Product Description

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Customer Reviews (5)

Aw, Come On!!
John Larry Ray's TRUTH AT LAST, tries to convince the reader that his brother did not kill Martin Luther King. Well, maybe he didn't. But John's account is too biased for me. Avatar, Star Wars and The Wizard of Oz is more believable. Was this a try at comedy?

Probably true but still an awful book
Unlike the other negative reviewers I'm not someone who thinks that all conspiracy theories are nonsense spouted by people waring tin foil hats. I think the murder of MLK is one of the most blatant examples where many people have swallowed a story with minimal evidence, namely the theory of Ray as lone nut assassin. The evidence against Ray was non-existent. The ballistics didn't match with his gun, no one saw him fire the gun and the one guy who said that he saw Ray in the building where he aledgedly fired the weapon was also by his own admission falling down drunk at the time. Ray was coerced via early versions of "enhanced interrogation techniques" (e.g. complete deprivation of sleep) and by legal trickery to sign a confession. So I'm quite open to the theories that James Earl Ray's brother John has to tell. However, John Ray is no writer or researcher. There are no foot notes, even for some amazing claims. There are also constant leaps of association and supposition that characterize the worst in conspiracy research. There is very little original work here. Most of what the author does is to regurgitate ideas and excerpts from other authors. What is original is completely untrustworthy since there are no sources. A book I would recommend over this is Murder in Memphis by Mark Lane.

Complete trash
You certainly do get another side of the story with this book. It is written by convicted assasin James Earl Ray's brother, and boy, does he lay out some whoppers. You would have to believe in about three different major conspiracy theories to wind up with the conclusion that John Ray comes up with. The cia warped Jame's mind with LSD, hired the mob with FBI approval to get a hit man to kill MLK jr and use James Earl as a patsy.

Why did James leave finger prints all over the place and his gun behind? Because he was a not too bright con man.

Unsubstantiated allegations, assertions with no proof or facts to back them up. If there was another gunman as stated, what evidence is there to back it up? None is provided.

Whatya expect, it's his brother. Not likely he's going to come out and admit James Earl killed one of the most important and influential Americans of all times.

I kept reading this like one would a bad sci-fi book - just to see how outlandish the author dared to be. That's the only value this book had to me. Frankly, I'd skip it altogether.

Another Side of the Story
John Larry Ray's oldest brother was James Earl Ray (p.1). John spent 25 years in federal prison and now lives in Illinois. John claims he was imprisoned because he knew too much about the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr on April 4, 1968. Lyndon Barsten is a historian who frequently lectures about the assassination. This is a very readable book that is fast-paced like a novel, except it is based on fact. John begins by telling about the Ray family history and culture, and debunks the stories reported in the Corporate Media. John gives the facts as he witnessed them. The Ray brothers were often in trouble and in prison. John claims his brother was a "patsy" like Oswald. He tells what he knows and what he was told by his brother James.

John says there was "no evidence that Jimmy killed King" because the Feds didn't use it in theextradition proceedings (p.128). James had to plead guilty to escape the death sentence (p.129). Was there a conspiracy to murder Martin Luther King (p.131)? A famous lawyer takes a criminal case for "free advertising" (p.134). Should James have gotten a new trial (p.135)? Were there mysterious deaths associated with this case (p.136)? Chapter 8 tells of John's conviction for conspiracy (summarized on page 149). William H. Webster was both the FBI and CIA chief after convicting John (p.151). Do you have to "bend the Constitution" (p.153)? Did two journalists, Bill Slater and Louis Lomax, die under suspicious circumstances (p.158)? Both investigated the King assassination.

In October 1974 James got an evidentiary hearing in an attempt for a new trial. Herb MacDonnell testified as an expert witness to say the shot that killed King could not have come from Ray's room (p.162). Did the King family question the Federal version (p.164)? Are the mentally ill recruited as assassins (p.165)? Would a Federal judge be bumped off for political reasons (p.168)? James was never tried for his escape attempt (p.173). There was a problem about James' money during 1967-68 (p.175). Is reality irrelevant (p.179)? John says he was the victim of a "Federal Vendetta" (Chapter 11). Was he convicted for "not picking up someone on the highway who was found not guilty of robbing a bank" (p.190)? Does greasy food destroy your liver (p.191)?

The importance of this book is its presentation of a counterpoint to the Establishment Media version. "Only one in five people believe the mainstream media." If the rifle bought by James did not match the bullet that struck Dr. King (p.115) that would establish James as a "patsy". The 'Bibliography' lists the articles, books, and other references to this event.

RICK "SHAQ" GOLDSTEIN SAYS: "JAMES EARL RAY: CIA/FBI/MAFIA "PATSY" OR MARTIN LUTHER KING ASSASSIN?"
I must start off this review by stating for the record that I have never been one of those "CONSPIRACY NUTS". In fact I have never even paid such claims a second thought. I even made fun of Oliver Stone. But the detail provided in this book by James Earl Ray's brother, John Larry Ray and Lyndon Barsten, a lay historian is quite compelling! John takes the reader all the way back through the entire history of the Ray family, "warts" and all. In fact the "warts" (criminal activity) are an essential element that adds veracity to the conspiratorial intersection of the CIA, FBI, Mafia and the United States Government. Aiding John's real-life firsthand knowledge regarding the people, organizations and events that culminated in Martin Luther King's (MLK) assassination is Lyndon's expert use of the "FREEDOM OF INFORMATION ACT" (FOIA) which freed up TENS OF THOUSANDS OF NEW PAGES OF NEW MATERIALS ON THE MLK ASSASSINATION.

