Customer Reviews (1)

A Perfect Story
Tom Jared is tired out from long months in space as the telepathin a first contact party. He picks a world that was only visited once long ago to take a vacation. He sets down on the half of the planet that is not inhabited. He soon discovers that it is inhabited by a very gentle humanoid amphibian species when one jumps in his little rubber raft. They are able to communicate telepathically. Tom soon learns that this creature's name is Kamir and that she is a female. She is very beautiful by human standards. Tom learns that she is considered ugly by her people because she is too skinny. They fall in love almost instantly. Tom and Kamir spent many days being together and traveling from island to island. Kamir thought that she would never find a husband because she was so ugly. She is very happy and so is Tom. All too soon Kamir's brother tracks them down and asks them to return to the village.

I gave this book a 99 out of 100 on my personal ranking scale. The only point I took off was for the ending. This was such a wonderful story, I guess I wanted it to have a happier ending. But if it did, it might not be as great as it is. I really liked the love story themes. They are at many levels really. Tom falls in love first with Kamir, then her people and finally the entire planet. He breaks all the Federation's Rules of Contact in order to save them.

The story is very short being only 76 pages long, but it feels so much longer. I find myself wishing that there was a part two.

James Tiptree Jr. is a pen name for Alice B. Sheldon. She used a male name to get her Science Fiction Published. The appears to be an older story that was finally printed in 1990. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

It's Michael Bishop Doing PKD
Here the author set out to write his own Philip K. Dick novel.The characters resemble Philip Dick characters (my favorite is the guy with the obsession for Frank Miller DAREDEVIL comics):the protagonists are alienated misfits, the antagonists are mostly government authorities and wealthy people.The setting involves an oppressive regime in a slightly alternate world that nonetheless strongly resembles the contemporary United States.Paranoia genuinely bubbles out of the plot, and of course weird, metaphysical stuff happens toward the end of the story.

Philip Dick and his novels are subjects of discussion among the characters.PKD himself appears in the story ("Horsy Stout"), as he does in his own novels RADIO FREE ALBEMUTH and VALIS; although here he's more in the background.

Most of the novel retains the eerie, bleak, surreal edge that you can find in many PKD novels.I didn't like the ending quite as much as the first 90% of the story; but I can say that many of the PKD novels tend to disintegrate toward the end as well (e.g., DO ANDROIDS DREAM and PALMER ELDRITCH).But the ending to this one is harder to take seriously.And the whole thing's a bit too long (340 pages), considering that most of the PKD novels run to about 200 pages and never exceed 300 (not his science fiction).

On the whole, it's an entertaining psuedo-Dick novel.I haven't read anything else by Michael Bishop, but he certainly has done competent work with this story, I think.

For PKD Fans in Search of Closure
First, a confession:I became a "Dickhead" last year, and ended up reading every single title ever published by Philip K. Dick.Once I finished the last book (including the Selected Letters), I was looking forsome form of closure so I could get on with my life and read other authors. I found that closure in "The Secret Ascension."

Obviouslywritten by a fan of PKD's work and personality, Bishop writes a book thatis funny and imaginative, while mimicking, in a form of tribute, the styleof PKD.

While the actual delivery of the story lacks the power of PKD'swriting, there are many funny moments and tidbits of PKD for fans to enjoy. Bishop employs the multiple narrative technique and the breakdown ofcommonplace reality that fans of PKD expected with each novel.

The endingis quite satisfying, with a respectful nod to PKD's contribution to our"koinos cosmos."A must-read for any true PKD fan. ... Read more

Product Description
A single-volume course for all the Advanced Subsidiary geography specifications introduced in September 2000, this book covers such topics as: how to make the most of your as year 1; the earth's crust at work (including tectonics, weathering, mass movement, slopes); river basin hydrology and management; coastal environments and management; atmosphere ecosystems (including climate and soils); population: dynamics and structure; urban environments: settlement and activities; rural environments; and economic activity. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Required college reading material
Having to read Bishop's book as a required piece of literature in my 1102 English class at North Georgia College and State University did not make me feel as though I would enjoy reading the book. However, as I read it, I decided that even if it had not been required, I think I would have read this book anyways. It was actually very good! I loved the fact that so much of the book was set in the South and that it was based on things that I could actually relate to. My favorite of the short stories was probably "Among the Handlers", I had actually seen things on the news about people who handled snakes as a part of their religion and it was a very engrossing story. If only all of the other required reading I had to do at school was this interesting! ... Read more

