Endowment Books

For those blessed to read this book, it is as real as the old world that produced the arrowheads. The subject has always fascinated me ever since my brother Bill (the author) held a thousands-of-years-old artifact in his hands, having just picked it up out of the dirt. It ooozed it's being, it's storied existence into his awareness and he was immediately motivated to photograph and record all he could of the . . . story. Damn, Bill, you are solid!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Brother Roy.

The Livingstons inherited a significant amount of funds and faced the challenge of learning to spend and give the money wisely. The book is very sequential and, therefore, easy to follow. It touches on both the hard elements of wealth management such as lawyers and accountants as well as the soft elements such as family relations. This book is a major resource to those who may receive significant funds in the future or who want to better manage their current wealth. Excellent discussion of charitable giving.

This book is a wonderful tool for any trustee whether new or seasoned.!!!

It is splendidly laid out and easy to navigate.

Every possible problem has been addressed and solved for the family planning to start a new foundation.

Along with that, there is information that can vastly enhance those who are newly appointed to longstanding boards of old established family foundations.

I was very impressed with this book and plan to suggest our foundation buy copies for all board members, associates and staff members.

Best regards,

Bonnie

Herbert H. and Grace A. Dow Foundation
Board member
Midland Michigan
Bonnie B. Matheson

As a companion for David Bauer's excellent video series on writing winning grants or as a stand-alone resource, "Successful Grants Program Management" is a must-have for the non-profit grant seeker. I borrowed this book through our state university's inter-library loan program, and I have had it out for over two months. I figured the fines are adding up so quickly, I may as well purchase it for our grant committee.

I recently purchased this book as a reference for Model United Nations. It was perfect for the job. It provides conscise summaries of all the nuclear states, and has maps and charts to supplement the text. I recommend this book to anyone looking for a guide to Nuclear Proliferation.

It always saddens me when I somehow manage to be the first person to review a wonderful book, but the fact that this is the case for Uncharted Journey is even worse. If the future of the Middle East is something you feel to be important and want to have a better understanding of, I can't think of a better book. Noah Feldman's After Jihad comes to mind, but this book may be better.

Edited texts with multiple authors writing about the same overall theme have the potential to be very redundant. It's not that the information isn't useful, it's just that the contributors in many instances tread the same ground. Thankfully this book is not redundant in the least. Each chapter looks at very different aspects of the issue at hand and does not rehash the same material throughout the book.

Some of the topics covered includes the role of Islamists in the democratic process, women's rights, and economic versus political reform. The analysis presented is very pragmatic, it does not come from blind adherence to any particular ideology. Middle Eastern democracy is discussed openly and from all possible angles. This is the type of book policymakers should be reading. I think if this advice were being listened to, we could all be more optimistic about what's happening in the Middle East.

My only problem with the book was the chapter on Europe's role in the process. Every other chapter was coherent and succinct...I had no problems getting through any other part of the book. However, this one problematic chapter was written in an obtuse fashion that failed to hold my interest. The topic was interesting, but the presentation was lacking. That chapter notwithstanding, I have to give this book the highest possible rating. The content of this book is perhaps the best, most dispassionate analysis of the subject I have come across.

I would recommend this book to anyone interested about the Middle East.

"Writing Off Ideas" is Randall Holcombe's examination of the role charitable foundations play in shaping public policy in a free society. In it, he explores issues like donor intent and whether institutional incentives exist to ensure that foundation board members are held accountable for their actions.

He begins by pointing out that the vast majority of charitable foundations in the twentieth century were established under very general mandates to promote the public interest. He claims this approach enables board members to address unique problems in society as they occur and prevents their current leadership from being constrained by the desires of their original donors. As foundations are funded entirely by earnings from initial bequests, he believes their board members are essentially free from external oversight and accountable to no one. Thus, he implies that the merits of many programs supported by foundations can be called into question.

In addition, he states that the tax code exacerbates this problem by encouraging wealthy individuals to make large bequests to foundations to avoid inheritance tax penalties. As a result, he claims far more foundations exist under the current tax code than would be necessary under a neutral code.

To illustrate the moral hazard inherent in this arrangement, he provides a revealing quote from former MacArthur trustee Rod MacArthur: "Foundations should be striving to do the kinds of things that the government cannot do. I repeat, cannot do: things that are not politically popular, things that are too risky, things that are just too far ahead to what the public will put up with..."

Predictably, Holcombe uses the legendary exploits of the Ford Foundation during the 1960s as examples of how some boards run amok. However, his criticisms are not restricted to the Left. Surprisingly, he attacks the Manhattan Institute for using foundation money to underwrite the efforts of Charles Murray in "Losing Ground." Although he does not question Murray's conclusions about the proper role of government in domestic welfare policy, he does criticize Murray for claiming that the availability of foundation funding was a motivating factor in his decision to write the book.