When James went into the Army he became a military policeman "for a year and a half in the 382nd MP Battalion. Later, he joined a new organization largely formed out of the old OSS, (Office of Strategic Services) which had been the Army's wartime intelligence service", but after 1947, the outfit was generally known as the CIA. "When James joined the Central Intelligence Agency, he was given a new U.S. Army serial number." James involvement in the Army with the OSS/CIA and his civilian criminal contacts would haunt and control him for the rest of his life. James would later say: "When you join the OSS, it's like joining the Mafia, you never leave." According to the authors, the CIA is probably the closest thing to a worldwide Mafia that ever existed. James was assigned a "handler" that would manipulate and direct him the rest of his life. "James would frequently say that when he joined the Army, it put him on the road to ruin. From the time he left the service in 1948 until his death in 1998, James Earl Ray spent forty-three of those fifty years in prison." In my opinion, if it wasn't for the FOIA the things I'm about to tell you would seem like science fiction. "Documents clearly indicate that the CIA was busy trying to reprogram people, and it was doing it in 1948. Several thousand mostly financial documents on mind control, drugs, and many other subjects the public would consider crazy survived a document-destruction project ordered by the director of Central Intelligence, Richard Helms, and Sidney Gottlieb, headof mind control studies, as they left the CIA in 1973. Today you can get the surviving several thousand pages of CIA mind control documents on three CD's that detail the bizarre experiments done in the name of "national security." The Army had their own programs that paralleled the CIA's: tens of thousands of surviving government documents detail, among other subjects, how they endeavored to create HUMAN ROBOTS to be used as killing machines. The CIA's own documents say it best. This document, "Hypnosis and Covert Operations" (written May 5, 1955) is released through the FOIA by the CIA as MORI 428311." "The CIA's MK-Ultra brainwashing program included feeding Army soldier's mescaline, sodium pentothal, depressants, amphetamines and LSD both on base and at local bars."

On many of the occasions that the post-military James was ordered to report to his "handler" he was directed to smuggle weapons in and out of Mexico. The potential reader should be made aware that the CIA and FBI had a very close working relationship with the Mafia. "They used the Mob for clandestine operations so that they could maintain plausible deniability if the operation went wrong." Just a few of the documented examples are Lucky Luciano in World War II and the planned assassination of Castro in Cuba. So because of James's relationship with certain mob figures, when he met his "handler" in the time leading up to the MLK assassination he was led to believe he was going to be a "wheel-man" in a diamond heist. (In fact one of the hardest things for the government to cover-up was the money they gave James to keep him available and indebted to them when the conspiracy was questioned years later.)He was even directed to buy the rifle that the government would attempt to say killed MLK. The flophouse bathroom that the government said James shot MLK from was proven to be too narrow to fit the length of the rifle in at the proper angle without James either making a ten-inch-deephole through the wall or hanging out of the window.

It gets more insane from there as FOIA documents later proved that while James was given a lawyer from a government approved list, the FBI was secretly giving an author bogus incriminating evidence about James to be published in "LOOK" and "LIFE" magazine before James ever got his "fair" trial. By this time Coretta Scott King "was now openly and publicly beginning to discuss her suspicions of government conspiracy in her husband's death and in the death of her brother-in-law." Add to this, Judges about to approve an appeal dying of heart attacks, new lawyers handling James's case dying of heart attacks, and witnesses dying of heart attacks. NOTE: "One of the most common methods used by intelligence agencies for murder is HEART ATTACKS!" There is so much more documented detail in this expose that even if you start reading this book with a closed-mind... by the end of this book it will be opened to the possibility that...???

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Product Description
Heraldry is many things: a fascinating and colorful art, a system of symbols denoting prominent families and institutions, a display of pageantry, and an invaluable aid to historians. This lavishly illustrated guide to the history and significance of heraldic symbols is the first comprehensive book written by Officers of Arms with full access to the records and manuscript collection of the College of Arms, the heraldic authority for the United Kingdom.
At once an excellent introduction to heraldry and an authoritative up-to-date record for experts, this all-encompassing volume covers the origins of heraldry, the composition and appearance of arms, how they were and are granted, their evolution as families intermarry, and their decorative use. While Britain figures most prominently, the guide also includes separate chapters on American and European heraldry. Most important, the coats of arms and heraldic devices that illustrate this colorful book are drawn from manuscripts in the College of Arms Library, the most important collection of heraldic manuscripts in the world. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (5)

Succinct, Authoritative, & Very Informative
Review of "The Oxford Guide to Heraldry" by Thomas Woodcock and John Robinson.

At only 233 pages this tome is not large but the quality of production is clearly evident.With heavy acid free paper and superb color and black and white plates the book actually weighs twice as much as inferior quality books of the same size and pages.

The content of the book is survey in nature and explains the Origins of Heraldry; European Heraldry; Grantees of English Arms; The Shield of Arms; Crests; Supporters, Badges, and 'Mottoes'; Marshalling of Arms; Heraldric Authority in Great Britain; American Heraldry; & The Use of Heraldry as Decoration.

A comprehensive index and bibliography round out this fine work.If you are interested in heraldry and need a very good primer, or if you are a researcher and need an authoritative reference then I would recommendthis text as an excellent resource.

Five stars without reservation.

JP

Quite boring
This book contains endless lists of names and dates that might be interesting if you are interested in English geneology, but you have to looks for information on heraldry. There are also cumbersome descriptions of things that should have been illustrated in pictures.

Introduction to the joys of heraldry
This is an outstanding and authoritative introduction to heraldry written by two English heraldists, one an officer of the College of Arms in London.The book is well researched and illustrated. Too often heraldic books are reprints or new editions of books from the first part of the 20th Century.This book has contemporary design and language and is well fitted to be the definitive guide at the turn of the 20th Century.It should be included in the library of every person with a serious interest in heraldry.

Probably the best recent introduction
An excellent introduction to the field by the Somerset Herald. Chapters cover the origins and evolution of the herald's art, the marshalling of arms, the technical aspects of blazoning, and even the proper decorative use of heraldry. The emphasis, naturally, is on Britain, but Europe and the United States are included as well. Very nicely illustrated, too, with a thick section of color plates. And a nice gift book, too.

Authoritative, scholarly review of the history of heraldry.
This is a well-researched, comprehensive analysis of the history of heraldry in both England and Europe. It features several full-color as well as grayscale plates illustrating ancient coats of arms and the evolution ofthis art to the modern day.A glossary with illustrations is included inthe appendix, and it is well-indexed. ... Read more

Product Description

This collection of readings, drawn from the writings andsermons of 25 classic and contemporary theologians and Bibleteachers, focuses on the wonder of Christ's sacrifice.

In a culture where crosses have become little more thandecorative accessories and jewelry, how easy it is for even themost well-intended Christian to rush from Palm Sunday to EasterSunday without thoughtfully contemplating the cross and all that itmeans. Yet we miss out on spiritual riches when we do.

