Editorial Review

The day before Good Friday 1989, Captain Joseph Hazelwood and the crew of the Read more

Reviews (2)

Gripping Legal Drama Makes Great Reading
David Lebedoff is an excellent author.He goes to great lengths to portray factually and fairly the complicated story of the Exxon Valdez oil spill and ensuing trial.Despite the complex legal issues involved,Lebedoff skillfully makes the book read as though it were a novel.I wouldreccomend this book to anyone in need of a good read.

Highly detailed, but misspells a couple of Alaskan places
On March 24, 1989, the 987 foot oil tanker Exxon Valdez ran aground onBligh Reef, spilling 11 million gallons of North Slope crude oil into theonce pristine waters of Prince William Sound, creating the largest oilspill in U.S. history.David Lebedoff offers a detailed account of thespill and the legal wranglings surrounding the record $5 billion judgmentagainst Exxon, a judgment that is still under appeal. Lebedoff attempts toprovide an even-handed look at the spill and the development of the legalcase that grew out of it, but is hampered by the fact that Exxon refused toprovide comment. This is not the author's fault, but readers should beadvised that this book gives more insight into the perspectives of thevictims and their attorneys than it does into public relations strategiesthat Exxon may have employed and so on.Read more

Subjects:  1. 1946-    2. Administrative Law & Regulatory Practice    3. Alaska    4. Environmental    5. Environmental Law    6. Exxon Corporation    7. Exxon Shipping Company    8. Hazelwood, Joseph Jeffrey,    9. Law    10. Law and legislation    11. Liability for oil pollution damages    12. Litigation    13. Oil spills    14. Politics - Current Events    15. Politics / Current Events    16. Prince William Sound    17. Prince William Sound Region    18. Trials, litigation, etc    19. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    20. United States - 20th Century (1945 to present)    21. Current Events / General    22. Environment law    23. Hazelwood, Joseph Jeffrey   

Subjects:  1. American    2. Current Affairs    3. History: American    4. Individual Photographer    5. Photography    6. Pictorial works    7. September 11 Terrorist Attacks    8. September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001    9. Techniques - Black & White    10. United States - State & Local - General    11. New York    12. Photographic reportage   

Editorial Review

The impulse in the 1960s and ‘70s to achieve fairness and a balanced perspective in our nation’s textbooks and standardized exams was undeniably necessary and commendable. Then how could it have gone so terribly wrong? Acclaimed education historian Diane Ravitch answers this question in her informative and alarming book, Read more

Reviews (79)

The sequel to Fahrenheit 451
In a world where no minority can be discussed without someone being offended, where all special interest groups boycott books and publishers for offensive language, where every conceivable component of society cries and complains of an ism of some sort (e.g. sexism, racism, ageism), it is nearly impossible to convey a message, and even more impossible to retell stories of historical significance.The Language Police shows that political correctness has a strangle hold on textbook publishers, and the grip is slowly restricting the educational airflow necessary for the broadening of young minds.
A must-read for anyone who cares about education
I went to school in Texas and I was always very bored - after reading this book I am starting to understand why. Diane Ravitch argues that censorship has become the norm in textbooks and that the result is bland, boring books with an unrealistic view of the world. She provides numerous examples of the ridiculous forms censorship has taken, including a glossary of banned words, usages, stereotypes and topics she compiled from publishers' lists. She backs this up with a look at how censorship started and why and how it persists, as well as with her own professional experience with censorship in reviewing a national test and writing California's history standards.
Language Police Is a Thought Provoking Read
Diane Ravitch seeks to expose a tragedy of which many are unaware in our society.For decades several radical groups have sought to influence (and at times outright control) what children in America are exposed to in their school textbooks and on tests.It is shocking to read about the extreme extent of censorship that takes place in our school systems.After reading this book I have an idea as to why many children may not be interested in the reading assignments from their textbooks. Read more

Subjects:  1. Administration - General    2. Censorship    3. Education / Teaching    4. Educational tests and measurem    5. General    6. History    7. Philosophy & Social Aspects    8. Political Science    9. Politics/International Relations    10. Test bias    11. Textbooks    12. United States    13. Current Events / American   

Editorial Review

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Reviews (66)