Product Description
Thirty voices in the feminine offers a considerable range of critical studies devoted to thirty-four contemporary women writers from France. QuÉbec and Acadia: Beauvoir, Ernaux, Yourcenar, HÉbert, Duras, Sarraute, Maillet, Cixous, Chawaf, Albiach, Redonnet, Atlan, Sallenave, Monette, Le Dantec, Tellermann, Risset, Hyvrard, Detambel, Reyes, Lejeune, Alonso, Farhoud, Pelletier, Billetdoux, TeyssiÉras, Zins, Turcotte, Sebbar, Nimier, Mailhot, D'Amour, Hinschberger, Namiand.
The authors of the studies, from Canada, USA, England and Holland, offer a variety of critical approaches to the work at hand; textual alertness or close analysis frequently is in evidence, however, whether discussion tends to the sociological, the psychological, the interdisciplinary or the stylistic, and all the studies reveal of necessity a profound belief in the great intrinsic and extrinsic value of the literature dealt with, the pertinence of its swarming and challenging feminine consciousness, the power of its often radically rethought form and mode.
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Customer Reviews (1)

1989 Short Fiction Nebula Awards Anthology
It's still two years until officially the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) change their name to the Science fiction AND FANTASY Writers of America (with the F in SFWA changing from Fiction to Fantasy) (in 1991) but unofficially it had already occurred two years *before*, in 1987.This means if your hoping to read science fiction in these anthologies after that date, it's hit or miss.Fortunately the SF collections are still pretty good for the following few years before the shorter works awards eventually become corrupted by the Speculative Fiction writers branch of the SFWA.(The Nebula *novels* are definitely to be approached with extreme caution as none to few are awarded to actual science fiction novels.)But the anthology of this year, 1989, is good.

All of three stories awarded the Nebula are good.If you're not familiar with the short fiction breakdown, they loosely follow the 15/30/60 rule of thumb.Roughly:

Short story is about 15 pages
Novelette is about 30 pages
Novella is about 60 pages
These are rough estimates.The length could be plus or minus 10 pages or more from the above.

First off the novella winner "The Mountains of Mourning" by Lois McMaster Bujold is probably the most solid.Bujold won her first significant SF award last year for her novel Falling Free (although it's debatable on whether that was deserved), but it apparently has given much, much recognition considering the numerous Nebula and particularly Hugo Awards for her novels that she's won.This novella, I believe, is one of her first entries into her Vorkosigan universe, and his story is about Miles Vorkosigan on his first assignment after graduating from the academy on the planet Barrayar.Her writing is brilliant.You can almost feel the air shimmering in the heat and hear the bugs in the air from her writing.

"Ripples in the Dirac Sea" by Geoffrey A. Landis, the Nebula short story winner, quite briefly is about time travel in particular back to the 1960's and is brilliant.This has all the nostalgia of that time.Landis has set up the rules for time travel and because of the circumstances he's somewhat `trapped' there, but trapped as in being trapped in paradise from the way it's written.Very enjoyable

"At the Rialto" by Connie Willis, the Nebula novelette winner, is quite a funny story and can be appreciated by anyone who had to go to a conference, or even more so by anyone's whose ever had their hotel reservations screwed up.

