ET Books

Vernon Lee Fluharty is a brilliant graybeard. To this end, his 1957 publication of, "Dance of the Millions: Military Rule and the Social Revolution in Colombia 1930-1956," is by far the best academic study of the brutal era coined "La Violencia" that I have found to date. It is a pity that contemporary Latin American scholars do not give Fluharty the full recognition that he deserves.

The author spends many years in Colombia and makes significant observations. For instance, he carefully argues that the true villain of violence in Colombia is not the poor masses demanding social and land reforms but an oligarchy who conducts a wicked "counter-revolution" to make sure that the feudalistic system of privilege throughout the nation remains unchanged. Fluharty breaks new ground with his painstakingly documented thesis that the original intellectual authors of terrorism in Colombia were the rich. Ultimately, this book thoroughly documents a period of complete social failure on behalf of Colombia's political leaders from 1946 to 1956.

Fluharty's well-written narrative explains that until the blood bath of 1948 Colombia had enjoyed almost forty years of relative peace and progress. Government was under civilians. The constitution was honored, the press was free, and public opinion was unshackled. And then, "as though at the wave of some malign wand, frightful violence swept the country. Civil liberties died, opposition parties were silenced, jails bulged with political prisoners...and terror-stricken refugees swarmed to the cities," he writes.

The author agrees with other main-stream historians that "La Violencia" was triggered by the mysterious April 9, 1948 murder of the beloved populist Jorge Eliecer Gaitan. However what makes Fluharty special is his honest conclusion that the bloodshed did not start in earnest until "a united front of oligarchs from both the Liberal and Conservative parties...temporarily discarding partisan differences, joined forces across party lines to halt land reform, labor unionism, agitation for higher wages, and other campaigns aimed at raising the general standard of living of the masses." Eventually, after hundreds of thousands were butchered, the Army stepped in on June 13, 1953 to stop the civil war.

Fluharty courageously exposes the strong Nazi overtones and Pro-Franco fanaticism of Laureano Gomez and the destructive, selfish motives of the Colombian Conservative Party. This is a rare book that shows how the rich in Colombia collectively turned back the clock on progressive government and replaced it with a mean-spirited and murderous police state. This University of Pittsburgh Press publication is a "must read" for all serious students of Colombian - American affairs.

Bert Ruiz

Danger, Death And Disaster: In The Crowsnest Pass Mines 1902-1928 is the true story of the Crowsnest Pass Mines in Canada, and the community surrounding it. During the first part of the twentieth century, disasters and accidents claimed over 400 lives - forcing those living in the area to cope with death on an immediate basis. A handful of black-and-white photographs illustrate this true story of how people learned to cope, from poignant grave marker epitaphs to the camaraderie of mining songs. A unique and welcome contribution to Canadian history, also offering anthropological and psychological insights to human survival mechanisms in the face of constant life-threatening danger and loss.

Natural science ideas had an impact on philosophy and religion. Progress in science undermined the static view of nature held by both Christians and deists. The methods of science extended the study of man and society. The belief in the divine inspiration of the Bible had been under attack for more than a century prior to Darwin's ORIGIN OF SPECIES. The response of Christianity to evolutionary biology, comparative religion, and biblical scholarship was varied. In the Protestant world there is no central authority. Lyman Abbott contended the sacred authors apprehended truth gradually and imperfectly.

In the 18th and 19th century there was a general decline in theology. Revelation according to John Baillie is not a body of supernaturally-communicated propositions but a series of events of God's disclosing. Inspiration is the divine illumination. In Darwin's time natural theology was in high vogue. In William Paley's NATURAL THEOLOGY (1802) there was a conviction of the permanence and wise design of the world. At the same time, paleontology and geology were giving rise to the view of perpetual change. Darwin's belief in God as the creator slipped slowly away from him. Henry Ward Beecher was confident evolutionary science would provide a basis for natural theology.

Karl Barth rejected natural theology and evolutionary modernism. Paul Tillich erased the distinction between revealed and natural theology. Etienne Gilson claimed that science describes what natural things are. Catholic thought distinguished between scientific theories and philosophical views. To Henri Bergson and William James the universe was a dynamic flux. To Alfred North Whitehead ideas of organism served to correct ideas of mechanism when considering universal processes.

Modern biologists generally do not care for theistic explanations. R. A. Fisher and Theodosius Dobzhansky both emphasized the creative aspects of organic evolution. Chance may determine combination, but there is necessity of mutual reactions to the whole ecological situation. Father Teilhard de Charden attempted to cast evolutionary theory into Christian perspective.