And The Sea Will Tell
My biggest problem with the book is the cause of death as related by the authors. It is difficult to believe someone, or possibly two individuals, killed and burned two people, then put them in a box or boxes, to sink them in the lagoon. Further this was all done to steal a boat worth maybe $100k. The murderers then sailed the boat back to the Hawaiian Islands where it had left approximately a month or so prior.
self-aggrandizing by bugliosi
the first part of this book was interesting but it was just a set-up for three hundred pages of vincent bugliosi explaining how brilliant he is.You never come close to finding out what actually happened, possibly because he is trying to convince us of the innocence of his client.he writes a lot from the standpoint of characters who are dead and could never have shared these thoughts with anyone.So basically it is a work of fiction.I skimmed the last three hundred pages because within fifty pages of it you already had all of the facts and the rest was reiteration.with no resolution. I wouldn't recommend this book to anyone

A Big Fish Tale
The beginning of this book starts out well but once you reach the second half of the book, it is all about Bugliosi. Of course you figure that he gets his client off, who would write a book about their losing case, but I am never convinced of his client's innocence. Bugliosi in all of his pontificating reminds me of why attorneys have such a bad name (and yes, my husband and I are also attorneys). He goes on and on about how he believes in his client's innocence, but you are left feeling that he is hedging his bets in case more evidence ever comes to light so that he can triumphantly say, I always knew she was involved but just did the best job I could. He denigrates the judge and fellow attorneys and thinks that he is entitled to special privileges because of who he is.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Mystery & Detective - General    3. Sociology    4. True Crime / Espionage    5. Current Events / American    6. True crime   

Reviews (2)

The answer is simple , admit it
( women have left the home and family and gone to work!)
Let's get "Better Together"
No matter your interest, religious, political, environment, academic, left, right, or center, if you have interest in seeing things change (or stay the same), Better Together: Restoring the American Community by Robert Putnam and Lewis M. Feldstein, with Don Cohen (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2003) is a must read.Read more

Subjects:  1. General    2. Political Science    3. Politics/International Relations    4. Social History    5. Sociology    6. Sociology - General    7. United States - 20th Century (1945 to 2000)    8. Anthropology    9. Current Events / American   

Reviews (55)

Can you say, "Strawman"?
Page after page of vapid ranting relying on ad hominem attacks buttressed by footnotes the National Enquirer would be proud to cite. Not thoughtful, not thought-provoking, but an addition to ditto-head "uh HUH!" conformity to whatever outrage du jour (or du hier, so 1970s are his examples) is promoted by neocon ideologues.
Go over modern doctrines with a cool-headed right-wing writer
In his introduction to "Intellectual Morons", Flynn promises to argue against all "isms" that are part of an ideology. However, what he later does is argue against ideas that are part of the Left. Perhaps his title should have been: Leftist Intellectual Morons. On thirteen chapters, only two are dedicated to doctrines said to be from the Right (Conservatism and Objectivism).
Evil geniuses and moronic followers

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Subjects:  1. General    2. Ideology    3. Political Ideologies - General    4. Political Science    5. Politics / Current Events    6. Politics/International Relations    7. Radicalism    8. United States    9. Current Events / American   

Reviews (2)

Inside view of modern Polish history
When Poland emerged from under the mantle of Communism I followed the news avidly. This is the reality of what was going on behind the scenes. I have, for example, completely changed my mind about Walesa. It's a great read butI must criticize it for being too sparse with it's stories. Having been insuch a priveleged position the author surely must have been able to give usmore. I echo the sentiment that there must be a follow up. Thejuxtaposition of reconstructing your house while helping to reconstructyour nation is beautiful!

Excellent story ... history up close and personal!
If you are interested in the history of Poland, and want to learn about contemporary life in that country, but are tired of reading dry accounts written by someone without a real connection to the country and its people... this book is for you! Read more

Subjects:  1. Biography    2. Biography & Autobiography    3. Biography / Autobiography    4. Biography/Autobiography    5. Eastern Europe - Poland    6. History    7. History & Theory    8. Poland    9. Poland - History    10. Political    11. Politicians    12. Sikorski, Radek    13. Current Events / General   

Reviews (21)