So that we all may linger at the cross during the Lentenseason-and stay near it the whole year through-editor Nancy Guthriehas compiled this special anthology. It draws from the works andsermons of classic theologians such as Luther, Edwards, Spurgeon,Ryle, and Augustine, and from leading contemporary communicatorssuch as John Piper, R. C. Sproul, Francis Schaeffer, JohnMacArthur, Skip Ryan, and Joni Eareckson Tada to help readers enterinto an experience of Christ's passion and anchor their hope in thepower of his resurrection.

Each essay in this collection holds to a high view of Scriptureand expounds on a particular aspect of the Easter story using theappropriate Scripture passage from the ESV Bible. These readingsare sure to prepare people's hearts for a fresh experience of thecross each and every Easter season.

Customer Reviews (4)

Live in Light of the Cross All Year Long
As we approach Easter, Christians everywhere remember Christ's sufferings on the old, rugged cross and the triumph of his resurrection.Indeed, the symbol of the cross is one of the few near universal Christian symbols.Protestants, Catholics and those who view themselves as neither, still cling to the cross.The gospel depends on it, Jesus' earthly life is shaped by it, the Four Gospels almost speak of nothing else.Salvation depends on it, and sanctification is fed by it.And with Paul, we all should seek to boast in nothing but the cross or our Lord Jesus Christ.

For this reason I was thrilled at the opportunity to review a book like Nancy Guthrie's Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter (Crossway).I assumed it would be a good read since it is a compilation of several prominent church leaders, contemporary (Tim Keller, John Piper, Ligon Duncan, Phil Ryken and John MacArthur) and from years past (Augustine, Luther, Calvin, J.C. Ryle and Charles Spurgeon).Yet, the book excelled far beyond my expectations, high though they were.

Nancy Guthrie did a phenomenal editing job in piecing together various meditations on the Cross into a wonderfully unified book.And the selections she chose were truly the best of the best that these authors had to offer.Finding each of these was an amazing accomplishment in its own right.

Here's a small sampling of the topics covered in this small volume.Martin Luther challenges us to find a proper view of self in light of the Cross.Alistair Begg ponders the innocent Christ being crushed by God.C.J. Mahaney unpacks the weightiness of the cup that Jesus chose to drink completely for us.R. Kent Hughes shows the Biblical theological background to the symbolism inherent in Jesus' betrayal in the garden at Gethsemane.Spurgeon marvels that the Lord of the Universe allowed sinners to spit in his face, and he chillingly shows that we too have tragically spit in his face.J.C. Ryle wants us to find ourself in the Sufferings of Christ.Martyn Lloyd-Jones focuses on Christ's destruction of the Devil.John Calvin points out the connection between the Passover Lamb and Christ as shown in the blood and water flowing from his side.Jonathan Edwards shows Christ's sacrifice as not merely satisfying God's wrath, but accruing merit in that it was a sweet smelling, acceptable offering to God.Tim Keller explains how resurrection power should transform our lives.

In all of this, our focus should not be on the human authors Nancy compiles.Rather each are gifted with the ability and graced with the desire to show forth Christ in all His beauty and glory.And such a feast, an extended meditation on our Savior, Jesus Christ, is appropriate not merely for Easter and Passion Week, but all the year, and all the days of our life, long.

I encourage you to pick up a copy of this fantastic book, start it this Easter and let the message of the Cross grip your heart in the weeks following.This will surely be a devotional book I'll pick up again and again.

Inspiring and Accessible
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross.It is a book to be savored, as it contains 25 short articles on many of the aspects of the Passion week written by some of the great pastor-theologians of the past and present.The luminous names like Augustine, Luther, Calvin, Edwards and Spurgeon are here and their contributions are powerful.But equally powerful are some of the modern figures like Kent Hughes on Gethsemane and Tim Keller on the resurrection.Especially touching is the essay from Joni Eareckson Tada on Sharing His Sufferings.This book would be especially moving if read during Holy Week.One could read Matthew 26-28 on Palm Sunday, then read Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross as follows:chapter 1 on Monday, chapter 2 on Tuesday and chapter 3 on Wednesday, followed by chapters 4-8 on Maundy Thursday, chapters 9-17 on Good Friday, chapters 18-20 on Saturday and chapters 21-25 on Easter Sunday.Reading in this way would track the content of the book as it correlates with the events of Holy Week.

Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross is a resource I expect to return to again and again.

Terrific Resource for Lent
I know that Lent is not kept by most evangelicals, and that's okay. There's no Scripture passage forbidding it or advocating it, so whether one decides to prepare for Easter in this manner is left to one's conscience.

This season serves as a time of reflection upon the sufferings of Christ. It is a season of repentance, a time of dying to self that anticipates new life on the other side, just like the last days of winter anticipate the arrival of Spring.

During Lent, I try to temper my voracious appetite for reading by adding several devotional works to my reading schedule.

I am glad to see that Crossway has published several solid collections of devotional material in recent years. One of the recent publications, Jesus, Keep Me Near the Cross: Experiencing the Passion and Power of Easter, is edited by Nancy Guthrie and contains 25 sermon or book excerpts about the suffering and exaltation of Jesus Christ.

Guthrie's collection features recent writings from pastors and authors like Adrian Rogers, Joni Eareckson Tada, John Piper, and Tim Keller. But it also features several "classic" sermon excerpts from the past: Augustine, John Calvin, Martin Luther, Charles Spurgeon, and Jonathan Edwards.

I am looking forward to finishing this fine collection of meditations during Lent this year. So let me encourage you - whether or not you "give up something" -at least use these few weeks to prepare for Easter, giving thought to the price paid for your ransom and the extraordinary love of God manifested on Calvary. May Jesus keep you near his cross!

Great book for Easter...
This book comes out well before Easter to make sure that you are able to buy it, study it and then teach its truths to others as Easter comes about. The book is laid out to have 25 short teachings and thoughts on the cross of Christ. It has most theologians that you can think of in the Reformed and Calvinistic circles and then also includes at least one I know that wasn't a Calvinist (Adrian Rogers). Most of the chapters are about 3 to 4 pages which include many different angles to look at the cross. The topics range from Christ's humility in Gethsemane, silence among his accusers, our sin putting him on the cross, propitiation, forsaken by God, etc. I am not going to list every theologian and every topic, but I will say that this book is a very good one to help someone as they study further on the cross of Christ. This book is a book of quotable thoughts for any pastor.

