or could be, you will likely want to re-read the novel, and voila! It's like experiencing the novel for the first time. It is a very rare talent indeed to create one novel for a first reading and a second novel for a second reading. It's a mystery to me how Sand has lost much of her notoriety. This novel is far superior than most you will find anywhere and in any language.



4. This is not my favorite of Sand's that I have read to date, I would suggest the Devil's Pool or the Black City first, they are both shorter and much stronger. Not to say this is a bad bit of writing. Considering this is her first solo publishing venture it is very impressive. She still shows flashes of great insight, there are wonderful very quotable lines throughout the work. There are some very stricking scenes, actually the last quarter of the book is pretty riveting.
   
   Which is good because the rest of the book is alot of very careful build up and is sort of slow in places. The book is not filled with alot of dialogue, rather we have a third person omniscient narrator who lets us know what the main characters are thinking and feeling (even if they aren't quite sure of it themselves).
   
   Indiana is a young bride to an old man who selfishly married her because he wanted someone to take care of him in his old age. She is wasting away from a lack of love, not that Delmare is any sort of ogre really, he seems to devolve slowly into a brute but one Sand never looses complete sympathy for. Sir Ralph is Indiana's cousin and protector, as he has nothing else in the world to live for. Noun is Indiana's Creole servant that essentially is like a sister to Indiana.
   
   Noun though is sacraficed to passion as her lover moves onto another target, Indiana. Raymon has taken seducing women very seriously for his adult life, its essentially a game to him. He is very invested in the woman he loves while he loves her but he fully expects his love to end at some point. Which of course it does because he is a cad.
   
   There are a few other characters but these are the core of the drama, it is a much smaller cast than in the other full length novel of Sand's that I have read "Horace".
   
   I agree with one of the other reviewers that it is very interesting to see that the events of the book are indeed shaped by the events that are happening in France as well. It takes place when there is still a king in power, but the revolution is stirring very vigorously by the end of the novel and informs the actions of a few of the characters.
   
   I'm not sure what I thought about the conclusion, it was a little odd as it is told by an unnamed first person character--seemed a little weird, almost as if Sand was trying to make her story have a sort of mythic or legendary tone to it.
   
   A good read and not too hard to get into or to follow, possibly good for someone who likes Dickens or Eliot.



5. This is the first I have novel I have read from Sand and I really liked it. Indiana is told from a narrator who we don't find out who it is until later on in the novel. Which makes for an interesting read because as the narrator tells the story and gets into the characters there is a distance and yet the character's give their thoughts too. It is unlike anything I have ever read.
   
   Indiana will keep you guessing as it has lots of twist and turns in the novel and the ending will come as a complete surprise. It is pretty much a quick read and you will find yourself loving and hating all of the characters. Except Raymon he is just no good.
   
   If you have never read Sand before this is a good book to start with seeing as it is the first novel she wrote on her own.

No comments about Raphael's Astronomical Ephemeris of the Panets' Places for 2008: A Complete Aspectarian (Raphael's Astronomical Ephemeris of the Planet's Places).

No comments about Raphael.

1 comments about Windows to Language, Literacy, and Culture (Kids InSight) (Kids Insight).

1. This is a good book for a beginning teacher to consider or for a teacher who is new to working with an ethnically and linguistically diverse population. It will not offer much for a teacher who is already experienced in this area.

5 comments about Become Totally Debt-Free in Five Years or Less.

1. I have read a lot of books about debt recovery, personal finances, budgeting, and saving, and this book has been by far the worst. To begin with, regardless of how the title sounds, the author doesn't actually give any tips for how to organize or budget in order to reduce the debt that you currently have. The book is basically a list of money saving tips, which would be fine if the tips were useful and applicable to ones daily life. Unfortunately those that Ms. Gabriel shares are neither.

   Her tips range from ultra-restrictive suggestions such as never go into a mall or retail store again to tips that would only apply to specific and seldom occuring (at least I hope) situations such as decide not to get tattoos or don't throw lavish funerals for your loved ones to just down right impractical suggestions such as move in with family or friends for a year and rent out your house so that you can double what you are paying on your mortgage. If you are looking for a book of practical, manageable money saving tips that you can apply to your everyday life then this is definitely not that book.




2. I purchased this book a little over two years ago when I first saw the author on television. Since then, my husband and I have referred to it daily to find ways to save money. If we keep it up, we should be out of debt in two more years. So, we both think that this is the best book that we have ever read about getting out of debt. If this author puts out a second edition, we hope to be the first to buy it. Thank you author for writing such a wonderful book!!!