Clancy Novel- but real
Gerald Posner opens up a whole new aspect of geo-politics that, when I heard myself summarizing to those around me, sounded like a bad Clancy screenplay- except this is true.
Excellent and Timely Insights!
Posner begins by relating the outcome of capturing Abu Zubeydah, the highest-ranking al-Qaeda operative captured so far by the United States. The U.S. arranged to mislead their captive into thinking that he had been turned over to Saudi's. Zubeydah's reaction was one of relief, and he quickly spit out the phone #s of two Saudi royals, stating that "they would take care of the situation." Unsure what to make of this, the U.S. then informed Zubeydah that the phone #s were no good. He then provided several other Saudi names and that of the Chief of Pakistan's Air Force, adding that the Pakistani and one of the Saudis knew of 9/11 in advance.
Polemical Rather Than Historical
Those who are looking for an introduction to Saudi history will be disappointed with this book.It is a polemic that, from beginning to end, seeks to persuade rather than to explain.
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Subjects:  1. Al Saud, House of    2. Conspiracy & Scandal Investigations    3. Foreign relations    4. History & Theory - General    5. International Relations - General    6. Political Science    7. Politics / Current Events    8. Politics and government    9. Politics/International Relations    10. Saudi Arabia    11. United States    12. Current Events / General   

Reviews (18)

Meeker is out of touch with reality.
I have read Meeker's book, and find it totally devoid of factual information or a sex-positive approach. It is the same old "just say no" approach, which is never going to click with today's teenagers. Like Josh McDowell and Pam Stenzel, she is irresponsible in not telling the truth about sex. Forget her.

not worth the paper it's printed on
As an epidemiologist with a PhD, and a focus on adolescent health, I found this book terrible.Dr. Meeker states things that are simply WRONG and have been shown in scientific literature.Specifically on page 146 she says that "the risk of contracting and STD through oral is extremely high." At the time of publication of her book, this was NOT shown.Since that time, the most definitive study shows that there is no risk: del Romero J, Marincovich B, Castilla J, Garcia S, Campo J, Hernando V, et al. Evaluating the risk of HIV transmission through unprotected orogenital sex. AIDS 2002;16(9):1296-7.
How Teen Sex Is Killing Our Kids
If all the teenagers in the world read this book, there would have been a sea change in their attitude towards their no-holds-barred sexual revolution. Earlier there wereonly two diseases syphilis and gonorrhoea and now there is more than a 100 and they are increasing at an extremely fearful pace.Many of these have no remedies so far and the people getting killed by these diseases are increasing on a daily basis.
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Subjects:  1. General    2. Human Sexuality    3. Political Science    4. Politics / Current Events    5. Politics/International Relations    6. Prevention    7. Public Affairs & Administration    8. Public Policy - Social Policy    9. Sexual behavior    10. Sexually transmitted diseases    11. Teenagers    12. United States    13. Current Events / American    14. Current Events / Government    15. Popular medicine   

Reviews (2)

Gangstas paradise
This is an amazing docu-story which is as insightful as it is a fantastic story. Shaw descibes his innocent journey into one of americas fearsome suburbs. He tells how the wannabe rappers and gangstas of south central LA let this white reporter into their homes and lives. His experiences make for a fantastic story, but you also get to see how these young men live sometimes by hope alone. It is the history of the area, the music and the future of the young stars. Brilliant

An English Take
West Side is the American release of a British book called Westsiders: Stories of Boys in the Hood. I picked this book up in London this Spring and it was a worthwhile find. Shaw's strength is his unflagging objectivity; he is truly multicultural. He does not pretend to excuse or to pander to any of his characters. He does an excellent job of reporting their successes and setbacks in a compassionate and respectful way. Read more

Subjects:  1. African American young men    2. Biography    3. Black Musicians And Their Music    4. California    5. Genres & Styles - Rap & Hip Hop    6. History & Criticism - General    7. Los Angeles    8. Music    9. Music/Songbooks    10. Popular Culture - General    11. Rap & Hip-Hop    12. Rap (Music)    13. Social Science    14. Social conditions    15. Social life and customs    16. Sociology    17. Sociology - Urban    18. Black studies    19. Current Events / General   

Reviews (5)

A Modest Proposal With a Timeless Theme
A prescription for whipping American Society into shape in the tradition of Plato, Thomas Aquinas and Karl Marx.The premise is that Americans have too much freedom, not enough responsibility and Etziona puts forth a "Communitarian Manifesto" to fix that.
We Want Liberty. Communism-Police State in New Guise.
We want LIBERTY.
A Proposal for Stepford Communities
Communitarianism - as proposed in Amitai Etzioni's "The Spirit of Community" assumes the moral legitimacy and truth of your community'sassumptions about your life. It offers an external morality without epistemology, theology or logic, without any messy philosophic notions of essence or virtue, without judge or jury. It offers a slap-dash recipe for suffocating Stepford communities where neighbors are encouraged to interfere in each others lives. And this call to action is not grounded firmly in a basis of friendship, common humanity or agape caring as in Scott Peck's work on community building. Read more