Some of my favorites were Martin Luther, C.J. Mahaney, Tim Keller, Adrian Rogers and Augustine. Martin Luther is first up in the book, and in my opinion, it didn't get any better than Luther. I really enjoyed his chapter and found myself continually reading because of his start of the understanding of the "True Contemplation of the Cross." Here is an excerpt from Luther's chapter:

Take this to heart and doubt not that you are the one who killed Christ. Your sins certainly did, and when you see the nails driven through his hands, be sure that you are pounding, and when the thorns pierce his brow, know that they are your evil thoughts. Consider that if one thorn pierced Christ you deserve one hundred thousand.

The whole value of the meditation of the suffering of Christ lies in this, that man should come to the knowledge of himself and sink and tremble. If you are so hardened that you do not tremble, then you have reason to tremble. Pray to God that he may soften your heart and make fruitful your meditation upon the suffering of Christ, for we ourselves are incapable of proper reflection unless God instills it.

But if one does meditate rightly on the suffering of Christ for a day, an hour, or even a quarter of an hour, this we may confidently say is better than a whole year of fasting, days of psalm singing, yes, than even one hundred masses, because this reflection changes the whole man and makes him new...

Martin Luther, p. 12 (taken from Martin Luther's Easter Book)

Although there were some that stood out, there were also some where I couldn't wait to read and they seemed to fall a little flat. Not only tha, there were some that were just plain bizarre where I will either need to study further or just glaze over for the sake of the other chapters. The odd ones were John MacArthur's take on Christ's forgiveness on the cross. He believes that Christ was only asking for the forgiveness of those who would end up believing in Him and not everyone that was at the cross crucifying him. I believe he ends up making his theology read into this part of Scripture a little too much. The other two that I will have to study a little further were J.I. Packer's on Christ descending to hell and also Joseph "Skip" Ryan's chapter on Christ being thirsty. He takes this to mean that Christ was spiritually thirsty and not physically. My first take is that he is trying to stretch this text further than it allows.

Even with these three, the other 22 chapters far outweigh them to keep me from recommending this book. I would recommend this to any who would like a good understanding of the cross from a wide set of generations, convictions and theologians. Just know, that it doesn't get better than Luther's chapter, but that doesn't mean the rest of the book gets "worse." Highly Recommended
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Product Description
"The focus of any genuinely new piece of criticism or interpretation must be on the creative act of finding the new, but deconstruction puts the matter the other way around: its emphasis is on debunking the old. But aside from the fact that this program is inherently uninteresting, it is, in fact, not at all clear that it is possible. . . . [T]he naïvetê of the crowd is deconstruction's very starting point, and its subsequent move is as much an emotional as an intellectual leap to a position that feels different as much in the one way as the other. . . ." --From the book ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

The Emperor of Deconstruction Has No Clothes
John Ellis has spent a long and distinguished career debunking what he saw as trendy, illogical, and just plain faulty theories of literary criticism.For him, if any theory purports to explain the relation that a text has with its readers, that theory should be able to withstand a rigorous dissection by those who are more interested in truth and logic than in following the crowd.In AGAINST DECONSTRUCTION, Ellis takes to task the theory called deconstruction, as initially promulgated by Jacques Derrida in 1966.Even before deconstruction took firm hold in academia, Ellis, in his earlier THE THEORY OF LITERARY CRITICISM (1974), sounded a warning that theories which claim a special exemption from analysis and wrap themselves in mystic splendor are likely to be far less sophisticated than at first glance.Ellis shows disdain for any theoretician who stridently asserts that "logic, reason, and analysis are insufficient to discuss Derrida" (9).He further takes offense at the prevalent mode of deconstructionist thought that implies it need do no more than dismantle previously existing worn-out theories without offering a viable and presumably more useful alternative.A recurrent theme, Ellis sees in Derrida, is the latter's refusal to investigate alternatives to his own animus toward logocentrism.Ellis also exposes Derrida as one who shamelessly claims to be a firm originator of a dramatic and even heroic basis for judging texts in terms of their inherent contradictions as indicated by their binary opposites.Such binaries, Ellis notes, are neither original with Derrida nor a particularly fruitful way to limit academic discourse to polar opposites while totally ignoring a vast range of shades of meaning that are interspersed between them.Finally, Ellis lists many rhetorical tricks, flourishes, and deceptive practices, all of which add up to a theory that has succeeded in entrenching itself in literary discourse despite its many flaws.Clearly, as long as Derrida's followers can repeat the mantra that "all interpretation is misinterpretation," then the validity of deconstruction as a useful tool in literary analysis will endure only for as long as it takes enough people to see that the literary emperor truly has no clothes.

A Masterful Argument That Leads Its Reader to Unavoidable Conclusions
Though the tide of deconstruction, the powerful Gallic efflux it was in the seventies and eighties, has ebbed somewhat, having given way to its close kin, New Historicism, it continues to have some currency in literary criticism: one would certainly be remiss if in her critical writing she did not drop the late M. Derrida's name now and then.

And yet, after having read recently Professor Ellis's *Against Deconstruction,* an absolutely withering critique of the titular adversary by any sensible measure, I wonder how deconstruction managed to survive, in whole or in part, nearly a decade into the early twenty-first century.

Let me say that I am not unsympathetic to the posture and attitude that characterize deconstruction's practitioners, but I have to admit that, as Ellis closely and rigorously argues, the revelation -- a revelation which makes one blush, believing he should have known this all along -- that deconstruction is old wine (admittedly, it is French wine, but old nonetheless) in new skins has forced me to cast a rueful eye upon my six years' apprenticeship in this discourse.