Comte, Rousseau, and Marx all developed theories of social evolution independently of theories of biological evolution. In the work of Herbert Spencer social evolution is linked to organic evolution. Both Darwin and Spencer had to face the problem of measuring progress in social science. Early in the 20th century a strong reaction set in against social evolutionism. Cultural evolution has been propounded by Alfred Louis Kroeber and others. Kroeber's anthropology distinguished between the historical and the scientific approach.

barking at the heels of recent bestsellers 'the dangerous book for boys' and 'the daring book for girls' comes this parody. of course. gave a copy to my sister (she's a dog person), and it was quite a success. what more need be said?

This wonderful book is a catalogue of an exhibition organised by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Reunion des Musees Nationaux, Paris. The artists represented include Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Seurat, Gauguin, Manet, Signac and Pissarro.

But this book is not merely a catalogue - it stands alone as an excellent and readable book about the artistic and social worlds of the artists. The essays are interesting and mercifully free of inaccessible jargon, so the generalist really can learn something about the context of the Impressionist movement, the paintings themselves and the artists.
An example: the opening of the essay `The Impressionist Landscape and the Image of France: " When the Impressionists began to paint the French landscape in the 1860s, they were not alone. Several satirical writers had already counted more landscape painters than tourists or peasants in their travels through the French countryside, and the official Salon exhibitions held annually in Paris were all but dominated by French landscapes. Books and manuals about landscape painting for both amateur and professional artists abounded, and if there was a national genre in French art, it was surely landscape. The painters were joined by a legion of printmakers, draftsmen, and popular illustrators in an almost frantic collective attempt to record the national physiognamy."

The essays are:
`Impressionism in Context' - includes information on the conception of the exhibition, the grouping of paintings etc; `The Impressionist Landscape and the Image of France' (extract above) which includes reference to contemporaneous politics, writing, national movements such as rejection of historical France, the concept of nature of the Impressionsts etc; `The French Landscape Sensibility'; `The Cradle of Impressionism' - about the Seine landscape and villages; `The Urban Landscape' - Paris; ` Rivers, Roads and Trains'; `Pissarro, Cezanne and the School of Pontoise'; `Private and Public Gardens'; `The Fields of France' (lots of haystacks!); `Impressionism and the Sea'; `The Retreat from Paris'; `Impressionism and the Popular Imagination'. An appendix essay is `The Landscape in French Nineteenth-Century Photography'. The paintings are grouped under each of the themes represented by the essays.

Another standout feature of the book is the amount of contextual detail accompanying each work of art. So, for example, the first work presented is Beach at Honfleur by Claude Monet. The colour reproduction is good quality, and takes a full page. The accompanying text on the facing page explains what Monet was doing , how the painting came to be painted.

A marvellous book, a valuable addition to any personal library. I would place it in the `must have' category for an art collection in a secondary school or college library where Art is a course of study, and public libraries - because of its simultaneous accessibility and depth of information - it goes so much further than a book merely of reproductions.

What a delight to read a thriller that's honest, realistic, and riveting--without the burden of unwanted sex scenes and obscene language! Pacing is excellent. Essential background is deftly woven into the story without disturbing the forward momentum. Dialogue is natural. And the playful interaction between David Coleman and his wife provides just the right amount of relief from the mounting tension to give the reader time to catch his or her breath before jumping back into the action. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a great read!

The classics of medicine version of this book based on the 1628 original publication is by far the most desirable edition of this book, (short of owning the original, not likely for most of us) here is your opportunity to own a handsome facsimile of the original book,
This special edition books were printed in 1978 for members of the classics of medicine library, these were numbered books and they are difficult to acquire below the number 10,000 we currently have number 3758 available, this would be a wonderful edition to any collection.

This is the best FILL-INS book in the world!!!!!!!!!! Get a frend.

Perhaps one of the best known, widely respected, and beloved experts on the legal aspects of the criminal justice system is Rolando V. del Carmen, Distinguished Professor of Criminal Justice at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas. A prolific contributor to criminal justice scholarship, del Carmen and four of his present or former students have produced a comprehensive examination of capital punishment in "The Death Penalty: Constitutional Issues, Commentaries, and Case Briefs."

In addition to providing a brief history of capital punishment, the authors have brought together all the major cases decided by the U. S. Supreme Court on the death penalty. Accompanying the book is a CD with the full text of all the cases cited.

This is an excellent book on the death penalty, and it would be an appropriate text for an undergraduate course in criminal justice and a handy reference for correctional practitioners.

Book is about GM and their problems in the 1980's trying to create a small car to compete with the German's and Japanese. They thought they had it with the Cavalier, but because of near sightedness, and other restrictions in the corporation, came up with a very sub par creation. Seems like they haven't learned, still 25 years later, have a lot of the same problems today! A very good read. Also tells that Ford and Chrysler were in the same boat. Maybe Brock Yates should write a revised edition.