There are other fictional stories in this collection, but what are really worth reading are the several essays.One being "What is Science Fiction?" by Damon Knight.Damon Knight founded the SFWA in 1965 and so he knows quite a bit about it.His essay is actually from 1977 but parts were updated for 1990.In the 1990 section he apparently is not happy with the SFWA becoming amalgamated with Fantasy and as we all now know his hopes and visions have failed.This is what he writes: "I think it's a mistake of catastrophic proportions to bill the Nebula anthology as SFWA's choices for the best science fiction *and fantasy*.The Nebula was never intended to be and should not be an award for fantasy... My solution to this problem when I was president of SFWA was to tell people, `If *you* think it's fantasy, don't nominate it and don't vote for it.' "Powerful and ultimately futile words coming from the person who *founded* the SFWA, especially considering the very next year the SFWA officially incorporated Fantasy into their name.Knight was married to Kate Wilhelm, so she may have had an influence.Being on the outside, it's difficult to know what the heck happened that the science fiction side lost.In later anthologies, those on the winning side smugly suggested that if science fiction writers want to give awards to *just* science fiction they will have to break off and start their own new organization.This may not be a bad idea.Nascar broke away from the major car racing organization whose showcase was the Indianapolis 500 maybe ten or more years ago, and look at the stunning success and popularity of Nascar now.Does anyone watch the Indy 500 anymore, does it even exist?SFWA, in all sense and purposes, stands for Speculative Fiction Writers of America and the Nebula awards in all categories completely are awarded to speculative fiction works (if it also happens to be science fiction that's just happenstance) from the 90's on and for the foreseeable future.If you want to read science fiction, you'll have to use the Hugo awards as a guide (who have not had an overlap with the Nebula awards in any of the short fiction for the past ten years!!!, this is a bad, bad sign for the Nebula's).

The other essay in this anthology relevant to this topic is "Vulgar Art" by Orson Scott Card.Ironically, in the beginning of reading his essay I thought he was referring to the difference between speculative writers, the Elitists writing elitist art, and the science fiction writers writing the vulgar art.He was, however, writing about the difference between mainstream writers, being the elitists, and SF, being the vulgar art.This essay, in conjunction with one written in Nebula Winners 15 by Frank Herbert in 1979, really highlights a sense of insecurity science fiction writers have about their field.I can understand that, for one to say "I write science fiction" could have a twinge of embarrassment.Particularly I suppose to `mainstream' writers. Now for one to say "I write speculative fiction" has a sense of mystery and newness, and I suppose for SF writers, a greater sense of prestige.But it also has a sense of flakiness.It's like it's not cool to say I listen to the music of Led Zeppelin, or Skid Row, or Nickelback, because someone can come back and say "oh man, those are old dinosaur bands".(In factor the metaphor `dinosaur' is what speculative writers say about science fiction writers).No, it's cool instead to say I listen to `Hot New Thing' and puff out your chest in pride as no one's heard much about it.But... regarding what mainstream writers may think of science fiction writers: so what!Science fiction has methodically collected a solid loyal following over the years, over the *decades*.This is not something to be lightly cast aside.If the Speculative F Writers of America end up falling by the wayside, who then would the metaphor `dinosaur' be more applicable towards.Scott's Vulgar Art essay is just one of several essay's I've read before and since on the conflict within the SFWA and there's no apparent resolution in sight. ... Read more

Product Description

The field of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has undergone both evolutionary and dramatic changes over the past 25 years. This is evident by the fact that the term hematopoietic stem cell transplantation has effectively replaced the older term, bone marrow transplantation, due to the diverse source of hematopoietic cells that are employed for transplantation. Some of the most significant advances in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation have occurred in the past decade, as our understanding of stem cell biology, hematopoiesis, and immunology have increased. Alternative sources of stem cells, including those from unrelated donors and cord blood, the utilization of less toxic non-myeloablative and reduced-intensity conditioning regimens prior to transplant, and significantly improved supportive care measures have made hematopoietic stem cell transplantation available to greater numbers of patients.

At the same time there have been parallel advances in the treatments of malignancy, which has significantly altered the indications and the role of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation in these diseases, most notably chronic myelogenous leukemia.