Yes, "old" because all criticism, as Ellis points out, is contestive, skeptical, resistant; thus to lard one's critical writing with nearly inscrutable, neologistic French loanwords is at best self-indulgent, if not captiously insistent on solipsism.And "new" because deconstructionists parade rhetorical dipsy-doodles as truly learned, truly sophisticated subversion -- a subversion that, according to Professor Ellis, remains deliberately incomplete, because to do otherwise would force deconstructionists to commit to a definite position. Which leads one to the conclusion, as it does Ellis, that deconstruction is far more establishmentarian, far more conservative (an accusation I believe Jürgen Habermas also leveled at French theorists in general) than the hoary old, and supposedly monolithic (though this too is a bogus assumption, as it turns out), New Critical (?) interpretations of literature deconstructionist criticism purposes to supplant.

There are surprises aplenty awaiting the curious reader of *Against Deconstruction,* the most surprising of which is the analysis of Derrida's (ab)use of Saussurean linguistics, perhaps the most damning thing to emerge from Ellis's forensics. And the reader will be left, then, to confront anew certain common-sense assumptions abandoned when she entered the thicket of literary studies: that it is often the most prettily wrapped packages which contain the most ho-hum gifts, and that the most indigestible critical fare is often the most meager.

a philosoher looks at literary theory
There are many books, pro and con, about current literary theory.Most of them are written by literary academics.This one is by a philosopher.The significance of this difference is in the tools which the author brings to bear on the problems or on his intolerance of slipshod thinking and sleights of hand.This book is also rare in that respect.The usual attitude of professional philosophers to Derrida is to let his arguments "fall of their own weight."However, fervently held beliefs do not fall of their own weight or even by the weight of argument.Ellis is to be complimented, therefore, for the extreme patience he shows in plodding through every detail of the claims of Deconstructionism and painstakingly refuting each one.This book will, of course, have no effect on the true believers.Nothing will.But for the undecided and the not-yet-converted this book may be a lifesaver.In the end, Ellis concludes that genuine theory "ought to employ analysis rather than rhetorical drama." (p. 158).Instead, in Deconstructionism, "theory" becomes in large measure a new vehicle through which older, unthinking attitudes are clung to and genuine change resisted." (p. 154)Ellis' book is analytical rather than constructive.For constructive answers to the problems that led to Deconstructionism and the other newer attempts at theory, see A Book Worth Reading.

A ghost haunts scholars, the ghost of deconstruction
Ellis' critic asserts to his own arguments, but overall is highly misleading. At a first glance, it shows that not matters how hard he tried to put his prejudices aside on analysing his opponent's system of beliefs he succeed in filtering them with his own bias and frameworks. On a deeper level, he honestly, tries to go about it as if he were dismantling the contradictions of his opponents in their own terms. Regrettably, it can never be in their terms for the simple fact that John M. Ellis doesn't agree with those terms.
However, John M. Ellis achieved the illusion of disarming his opponents in their own terms almost to perfection. Disappointedly, though understandably he only managed to believe in his opponents' terms provisionally. His way about those terms is executed by making them contradict his own mind frame, which he insists, are those of common sense and of a proper rational thinking as if he, in fact, were using them without contradicting himself.

John M. Ellis writes in his book and I am quoting page 95:

Imagine a conference on cancer research at which the general sense is that recent research is going nowhere. A deconstructionist rises to tell the conference that it must look at hitherto marginalized, thus neglected, ideas. A researcher, intrigued by the possibility of a new idea, asks what specific suggestion or suggestions the deconstructionist has in mind. But the deconstructionist replies only that the field must question its concept of what is central to cancer research. Evidently, replies the researcher, but just what aspect of the current consensus on centrality is the problem, and which of the thousands of currently neglected chemical possibilities is the one that the deconstructionist is recommending? If now the deconstructionist replies that is recommending a general strategy, not a concrete proposal, the audience will conclude, correctly, that he has nothing to say after all. For what he has just said is rather like saying, "Have a good idea." That is not even a strategy for finding new ideas, much less a new idea in itself.

To reply to John M. Ellis I use his own lines in this way:

Imagine a conference on deconstruction research at which the general sense is that recent research on the subject is going nowhere. John M. Ellis rises to tell the conference that it must look at neglected ideas by the deconstructionists. A researcher intrigued by the possibility of a new idea asks what specific suggestion or suggestions John M. Ellis has in mind. But John M. Ellis replies only that the field must question its concept of what is central to deconstruction. Evidently, replies the researcher, but just what aspect of the current consensus on deconstruction is the problem and which of the thousands of currently neglected deconstructional possibilities is the one that John M. Ellis is recommending? If now John M. Ellis replies that he is recommending a general strategy, like considering deconstruction a dismissible crackpot, the deconstructional audience will conclude, correctly, that John M. Ellis has nothing to say after all. For what he has just said is rather like saying. "Have a good idea." That is not even a strategy for finding new ideas, much less a new idea in itself.

Other examples like this can be found throughout Ellis' book. No matter how hard he tries to be in a dialogue with his assumed opponents he fails at each time either by misleading them or by falling trapped of the same contradictions he places on them.
John M. Ellis keeps on insisting on the fact that deconstructionists have nothing new to offer. He however, fails to understand that from a philosophical viewpoint deconstruction has never been worried about creating anything new, but recreating old general question that come back to us with new lights. To reduce Derrida's heritage to the socio-political situation in France is interesting but not enough to understand Derrida's ideas. Ellis' dismissal of certain philosophical tradition is also understandable considering his own stands. However, to considered deconstruction as unsound is part of his own strategy of opposition that has nothing to do with deconstruction soundness and it is just another proof of his inability to step out of his own credo.
Even when John M. Ellis sounds Wittgenstein-like, he never managed to grasp the fact that deconstructionists might sound illogical not only because they seem to contradict in themselves, but because their assertions belong to organized sequences of signs outside their fallibility. Unfortunately, John M. Ellis sees the deconstructionists' infallibility as their own failure to admit contradicting themselves. But it is the fight to be fallibly accepted against our seemingly infallibility, what Ellis' logic has a hard time to digest.
To summarize, the new ideas that John M. Ellis demands so much from deconstructionists are nowhere to be found in his book. I wouldn't doubt that John M. Ellis tried to be seen as a new, original interesting proponent against deconstruction, but his own arsenal of tools betrayed his enterprise.

A European Abroad....
Back in the 1970's and the 1980's the early writings of the French philosopher Jacques Derrida exerted considerable influence on literary studies at some of America's better universities.Professor John M. Ellis does not think this was a good thing and, in this little book, he tells us why.

