ERA Reviews

Walt Brasch has something in common with Bill Clinton. They both play sax. That same Walt Brasch has something in common with me. We've both been columnists. What better excuse, then, for him to put together a book of his columns called "The Joy of Sax" and for me to write about it?

The "Joy of Sax" is subtitled "America During the Bill Clinton Era." It couldn't have been assembled better by anyone. For one thing, Walt knows his stuff. He covered part of the Clinton-Gore bus tour during their first campaign. For another thing, he has good reporter skills. He also wrote a lot of columns and that makes for a nice, fat book. But mostly it's because Walt Brasch has a sense of humor. If more people had a sense of humor during the Clinton years, we'd all have had a jollier time. After all, we were all rich compared to the last couple of years. For that matter, if we all had a better sense of humor now....

But I digress. Back to Walt's book. Sometimes his humor is blatant. Other times he lets you figure out what he's getting at but it's still funny as heck. My favorite column is called "Singing Off-Key in the Starr Chamber" and it's my favorite for the first nine paragraphs that go like this:

"When President John Adams imposed the Alien and Sedition Acts in 1798...and violated the First Amendment, no one required him to testify before a special inquisitor.

"When President Abraahm Lincoln suspended several Constitutional rights, no one required him to testify before a special inquisitor.

When President U.S. Grant pleaded ignorance that his own cabinet was one of the most corrupt in history...."

The next paragraphs include heinous "violations" by Warren G. Harding, Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan, and the first George Bush. I was rolling in the aisle and Brasch was only being droll. His "hilarious" hadn't even begun!

If you don't see that Brasch is at least entertaining, then maybe you don't really need to read this book. Mmmmm. On the other hand, if you don't see that, then maybe you are the one who does need to read his book.

Walter Brasch is opinionated, logical, and broad-minded. None of these qualities is a crime. The do all help to make this book a kick for anyone with a political hair in his head.

Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of "This is the Place"

This is a scholarly work by an author of immense erudition who never reveals his own beliefs but gives an elaborate and clear account of the religion known as Judaism as it developed during its normative period.

The index of passages cited in the work is enough alone to humble all but the most profound of scholars of the Hebrew and Aramaic and classical sources.

Anyone seriously interested in Judaism as a religion should read this book.

Many years ago the late Professor Leon Roth (a former Rector of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem) said to me that he regarded the book as the best book in the English language on Judaism and possibly the best book in any language on Judaism. Having read it I agreed with him and in the intervening years I have never encountered anything to change my view.

Highly recommended.

Leibniz, Gauss, LaPlace, Fourier, Newton, Voltaire and many many other famous thinkers listened to this man's method for discovering truth in all that we as humans can determine using our senses. Therefore I urge that you and others attempt to see what this genius had to say, and why it triggered an enlightenment and revolution of thought. He explored many areas of mathematics as well, but his most important writings are simply his works on the method. Find out why he is considered one of the greatest thinkers ever.

Nikita S. Khrushchev was perhaps the most interesting leader the Soviet Union ever had, and was certainly one of the most intriging characters of the 20th century. A strange mix of the wise and the foolish, he tried, but could not significantly change, the U.S.S.R. for the better. In some ways, Gorbachev was the "Khrushchev" of this time, and not the other way around.

I read this book in grad school and could not put it down. As the son of, as the Americans called him, 'Mr. K,' Sergei Khrushchev had a special perspective on this man and his time, and this is a must-read for anyone interested in the subject. The younger Krushchev certainly loved his father, and it shows in the book sometimes to access, but by and large the account is objective.

There are several touching and personal passages in the book, too numerous to mention here. I was particularly taken with the episode in which the younger Krushchev found out about the coup that was about to overtake his father and warned him that (rough transcription): "X is setting up a coup against you." He then got the shock of his life when his father came home from the Politburo the next day ranting (rough transcription again): "You silly boy! I just spoke to X today. He says there's no coup going on!" Classic Nikita S. Khrushchev.

Sergei N. Khrushchev has succeeded in producing a sensitive, illuminating account of a special time in our world. The book is an easy and concise read, yet the reader will come out with a very deep understanding of so many of the people and forces that shaped that time. This is what good reading is supposed to be. Bravo!

Necesito revisar el libro "la era de la información" de Manuel CAstells, ya que es para un trabajo de la escuela, y lo más importante que va aser tomado en cuenta para la claificación final.

The first paragraph of the book makes you think that John Hagee is talking about Bill & Hillary Clinton, but he makes an outstanding and impressive analogy between the King Ahab and his wife Jezabel, and Bill and Hillary. He goes step by step on how the Bible characters used their ways to have people murdered that stood in their way and how they replaced the existing staff with their staff; just as the Clintons did. It is very eye-opening for those who think the Bill is an angel. He is deceived and he is deceiving. You will not be disappointed!

La lectura es amena, no tiene academicismos, y es maravilloso que al fin alguien se haya decidido a tratar en profundidad el tema del futbol y su relación con la sociedad. Interesantisimo, muchos datos historicos deconocidos.

I found this book to contain many interesting points about how growing technology is effecting how we eat, see and look.

The layout was interesting. Every two pages or so started a new sub-topic under which a new idea was brought up and discussed which were in the forms of a short essey, all of which were reinforced with references and/or quotations.

Christopher Dewdney incorperated his immence ability to write poetry in smoothly with his essays. This is not to say that he stuck a poem in every paragraph; however, he managed to express his feelings about the subject without sacrificing the integrity of the fact that it IS an essay.

To close I must say that this is a beautifully written book full of interesting information and insites.

Overall, the amount of exposure American policy toward Latin America receives in the media is sorely lacking. The public remains ignorant of our government's role in shaping the internal politics of Latin American countries. Wright documents how the US government responded to the Cuban revolution and the revolutionary/reformatory movements that arose as a result of it in other Latin American countries. Avoiding sensationalism and sentimentality, Wright recounts how in instance after instance, America chose to support pro-American governments while bringing about the downfall of anti-American governments, or any administration that might possibly have socialist or communist leanings. Although information dense, this book is both compelling and easy to read.

This is a wonderful account of this great adventure. Both the writing and the photographs are excellent. The reader is able to feel the dynamic spirit of the expedition.