This book reviews pertinent aspects of both autologous and allogeneic stem cell transplantation and our current understanding of transplantation biology including T cell and natural killer cell biology, HLA expression, and post-transplant immune reconstitution. It reviews the current clinical indications for the diseases that hematopoietic stem cell transplantation is most commonly utilized. Additional chapters cover the most recent translational research which will affect our future understanding and practice of hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

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Product Description
This collection of fiction includes two never-before-published pieces in addition to a Hugo- and Nebula-nominated story. The title story spins the tale of a guitarist who refuses to disembark the train at Hell and his adventures at the next stop, Beluthahatchie. Other stories include plot lines about the career concerns of a member of "The Executioner's Guild" and graveyard romances in "The Premature Burials." These science fiction and speculative stories are told with a flair for Southern patois and are followed by comprehensive author's notes.Amazon.com Review
Beluthahatchie and Other Stories is kind of an eyebrow-raising collection: the author had seen barely more than nine stories in print at publication time, and he's got a gorgeous hardcover collection from a respected publisher, containing nine of those stories plus two previously unpublished. Andy Duncan had better be great.

Well, he is. He's better than many decades-established veterans, with a keen ear for dialogue, a Southerner's love of storytelling, a gift for characterization, a fascination with obscure history and folklore, and a wonderfully weird mind. He presents an ethics-obsessed secret brotherhood of hangmen and a peripatetic electric-chair operator in "The Executioner's Guild." He brings a certain notorious Paris theater to life with strange romance and artistic envy in "Grand Guignol." "The Premature Burials" finds a gothicerotic charge in being buried alive. "Liza and the Crazy Water Man" shows as much affection for Southern ways and the now-obscure world of 1930s country music as the Coen Brothers' movie O, Brother, Where Art Thou?. --Cynthia Ward ... Read more

Customer Reviews (9)

A Delight, a Surprise, and an Original
Andy Duncan is a delight, a surprise, and an original. If you haven't yet sampled his work, in "Beluthahatchie and Other Stories" you've got the pleasure of discovering a huge new talent ahead of you. And if you're already familiar with his beautifully written and crafted stories, "Beluthahatchie and Other Stories" allows you to re-read, rediscover, and relish them as often as you wish -- and if you're like me, you'll find yourself dipping into this wonderful collection again and again.

Every story a winner
This book just won the World Fantasy Award and for good reason!My favorite story is "Fortitude" an alternate history fantasy about George Patton, but every story is unique and remarkable. And if you buy this book, don't let it sit on your shelf unread.Read one story at random and you will fall in love with Duncan's writing style and will probably finish the entire book in one sitting (I know I did!).

The debut of an astonishing new talent
Andy Duncan writes brilliant stories.

That's all I need to say.He puts words down on paper and they look beautiful!This collection, from the magnificent Golden Gryphon press, collects all of Andy Duncan's early published work.The stories are by turns, beautiful, poignant, and sometimes horrific.

My favorite story of the collection is 'The Executioner's Guild'.This incredible novella is set in a small Southern town.The town is abuzz because the Execution wagon is coming to town.The Executioner is a young man whose job it is to perform Executions for the state.The story becomes really interesting when the Executioner's mysterious mentor unexpectedly arrives in town and the Executioner must come to grips with the true importance of his job.This story will leave you thinking long after you've put the book down.

There are other stories in this collection of equal quality: 'Liza and the Crazy Water Man', 'Fenneman's Mouth', 'Grand Guignol', 'From Alfano's Reliquary', and the title story 'Beluthahatchie', set in a suburb of Hell.

It's a genuinely exciting experience to stumble across a relatively new author.If you're not familiar with Andy Duncan, you should definitely check out this explosive new author.Duncan's stories remind me a lot of those by another Southern author, Howard Waldrop.Whatever their similarities and differences, both are incredible authors.Duncan's published stories since this collection have maintained his very high level of excellence.I have every reason to believe that Andy Duncan will be a very big name in short speculative fiction.Don't miss this collection.Highly recommended.

An Auspicious Beginning from a Promising Writer
Andy Duncan attained a certain level of notoriety a few years ago with his short story "Beluthahatchie," about a African-American blues guitarist from the Depression-era South who dies and gets off at the next train stop past Hell.The story was nominated for a Hugo award.I've read this particular story several times, and still laugh out loud each time.

Most of Andy's stories take place in by-gone times - and all have some element of strangeness.His writing style deftly changes to match the time period in which the story is set.His Southern stories are like a cross between the Twilight Zone and To Kill a Mockingbird.Other tales are reminiscent of Edgar Allen Poe.Regardless of where or when the tales are set, Andy always captures the spirit of the society - revealed in his incredible attention to detail.He also takes great pains to depict his characters without 21st century condescension, and without glossing over their cultural failings.