Almost everything of interest in this text is contained in the lengthy chapter entitled "Deconstruction and the Nature of Language".It's here that Ellis states and defends three theses:
1)Derrida's claims that "there is no linguistic sign before writing" and "the concept of writing exceeds and comprehends that of language" are pretty much untenable no matter how charitably they are construed; 2) the speech/writing opposition deconstruction makes so much of has nothing to do with the main thrust of Derrida's thought, which is his advocacy of an anti-essentialist view of language (which is tenable, but neither original nor radical); 3) Derrida's description of language as "a system of signifiers" and his claim that "signifieds" can be in the position of "signifiers" betrays either a gross misunderstanding of Ferdinand de Saussure's theory of linguistics or a willful, and unsubstantiated, mutation of the same.

In his remaining 100 pages Professor Ellis abandons close reading and careful discussion of Derrida's texts in favor of a more general examination of the rhetorical strategies often employed in deconstructionist literary criticism as practiced by Derrida's disciples (for example, Ellis shows that a sexy categorical slogan such as "all interpretation is misinterpretation" is either obviously false or, at best, trivially true).While interesting, a little bit of this goes a long way--I found myself skimming the last couple of chapters.

... ... Read more

Product Description
John Edward Robinson was a 56-year-old grandfather from rural Kansas. An entrepreneur and Eagle Scout, he was even honored as 'Man of the Year" at a Kansas City charity. To some of the women he met on the Internet, he was known as Slavemaster--a sexual deviate with a taste for sadomasochistic rituals of extreme domination and torture.

Masquerading as a philanthropist, he promised women money and adventure. For fifteen years, he trawled the Web, snaring unsuspecting women. They were never seen again. But in the summer of 2000, the decomposed remains of two women were discovered in barrels on Robinson's farm, and three other bodies were found in storage units. Yet the depths of Robinson's bloodlust didn't end there. For authorities, the unspeakable criminal trail of Slavemaster was just beginning...
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Customer Reviews (9)

Torture for Pleasure
I first came across this book as it was listed in another reviewer's listmania list.Given its lofty reviews, I was excited when I finally came across a used copy of this out-of-print book.For the most part, the book did not disappoint.

John Edward Robinson may go down as the first internet serial killer.However, the route to his crime was less than conventional.From fraud, theft, to various other scams, Robinson fits the profile of a career criminal.It was only when his BDSM lifestyle began to spiral out of control that his criminal world closed in on him.Like many criminals, his crimes became sloppy toward the end of his run.Even if Robinson appears reasonably clean early in the book, the search warrants toward the end lend an explosive image to the crimes.

The one major flaw I saw with the book is its inability to finish the story.The book ends with the case going to trial.Why end the book before the story is finished?I needed to do an internet search to learn of the court rulings.

Excellent book
This is a must read book for all of the people who interact on the net with "FRIENDS".

OK book, misleading title.
John Robinson was a businessman, Eagle Scout and Man of the Year.Very few people knew the real John Robinson.Three quarters of the book deals with the prior crimes committed by John.He was always setting up new businesses and trying to get people to invest.Each time the police caught him, he would start up another business.
While only a quarter of the book dealt with his new found internet lifestyle.The book was well written except for the ending, when the reader is left wonder what actually happened.

Welcome to cyber serials!
This story blew my mind. I had just finished the book when I stopped for fuel at the NM/AZ state line on I-40. There was a state police computer printout hanging on the door, warning women against chatting with men on the internet because of the "internet slavemaster." The state police (NM) were asking for any information in connection to this internet entity. I couldn't believe it.

Then, when I arrived in Holbrook, AZ, I ran into four highway patrolmen at a truckstop diner and asked them about the notice. We engaged in an hour-long conversation about how a predator like this can disguise himself as an upstanding member of the community and keep everybody fooled. We had the book out and several people seemed mesmerized by our discussion of this story. It has that effect! It is just so unbelievable that people are astounded.

If you have not read this book, get it! This man was the first to harness the internet for serial killing. Boy, it will drive home the fact that there is no safe ground anymore. If you have children, you will be concerned about what they are doing online. It will make you look at your computer in a whole new light. It will also make you start wondering about all those upstanding citizens that you know so well ... or do you really know them at all?

There is a flip side to this story - the world of S&M and the women that were surfing for a "master." This man could not have lured them if they had not been presenting themselves as victims. That is where the game is so dangerous - you just never know when it is going to get out of hand. I would think that it is not something you would readily trust to a stranger. I think that is the part of this story that astounds people the most. Why would a woman readily place herself into the role of slave to a complete stranger?

The author has done a fabulous job of presenting the facts in a flowing narrative that keeps you reading. I couldn't put the book down until I finished it. I can't imagine what he could have done to improve it. It was outstanding!

Mesmerizing
Living in the Kansas City area I was particularly interested in the John Robinson case and followed it avidly. Glattt has done an excellent job in recounting the case and his research is first class. He also goes further and breaks new facts on the case which have never come to light before. I was very impressed by his writing style and attanetion to detail. I would recommend this to all true crime fans and have done so. This one is way up there with In Cold Blood. ... Read more

Product Description
"Visually lovely and perfectly cadenced, this warm-hearted adventure belongs in every library." — THE HORN BOOK (STARRED REVIEW)

Tiny Mouse has never been to the cornfield before, so he’s thrilled that his sister will take him. It’s the perfect place to play games, but it’s also full of strange new sights that make Tiny quiver and call out for his sister, who helps him feel braver. With boldly animated illustrations and a sympathetic story, Tiny’s Big Adventure captures all the excitement — and trepidation — of a first-time experience. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Tiny treasure
Sometimes my favorite new picture books are the ones I can imagine reading as a toddler.When you're a kid it's easy to slip into the moods and evocative scenes picture books conjure up.Books like "A Time To Keep" by Tasha Tudor leave you feeling nostalgic for a time you never knew.Books like "The Maggie B." sweep you into entirely new safe little enclaves.When I picked up "Tiny's Big Adventure", I was immediately entranced by its illustrations.Regardless of the plot (which is dandy), the visual images in this tale give readers entirely new ways of seeing the world.Children reading this book will treasure it for life.