Subjects:  1. Community development    2. General    3. Moral conditions    4. Public interest    5. Social action    6. Sociology    7. Sociology - General    8. United States    9. Cultural studies    10. Current Events / General    11. Political Science-General    12. Social Science / Sociology / General    13. USA   

Editorial Review

Considering that the history of the Internet is perhaps better documented internally than any other technological construct, it is remarkable how shadowy its origins have been to most people, including die-hard Net-denizens! Read more

Reviews (47)

Good book for those only mildly techy
Great history without being so technical that it gets dry.Recommend for anyone that has an interest in how we got to this point in the revolution of the internet but isnt so techy that you know how to code html by hand!

Great book on the history of the internet
This was an excellent account of how the internet was created and how both ARPA and distributed networking has shaped what we use now everyday.. This book provided an excellent account of what the founders of the internet had to deal with in order to design what we have today.. A good book about the history of the net
This book tells about how the Internet as we know it today has come into existence.Read more

Subjects:  1. Computer - Internet    2. Computer Networks    3. Computers    4. General    5. Internet    6. Internet (Computer network)    7. Internet - General    8. Networking - General    9. Science/Mathematics    10. Current Events / General    11. Modern fiction   

Editorial Review

The George W. Bush White House, as described by former Treasury Secretary Paul O'Neill, is a world out of kilter. Policy decisions are determined not by careful weighing of an issue's complexities; rather, they're dictated by a cabal of ideologues and political advisors operating outside the view of top cabinet officials. The President is not a fully engaged administrator but an enigma who is, at best, guarded and poker-faced but at worst, uncurious, unintelligent, and a puppet of larger forces. O'Neill provided extensive documentation to journalist and author Suskind, including schedules with 7,630 entries and a set of 19,000 documents that featured memoranda to the President, thank-you notes, meeting minutes, and voluminous reports. The result, Read more

Reviews (321)

Interesting portrait of O'Neill, Bush, and Cheney
Reading this book, I had three reactions:
Another Scary Book
The more books I read like this one about the George Bush administration the more scared I become about the future of our country near term and long term. Americans have grown comatose not to see through George Bush, thus supporting Gore Vidal's claim that we indeed live in the United States of Amnesia.
Paul O'Neill has more brains and integrity in his pinky thatn Dumbya in Entirety
This book should be mandatory reading for any clueless neocon supporter or Fox News drone who blindly supports a thouroughly corrupt Neocon regime simply based upon a party name or slogan.
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Subjects:  1. 2001-    2. Allegiance    3. Biography    4. Cabinet officers    5. Case studies    6. Foreign relations    7. Government - Executive Branch    8. Government - U.S. Government    9. History & Theory - General    10. O'Neill, Paul H    11. Political Science    12. Political culture    13. Politics / Current Events    14. Politics and government    15. Politics/International Relations    16. United States    17. United States - 21st Century    18. Current Events / General   

Editorial Review

Among candidates for world's worst job, disease detective ranks pretty high. In Read more

Reviews (6)

Epidemiologists in Action
This fascinating book explores the work of the Epidemic Intelligence Service, a division of the Center for Disease Control. This group of elite health care workers trained in early disease detection and containment travel throughout the United States and the world to hot spots, with the goal of preventing deaths and widespread infection.Author Maryn McKenna, after introducing the history and structure of the EIS, launches into specific cases of disease detection, with chapters dedicated to malaria, cholera, AIDS, small pox, SARS, anthrax, TB, and others. Some chapters are devoted to outbreaks of well-known diseases, but the most intriguing are those focusing on the series of coincidences, connections, and insight that led to the discovery of new public health crises such as AIDS and SARS.
A must-read if you're into disease detection and control...
After reading The Coming Plague, I found myself fascinated by the people who do disease research.Beating Back The Devil by Maryn McKenna continues in that vein, and is a good read...
Rather staid look at group who deals with infectious disease
One of the editorial reviews said this book was riveting. There is no doubt that the book is great reading into the EIS, a part of the Center for Disease Control in the United States. This book is especially mandatory reading for those in medicine who are even contemplating working for the CDC. It's good background into the possible postings that these young people are going to see, especially in the post-9/11 world. This will impact not just them, but their families also...these people are exposed as first responders to possible bioterrorism, and will need to get vaccines that the rest of us don't absolutely need. But the possible exposure to anthrax, small pox, and other infectious disease such as the hantavirus means that these vaccines are necessary.