Beluthahatchie & Other Stories is the first compilation of this talented writer's works.The book contains eleven of Andy's best stories; highlights (aside from the title story) include:

"The Executioner's Guild," in which a white traveling executioner, assigned to dispatch a black prisoner, is joined by an elder of his ancient society.

"Lincoln in Frogmore," the remembrance of a former slave who recalls the Great Emancipator making a secret nocturnal visit to the black residents of St. Helena Island, South Carolina - at the height of the Civil War!

"Fortitude," a twist on legendary General George S. Patton's obsession with reincarnation.Andy explores Patton's belief that he has a particular destiny - and not just one of victory in battle - and the internal conflicts that arise as a result...END

An outstanding, highly recommended collection
Beluthahatchie And Other Stories is an outstanding, highly recommended collection of Andy Duncan's short stories, include a Hugo and a Nebula nominated tale. Quality speculative fiction from a talented and accomplished writer, Beluthahatchie And Other Stories is enhanced with a Foreword by Michael Bishop, an Afterword by John Kkessel, and includes: Saved; Grand Guignol; The Executioners' Guild; The Premature Burials; Fenneman's Mouth; Lincoln in Frogmore; The Map to the Homes of the Stars; From Alfano's Reliquary; Lisa and the Crazy Water Man; Fortitude; and the title piece, Beluthahatchie. ... Read more

Product Description
Through a collection of original essays from leading philosophical scholars, Stich and His Critics provides a thorough assessment of the key themes in the career of philosopher Stephen Stich.

• Provides a collection of original essays from some of the world's most distinguished philosophers
• Explores some of philosophy's most hotly-debated contemporary topics, including mental representation, theory of mind, nativism, moral philosophy, and naturalized epistemology

Product Description
"

In 1989 Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus were awarded the Nobel Prize for their discovery that normal genes under certain conditions can cause cancer. In this book, Bishop tells us how he and Varmus made their momentous discovery. More than a lively account of the making of a brilliant scientist, How to Win the Nobel Prize is also a broader narrative combining two major and intertwined strands of medical history: the long and ongoing struggles to control infectious diseases and to find and attack the causes of cancer.

Alongside his own story, that of a youthful humanist evolving into an ambivalent medical student, an accidental microbiologist, and finally a world-class researcher, Bishop gives us a fast-paced and engrossing tale of the microbe hunters. It is a narrative enlivened by vivid anecdotes about our deadliest microbial enemies--the Black Death, cholera, syphilis, tuberculosis, malaria, smallpox, HIV--and by biographical sketches of the scientists who led the fight against these scourges.

Bishop then provides an introduction for nonscientists to the molecular underpinnings of cancer and concludes with an analysis of many of today's most important science-related controversies--ranging from stem cell research to the attack on evolution to scientific misconduct. How to Win the Nobel Prize affords us the pleasure of hearing about science from a brilliant practitioner who is a humanist at heart. Bishop's perspective will be valued by anyone interested in biomedical research and in the past, present, and future of the battle against cancer.

Customer Reviews (1)

Noble Work
This is, of course, not a how-to on winning the Nobel Prize.Rather it is Bishop's personal account of what happened when he won the Nobel Prize in "physiology or medicine" in 1989.This is told in a rather light-hearted, self deprecating way that is at once amusing and informative--he provides plenty of background on the prize itself, as well as the logistics of the ceremony of the presentation.

Actually the book is something of a grab-bag of topics.It is partly autobiographical, partly historical accounts of cancer research, and partly a commentary on the issues of the public's perception and misperceptions on science and society. And partly about the discovery that he and Harold Varmus made--the first oncogene.

Although I much enjoyed the other parts, it was to learn something of the discovery itself that brought me to buy the book.And here I must say I was a little disappointed.Basically, they found that one of the four genes carried by the Rous sarcoma virus is also found in the dna of many species of animals, including man.In fact it is found in normal cells, as well as those that are cancerous, and is expressed in both.I found this all a bit confusing.Is it the over-expression of the SRC gene responsible for some cancers, or is it a damaged form of the gene that is responsible?Is it an oncogene or a proto-oncogene?What does it do?