In criticizing Murray, he runs the risk of sounding like Elizabeth Drew and other advocates of campaign-finance reform. He walks a very fine line between claiming that individuals who receive tax-deductible funds to promote their views should be subjected to greater scrutiny than those who do not, and claiming that funding used to promote political views should only be distributed via democratic decree. However, as with other forms of political speech, he asserts that members of the public are already well aware of the bias inherent in foundation funding and stops well short of advocating limitations on foundation-sponsored research.

Despite these problems, he asserts that the public expects three things from foundation managers: that they do not use their assets for their own personal gain, that they carry out the mission established by their donors, and that their activities generally benefit members of the public. In his conclusion, he states that the current limitations imposed by Congress on foundation activities have forced their managers to comply with these expectations. Although he does not believe that all foundation activities actually serve the public interest, he recognizes that efforts by bureaucrats to further regulate foundations would have unintended consequences. Ultimately, accusations of political bias should not derail important contributions to the policy debate.

Overall, Holcombe does an excellent job of explaining why foundation trustees face strong incentives to promote radical political agendas that can be harmful to the public interest. He demonstrates an acute understanding of public choice economics when documenting the moral hazards faced by managers of foundations. Most importantly, he recognizes that efforts to stamp out the "bad ideas" produced by these managers would do more harm than good.

Pakistan: Between Mosque and Military provides powerful and thoughtful insights specially for the Pakistani youth brought up during the heyday of "islamization".

Haqqani commences with an intense vivisection of the "ideology of Pakistan", arguably the most overused, misconstrued and manipulated version of Pakistan's history. An academically inclined audience might consider the first chapter a rehash of views already presented by noted historians like Ayesha Jalal, but his contribution lies in cleansing the literature of its academic complexity and having the audacity to be clear and simple. For the majority of Pakistani youth meticulously reprogrammed in schools to believe that the "two-nation theory" traces its roots to the conquest of Mohammad bin Qasim; the book is nothing less than an "insolent heresy". Haqqani struggles to place the popular war song, "Aay Rah-e-Haq kay shaheedon" in unfamiliar surroundings.

Though fueled by a captivating start; the book spirals into a monotonous chronology of events. Later chapters, lack the broader analysis and at times the reader would find himself painstakingly sifting through a poorly indexed "encylopedia".

Overall, Husain Haqqani has done a very good job. Surely not for the well informed but highly recommended for students interested in knowing about Pakistan's jugglery with religion.

Given Haqqani's close relationship with several recent Pakistan governments, I had been looking forward to reading his text.

On the pluses, the book is well researched, with several interesting insights and facts which maintained my curiosity. For instance, it was surprising to learn of the ISI's active interest in Afghanistan which began in 1973 (6 years before the USSR's invasion). Then there were the specifics about Benazir's foreign policy options during her first prime ministerial office being largely curtailed by the army.

On the minuses, Haqqani failed on the book's higher conceptual thinking - specifically he failed to adequately relate the interesting facts with enough of a meaningful conceptual framework. The book feels like a laundry list of events, a boring chronology book (not even a history book, let alone a European IR text) when it really needed to explore the core concepts more powerfully. The book is after all supposed to be focused on the relationship between Pakistan's 'Mosque and Military'.

My guess is that the author rushed the book. Students who have had to write a thesis may appreciate my next comment more easily than others. This book gave me the impression that the author had written the first draft, proofed for typos and run to the printers. I would have thought that if he had allowed a gestation period, even a few weeks, he would have been able to self-reflect that little bit more and push the conceptual dimension.

This is quite simply the best book on Pakistan that has ever been written, for it finally pierces the veil of deception which the Pakistani military has succeeded in drawing over the true nature of its long-term strategy. The book documents in great depth and detail that behind its "deny, lie, smile" foreign policy, Pakistan's military has: 1) Fomented and conducted a vicious insurgency in Kashmir; 2) Supported anti-American jihadist Gulbuddin Hekmatyar and the Taliban to first conquer and now destabilize Afghanistan; 3) Nurtured and manipulated Islamist parties to help destabilize and dismiss elected majorities in the Pakistan parliament; and 4)Used these same Islamist factions as a recruiting base for terrorism directed against India and Afghanistan, creating a threat to the West as well.

Author Haqqani doesn't address the issue of how America let Pakistan get the bomb. Let's hope he is working on another book to deal with that US foreign policy fiasco!

Between Mosque and Military should be read by Secretary of State Rice, and the book's findings should lead to a change in our policy toward Pakistan.

After listening to the author speak on NPR, I purchased this book.

It is an eye opener and troublesome to know what really goes on in the mosques and their connection to terrorism.

This book is both troublesome and worrisome for the reader, but I can think of no better qualified source to write from the perspective of inside of this regime and government.

Cause for concern? Read it.

Mr. Haqqani's views about his mother country are very dubious. The only question I have for the author as he served in some very corrupt governments as their partner...What has he done for his home land? Nothing!!! This book in waste of time.