Tiny the mouse lives with his big sister Katy in a cozy barn.One day Tiny expresses an interest in the nearby wheat field that stands by their home.Katy, ever patient and caring, takes her little sib there.After playing, Tiny (ever ready to flee at the slightest notion) spots various potential threats.Katy explains to her brother that no, that's a rabbit and not a cat.No, that's a pheasant and not an owl.Further reassurances are needed when Tiny stumbles on a snail, a spider, and an old abandoned boot.Fortunately, Katy is a vastly comforting presence and after playing a little more the two head home.Completely satisfied with the idea that the world is not as frightening as it may seem, Tiny suggests, "Let's do it again, Katy Mouse".And, we are told, they did.

I initially took the pictures in this tale to be woodcuts of some sort.After further inspection, however, I discovered that they are instead made from vinyl engravings, watercolor washes, and printed wood textures.The result is a particularly classic look awash in a variety of details and colors.Relying on a sky blue color for images that might otherwise be black, the illustrations deftly lead the reader's eye to various objects.Katy and Tiny are always drawn in comforting chocolate brown tones while the wheat field is a stunning shade of gold.There are red bees and a bright orange sun.These colors meld together effortlessly, yet the feeling you get from the book is still one of age and authority.You half expect this story to have been written in the early 20th century, it's so beautiful.

The story itself isn't too different from your usual preschool fare.I did enjoy the palpable love felt between the two siblings.It's always nice to read the occasional book that shows siblings that get along without descending into schmaltzy goo.This tale is touching without ever striking the reader as playing on their emotions.All in all, "Tiny's Big Adventure" is a class act.If you want a story that will remain a family treasure a little longer than, oh say, "Walter the Farting Dog", this should be your first choice.A great gorgeous outing.
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Product Description
Jacobean Tragedy explores the tensions between the disruptive energies of sex and seventeenth century social, cultural and political values with an exceptional frankness, and the plays collected in this volume demonstrate the genre at its most sinister and explicit.The plays included are The Insatiate Countess, The Maid's Tragedy, The Maiden's Tragedy, and The Tragedy of Valentinian. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

David Lynch, move on over!
Oh my goodness! What a wonderful gruesome collection of early 17th century plays! Jacobean drama is conventionally characterized as "decadent," and this anthology seems to justify the appellation. How about nymphomania, necrophilia, incest, murder, poison, blackmail, adultery, and rape? Although the subject matter is sensational, these are also serious psychological studies, well-written and well-plotted dramas. These fascinating plays are not widely available, but they should be. Anybody interested in 17th century English drama and culture will enjoy these plays. The plays are especially provocative in their treatment of monarchy; the royal court is typically portrayed as deeply corrupted, tyrannous, and decadent. Amazingly, for an age of royal absolutism, these plays seem to justify regicide. David Lynch, more over, here come the Jacobean sex tragedies.

I agree with the comments of the previous reviewer that the editing leaves much to be desired. The use of endnotes instead of footnotes is horribly distracting. I finally just stopped using the notes. Most of the notes are unnecessary and add little to the understanding of the text. If you're familiar with reading Shakespeare, you can probably comprehend these texts without looking at the endnotes.

Wiggins is a smashing editor.
Since Amazon.com can't be bothered to list the contents of all the books, I thought I'd be helpful:this book contains The Maid's Tragedy (Beaumont and Fletcher), The Maiden's Tragedy (Middleton), The Tragedy ofValentinian, and The Insatiate Countess (from a draft by Marston). ... Read more

Product Description

The development of water resources is a key element in the socio-economic development of many regions in the world. Water availability and rainfall are unequally distributed both in space and time, so dams play a vital role, there being few viable alternatives for storing water. Dams hold a prime place in satisfying the ever-increasing demand for power, irrigation and drinking water, for protection of man, property and environment from catastrophic floods, and for regulating the flow of rivers. Dams have contributed to the development of civilization for over 2,000 years. Worldwide there are some 45,000 large dams listed by ICOLD, which have a height over 15 meters. Today, in western countries, where most of the water resources have been developed, the safety of the existing dams and measures for extending their economical life are of prime concern. In developing countries the focus is on the construction of new dams. The proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Dam Engineering includes contributions from 18 countries, and provides an overview of the state-of-the-art in hydropower development, new type dams, new materials and new technologies, dam and environment. Traditional areas, such as concrete dams and embankment dams, methods of analysis and design of dams, dam foundation, seismic analysis, design and safety, stability of dam and slope, dam safety monitoring and instrumentation, dam maintenance, and rehabilitation and heightening are also considered. The book is of special interest to scientists, researchers, engineers, and students working in dam engineering, dam design, hydropower development, environmental engineering, and structural hydraulics.

Product Description
Examines his contribution as a philosopher and theologian to issues of racial and social justice and his drive to eradicate oppression through the doctrine of nonviolence. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A tribute to peace
My favorite kind of book is one that makes you want to read twenty or thirty others because of the titles and writers referred to by the author.You think you're reading a single book, but by the time you close it, you've been introduced to a whole community.

John Ansbro's book on Dr. King's philosophy of nonviolence is like that.First published twenty years ago and thankfully re-released, the book helps us understand King's nonviolence through careful and interesting discussions of the influences on him.Ansbro traces King's personalism and focus on agape ethics through thinkers such as Howard Thurman, Kant, Nygren, Augustine, Thomas Aquinas, Niebuhr, DuBois Gandhi, and Thoreau.Especially useful is his discussion of King's views on collective evil and what he sees as its alternative, the "beloved community."Equally useful and fascinating is Ansbro's comparison of Dr. King's nonviolence to Franz Fanon's and Malcolm X's (early) espousal of violence.