The current paradigm for cancer causation is that one of a few oncogenes and/or tumor supressor genes malfunction to give rise to cancer.I had hoped for a clearer statement of this rather dogmatic idea, and perhaps even some pros and cons for it.What makes a gene qualify for oncogene status?This is never made clear.What has become of SRC?What has been found out in the 30 years since the discovery?Has anyone ever seen a cancer in which only the supposed oncogene is different from that seen in the normal cell?I don't think so.

An opposing theory to this is that the fundamental event in cancer is aneuploidy:the cancer cell contains an abnormal number of chromosomes, thereby over-expressing some thousands of genes at once.Surprisingly, Bishop does not mention this alternative at all.Maybe the oncogene hypothesis is just plain wrong after all.And Peter Duesberg's paradigm is closer to the truth.

Bishop's last chapter covers some of the public controversies:stem cells and cloning, genetic testing and evolution.He gives us his two cents worth on all of them, and I can't help but think he is right on most of what he says.He's got a lot of common sense, and expresses it pretty well. ... Read more

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Customer Reviews (2)

Too many errors
While this book is fairly easy to read, I stopped reading it about halfway through my class because of the constant errors and typos. It is also inconsistent, which I think is mostly due to the fact that each chapter is written by a different person or group of people. Where one chapter says vasopressin, the next says ADH, and the next AVP. After coming across so many errors I stopped trusting the book. I wouldn't recommend it unless you know enough to spot the errors in the first place, and that kind of defeats the purpose.

great book
Very easy book to read and has very good visuals.I did find some random typos here and there but it does not take away from what the book is trying to teach. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Only the Good Die Young
I was looking forward to reading this book, and I read it in one sitting.

I had met and spoken with Bishop Alphonse Gallegos once, in 1986 or 1987, I believe.It was at a St. Patrick's Day fundraiser.I was a volunteer bartender, and so I was in a position to observe him interacting with everyone else.Previously, I had never heard of him..Before the dinner started, however, he came up to me and introduced himself.I believe he told me to just call him Al. Later, someone mentioned that he was the assistant Bishop for Hispanic affairs in Los Angeles.He was a warm, very outgoing, "people" person and not the least bit stiff, aloof or patronizing.You would never know he was a Bishop!My own personal conversation with him lasted probably less than sixty seconds.And yet for those few seconds, I felt profoundly valued as a person.I have never forgotten that.The picture of him in this book, verified by my own personal encounter, shows a man fully engaged with life and wholly dedicated to following Christ.

The accident that cost him his life was a huge loss for the church in America.There is a line in a Billy Joel song that goes, "Only the good die young."I have known other good people who died too young, and I have only been able to reconcile it in my mind by concluding that God likes to take the good people sooner rather than later.
... Read more

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Rear cover notes: "With their controversial pastoral letter, The Challenge of Peace: God's Promise and Our Response, the American Catholic Bishops intended to open not close debate on the crucial topic of modern warfare. This volume of essays briskly takes the Bishops at their word. The authors offer varying assessments of the Pastoral Letter, but all take the American Catholic Bishops as serious partners in a continuing dialogue seeking moral clarity in a nuclear world...." ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

OFTEN TO FIND OUR WAY FORWARDS TO THE KINGDOMOF PEACE WE MUST CAST OUR EYES FURTHEST BACKWARDS
If we wish to find our way back to live a truly Catholic commitment to Peace based firmly upon the unchanging foundation of the life and teachings of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ and the Holy and infallible Church He founded upon the Rock of Saint Peter (as noted by famed punster James Joyce, the singular Faith founded by the Living Word upon a play of words), we must examine carefully where we have come from, to see where we are going. This fairly brief book provides us ample and diverse vision, as it reflects from several perspectives upon the American Catholic Bishops's landmark pastoral statement: The Challenge of Peace; God's Promise and Our Response.