3. Save your money and skip this book. As stated in other reviews, the title of the book is misleading. The author mentions here and there how she got out of debt but there was nothing for the reader to grasp onto and use as a course of action. The tid-bits of information she gives for saving money are obvious and boring if the reader has already been reading books on the "get out of debt" subject.



4. If you want to get out of debt and make a million bucks, write a book on how to get out of debt and make a million bucks. This stinks. Dave Ramsey is the only way to go folks.



5. This book is great for the person just beginning to explore the idea of eliminating debt and maximizing their money. My husband and I have been working to get out of debt for the past year and already practice many of the suggestions in this book. But I took away several new tidbits of helpful info. The chapters and sections are brief, so it's easy to skim the book in a night or two. I particularly liked the chapters on insurance and wills, subjects we're just beginning to explore.

5 comments about Setting Your Heart on Fire: Seven Invitations to Liberate Your Life.

1. This is a simply wonderful book. If you are reading this, you have probably been "searching" awhile and have read more than your share of "self-help" books. This is NOT another self-help book. Also.... if you are reading this... you have probably heard of or read books by people like Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj or Sri Ramana Maharshi (along with more contemporary teachers of what could be considered "non-duality", or Advaita Vedanta) or possibly something like A Course In Miracles. While people like Ramana and Nisargadatta were truly "Awake" beings (in my opinion), and works like A Course In Miracles point to that same Ultimate Truth, these books and teachers are often very difficult to understand, much less apply to your everyday life. (much of the writing is "dense" and overly poetic or steeped in Eastern verbiage and tradition) Well, Raphael's book, Setting Your Heart On Fire, is not like that, although it certainly points to that same Truth, which is what makes it so valuable. Most of us know that "self-improvement" in the way we've always thought of it, just doesn't work. At the same time, we sense, deep down, that the possibility of "Awakening" or "Enlightenment" (call it what you will) is no longer just for people like Jesus, Buddha, Ramana (not that it ever was just for certain people). It's what we all ARE, and it's time for us to become aware of the fact that WE are what we've been searching for. So, that leaves a world filled with people who are tired of "self improvement" and at the same time sense that there's something MORE....something REAL, but who don't have any idea how to embody and live that State. Well.... this book is a great place to start. That is why I'm describing it as a "bridge". This book, along with Raphael's first one, Unconditional Bliss, are fantastic "bridges" for people who can "see" the possibilty of discovering Who and What they really are, but who don't know how to get there. (not that there's anywhere to "get to"... one of the great paradoxes) Raphael is a wonderful writer and does a fabulous job of expressing these ideas... making them ACCESSIBLE, which is a rare thing in the world of "spiritual" books. He brings these Truths right down into the middle of your everyday life... the "messiness" that we all live with. The days of people feeling they need to run off to an ashram or monastery are over. If we are going to become a more spiritual, loving and compassionate people, we are going to have to do it in our daily lives, with kids, jobs, a mortgage, etc. When reading this book, I constantly found myself saying, "That is so true, that's exactly how I feel." Rarely does that happen when reading Nisargadatta! (laugh) Although both Raphael and the non-dual writers are pointing to the same Truth, Raphael makes it seem much more attainable and less "mystical". I think it's a great blessing to us all to have teachers like Raphael and books like this which point the way. So, get this book and let Raphael lead you across the bridge.... the bridge Home.



2. This book changed my life and ALL my relationships. I now know how to handle any situation. Raphael is an incredible writer and also an inspirational speaker!



3. If you would like to learn to understand yourself & others, this is a good book.



4. This book is absolutely amazing because it opens the door to dealing with any problem and also for opening the door into your own heart. I had the good fortune of attending a retreat with Raphael and he is so fantastic. He is just so genuine and authentic and his principles are so simple, yet so powerful.



5. First, let me say that I am biased. Raphael Cushnir reviewed my book, "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awakening." But I read his book before I asked him to review my book. And I asked him to review my book because I admired his book.
   
   I do not think I am at all like Raphael Cushnir. I am the sort of man who will read the middle of a book first, then the beginning, and then the end. Or sometimes I will read the end first. But what I found in "Setting Your Heart on Fire" was a deliberate and disciplined approach to freeing myself from my own negative attitudes.
   
   But do not misunderstand me; this is not another book about positive thinking. If anything it is a book about positive emotions. It is a book about being aware of yourself, so aware that your emotions and the thoughts that spring from them are witnessed by you as the observer of your own inner life.
   
   Self awareness is the beginning of inner peace. And I truly believe that anyone who reads and practices what Raphael presents in "Setting Your Heart on Fire" will make great strides toward that rarest of all states--being at home with yourself. Thank you, John C. Conley, author of "Letters to My Friends: A No Guarantees Guide to Awareness."