Reading this book is an education not only in Dr. King's philosophy and stragegy of nonviolent resistance, but also on nonviolence as taught and practiced through the ages.In this day and age, when we seem even more ready than in days past to resort to violence as a way of settling differences, the re-issue of Ansbro's book is a Godsend. ... Read more

Product Description
In this revisionist biography of Dr Jonathan Swift, the author of Gulliver's Travels, John Martin sets out to solve the many unresolved issues in the life of Dr Jonathan Swift. Who were his parents? How was he brought up? What was the truth of his relationships with Stella and Vanessa, women who suffered at his hands and whom Swift obstinately refused to marry after long relationships?John Martin reveals that contrary to current opinion, and the notion that Swift was asexual, Swift had long-term relationships with many women and had children by some, including Stella and Vanessa.Swift's ambition was to become an English Bishop. He failed because in 'the knowing part of society' in London and Dublin he was regarded as a debauched priest. His clerical ambitions hadto be satisfied bybecoming the Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral, far removed from the glittering society of London and his friends among the wits of the age: Pope, Addison, Arbuthnot, Gay and Prior.His consolation was that over a relatively short period of time he became the leading satirist of his age, a reputation cemented down the ages by his authorship of Gulliver's Travels.Swift mixed with most powerful politicians of his time. They were eager to have him on their side and to usehis formidable political and religious journalism in the support of their causes.A satirist makes many enemies and Swift was never short of them; but he made long-lasting friendships with friends and opponents alike who found in him the joy of conversation and the laughter of repartee.In the opinion of the publisher, John Martin gives a unique insight into the character and behaviour of Swift. The publisher writes: 'not since Norman O'Brown's Life Against Death has such insight been granted into the mind, art and being of Jonathan Swift.' ... Read more

Product Description
As the application of object technology-particularly the Java programming language-has become commonplace, a new problem has emerged to confront the software development community. Significant numbers of poorly designed programs have been created by less-experienced developers, resulting in applications that are inefficient and hard to maintain and extend. Increasingly, software system professionals are discovering just how difficult it is to work with these inherited, "non-optimal" applications. For several years, expert-level object programmers have employed a growing collection of techniques to improve the structural integrity and performance of such existing software programs. Referred to as "refactoring," these practices have remained in the domain of experts because no attempt has been made to transcribe the lore into a form that all developers could use. . .until now. In Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Software, renowned object technology mentor Martin Fowler breaks new ground, demystifying these master practices and demonstrating how software practitioners can realize the significant benefits of this new process.

With proper training a skilled system designer can take a bad design and rework it into well-designed, robust code. In this book, Martin Fowler shows you where opportunities for refactoring typically can be found, and how to go about reworking a bad design into a good one. Each refactoring step is simple-seemingly too simple to be worth doing. Refactoring may involve moving a field from one class to another, or pulling some code out of a method to turn it into its own method, or even pushing some code up or down a hierarchy. While these individual steps may seem elementary, the cumulative effect of such small changes can radically improve the design. Refactoring is a proven way to prevent software decay.

In addition to discussing the various techniques of refactoring, the author provides a detailed catalog of more than seventy proven refactorings with helpful pointers that teach you when to apply them; step-by-step instructions for applying each refactoring; and an example illustrating how the refactoring works. The illustrative examples are written in Java, but the ideas are applicable to any object-oriented programming language.Amazon.com Review
Your class library works, but could it be better? Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code shows howrefactoring can make object-oriented code simpler and easier tomaintain. Today refactoring requires considerable design know-how, butonce tools become available, all programmers should be able to improvetheir code using refactoring techniques.

Besides an introduction torefactoring, this handbook provides a catalog of dozens of tips forimproving code. The best thing about Refactoring is itsremarkably clear presentation, along with excellent nuts-and-boltsadvice, from object expert Martin Fowler. The author is also anauthority on software patterns and UML, and this experience helps makethis a better book, one that should be immediately accessible to anyintermediate or advanced object-oriented developer. (Just likepatterns, each refactoring tip is presented with a simple name, a"motivation," and examples using Java and UML.)

Early chaptersstress the importance of testing in successful refactoring. (When youimprove code, you have to test to verify that it still works.) Afterthe discussion on how to detect the "smell" of bad code, readers getto the heart of the book, its catalog of over 70 "refactorings"--tipsfor better and simpler class design. Each tip is illustrated with"before" and "after" code, along with an explanation. Later chaptersprovide a quick look at refactoring research.

Like softwarepatterns, refactoring may be an idea whose time has come. Thisgroundbreaking title will surely help bring refactoring to theprogramming mainstream. With its clear advice on a hot new topic,Refactoring is sure to be essential reading for anyone whowrites or maintains object-oriented software. --RichardDragan

Topics Covered: Refactoring, improving software code, redesign, design tips, patterns, unit testing, refactoring research, and tools. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (140)

One of the most useful software development books I've read
I bought this book in 2004 and have read most of it multiple times.This is not a how to write code book, it's a how to write and rewrite code well book.

Frankly, the reason I bought this book was because Kent Beck was a co-author.His book "Smalltalk Best Practice Patterns" is a classic, even though it is tough to read.Beck knows software development from practical experience, not only theoretical concepts.

I've been programming for 35 years, and this book reaffirmed what I had learned from working on many projects, writing many tens of thousands lines of code, and maintaining millions of lines of code.Write tiny methods.Each method should do one thing and do it well.Avoid duplicate code for many reasons.

I practice the principles in this book everyday.If you understand and practice them too, you will be a better software developer.

Still relevant today !!
This book should be treated as a classic in software craftmanship, and its contents are still relevant today as they were in 1999.

Essential reading
A great book that uses clean code examples to illustrate powerful concepts. It is good at showing critical OOP concepts as well as refactoring techniques for cleaning up code. Reading this will most likely make you a better programmer.

Great Mentoring...
I learned many things from this book.After reading, I felt like that I had received years of mentoring from an experienced professional.I spent one week reading this on the subway and advanced two years in professional knowledge.Time and money well spent.

Good resource for teaching
What is better? Replacing delegations with inheritance or replacing inheritance with delegation?

The answer is the ultimate answer to most software engineering decisions: DEPENDS, there is always a trade-off that has to be analyzed according to the context! This book addresses those trade-offs very well.

Moreover, I like the examples in the book, good to use in class when teaching. They generate interesting discussions. ... Read more

Product Description
The Lutheran Reformation of the early sixteenth century brought about immense and far-reaching change in the structures of church and state, and in religious and secular ideas. This book investigates the relationship between the law and religious ideology in Luther's Germany, showing how they developed in response to the momentum of Lutheran teachings and influence. John Witte, Jr. argues that it is not enough to understand the Reformation in either only theological or legal terms but that a perspective is required which takes proper account of both. ... Read more