Much of what is here now appears petty bickering, dated and irrelevant. The unfortunate Mr. Michael Novak no longer speaks here courageously as a Catholic for peace as in the Sixties, but as a hired spokesmodel and mouthpiece for the capitalist American Enterprise Institute and its peculiar economic gospel drumming up profitable fear of the Soviets and visions of Nicaraguan rafts coming in to Harlingen, Texas. Such overheated rhetoric, given the passage of the decades, reads as absurdly now as it should have been read back then.

What does not age but informs is the final learned essay by Francis Xavier Meehan, professor of Theology at Immaculata, in which he draws a complementary and challenging interelationship between our present and primitive truly Christian pacifism and our later compromising criteria for a "just war" which was anethema and heresy to the first Christians. This theological essay remains as urgent and relevant now as then, and even moreso as we lose sight of the need for nonviolence demanded by our faith and by the cruel realities of indiscriminate modern warfare.

In my copy this essay has become so heavily highlighted as to appear a glowing light of caution at a traffic post. The margins are full of the stars I use for crucial passages. This essay provides us now substantial food fro considering seriously our current course, disasterous and critical at this juncture in our history of Salvation or death. Permit me therefore to limit my citation to Meehan's conclusion, and urge you with all my heart to study the rest very carefully. The silence of our present pastoral leaders is deafening and this one quiet voice of Meehan fills that deadly silence with hope and with light.

"I end then where I began this essay. In our arguments over just-war teaching or non-violence, we must try to get out of our heads and into the concrete world. And in that world we see the killing becoming unimaginably indiscriminate and brutal. In this real world we simply must try to stop so much evil; or we must at least diminish it. Grace calls us to lessen the violence of the killing. Christian realism begs us to stop the cycle of killing. But how can we ever even hope to stop the cycle in this real world? The times are urging upon us a realistic way, the way of nonviolence. In other words, the very impetus of the just-war teaching is pushing us to a development of doctrine which will finally teach us a very simple word; no more violence, only nonviolence from now on, war no more. When will this time come? My own belief is that it is already upon us. It is now. It is already in the hearts of many. What remains is, I believe, simply a process of discernment amid a praying, suffering, loving Church, especially the Church of the little ones upon whom indiscriminate and unproportionate violence takes its first toll. (p. 104)"

Echoes of the Beatified Blessed Archbishop Oscar A. Romero, whose final Sunday sermon called for an end to the killing, a few days before he too was killed. We must now and forever perceive that no amount of "surge" or escalation of our military violence against a civilian population will ever establish peace, understanding, trust, cooperation and democracy. Stop the killing now. Stop the war. Start the peace, and the development, not the chaos of destruction which sinks us further away from the path of God and deeper into the way of the Enemy.

This brief passage gives only an incomplete sip of the wisdom of this essay, which justifies in itself the low price of this book. This brief passage is stripped of the definitions of terms which precedes it, and thus may be read too superficially and without full understanding. Please get this book and pray over the rest of this essay, as soon as you can, before our violence further increases and drowns us as well. Find the Path to Peace, which is Jesus Christ.

Four stars only because the other essays are mainly only of passing slight historical interest from an internicene discussion long over, not undying and everlasting words powerfully urging us to move on towards Eternal Peace in Our Lord. ... Read more

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In the first examination of Episcopal reforming activity in France during the period 1190-1789, Michael Hayden and Malcolm Greenshields uncover a wealth of new information on the origins of the Catholic Reformation. Written as a narrative account, Six Hundred Years of Reform argues that the origins of the reform do not date back to the sixteenth or seventeenth century, as most scholars believe, but as far back as the twelfth century. Making use of the only continuous records available - pastoral visits and synodal statutes - the authors introduce fresh evidence and interpretations. They shed new light on the medieval origins of the Catholic Reformation and the nature of the reform movement in the sixteenth century. Their work shows the importance of French bishops in starting the early-modern reform and their subsequent role in preparing the Catholic Church to weather the French Revolution. They also explore both the role of the French monarchy in the creation and collapse of the Catholic Reformation, and the changing attitude of peasants and the proto-proletariat toward official religion. ... Read more