This is one of the best reads I've had for awhile. Buerger has done an excellent job of researching and presenting the history behind the origins and developing changes to the Mormon temple ceremonies. Every quote cited is referenced and the author's goal "to achieve a balance of scholarly objectivity, reverence for the sacred, regard for the sensitivities of others, and adequate documentation and development of the points to be discussed" is very much achieved admirably in this book. The result is an excellent resource for members and non members alike.

Included in the impressive research taken, this book contains names, dates and frequency of what ceremonies took place when and who was involved, taking the guesswork out of other vague historical accounts on the same topic. It covers the history of what has taken place in the temple from the Kirtland days through to modern day.

Buerger avoids delving into the actual oaths, signs and tokens, which should remove any discomfort from current LDS members reading this - although he does dedicate an Appendix at the back of the book to over a hundred references (only) of published descriptions.

I've been a member now since a child and have been taught at every level (and taught others) much on Church doctrine and history, and I was definitely enlightened from reading this book - I highly recommend it to anyone who desires to learn more on the history of Mormon temple worship, including what has been added, changed or discarded since the first endowment was given, and why.

***** 5 stars

Buerger's exceptional work, characterized by his rigorous academic perspective, holds up as a touchstone for unbiased research into a profoundly important American movement, the Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter Day Saints. His open-minded and carefully scrutinized exposition of the church's history, as it was reflected in the development of the temple ritual, is worthy of careful scrutiny by anyone who genuinely wishes to examine this church. Moreover, and critical to such expositions, his sensitivity to secrets of Mormon ritual makes this book of interest to any of the faithful who wishes to examine temple institutions from an historically accurate perspective. Finally, telling a complex, intertwined story of personalities, theological discourse, and organizational change, he both clarifies and questions without accusation or bias. In the intellectual tradition of Professor Sterling McMurrin, Buerger's book, over a decade old, still sings with courageous and compelling truths. A small masterpiece of scholarship.

The LDS temple ceremonies have been shrouded in mystery for decades. This well-documented and masterful work covers not only the history and development of these ceremonies but the doctrinal changes that went along with their development. I found the book not only fascinating but extremely well-written, without an axe to grind. Buerger gets to the documented facts and lays them out for the reader to discover and draw their own conclusions. To me, that is the best kind of history - the facts as drawn from circumstances and environment without a specific viewpoint or bias from the author.
This is a book not steeped in difficult to understand doctrines or techobabble of any kind. Anyone even slightly interested in knowing more about the secret/sacred rites of the Utah-based LDS church will benefit from and enjoy this book. It would also made a proud addition to the library of any intelligent, thinking Mormon.

I enjoyed reading this book, and it's history help me a lot to understand the evolution of temple ordinances. I'm LDS and don't understand why someone said LDS would feel embarassed by the book. If it wasn't for the uncalled opinion on how it should evolve (like sugesting a short version of the endowment) I would have given it an extra star. By uncalled opinion I mean that the temple ordinances evolution is not a matter of public opinion (the LDS church is not a democracy, but a theocracy) but rather a matter of either revelation or leadership decision (decision of those in authority to make such changes.

When Joseph Smith joined the Freemasons in Nauvoo,Illinois, he graduated to Master Mason in a brief time...and with his embrace of Masonry, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints underwent a great change. Before then, Mormons modeled themselves on other churches in their worship- hymns, Communion, sermons; now they had something to call their own.

In "Mysteries of Godliness",David John Buerger chronicles the changes in Mormon temple worship. In the beginning, gatherings in temples were like Pentecostal revivals- people spoke in tongues, prophesied, it was a "divine frenzy." After weddings were performed, there was dancing within the temple precincts. As part of the endowment ceremony, there would be "the lecture before the veil (entry to the Celestial Room)" explaining the deities and exaltation. There were even "second anointings", in which men&women were declared King&Queen, Priest&Priestess. The woman would anoint the man's feet as Mary Magdalene did to Jesus as a ritual marriage (making this a bonus for Da Vinci Code fans!) The beginning of Mormon temple rituals was rooted in magical thinking.

Now,Mormon temple rituals are more standardized. Endowments range from a half hour to two,depending. The sealing of husband&wife is a ten minute ceremony;there isn't any dancing. Temples now contain locker rooms and cafeterias. The temple play depicting the Creation&Fall of Man is now projected on movie screens. Buerger argues that live presentations, time for prayer&meditation in the Celestial Room,would make temple attendance more appealing, making it a "holy setting for spiritual healing." It is true that few Mormons attend the temple regularly; exhorting members to participate in vicarious endowments and sealings has become a popular topic from the pulpit. The mystery of Mormon temples is part of their allure to non-members; Buerger argues that it's time to bring it back.

This is a great book for anyone who is in charge of either annual fundraising activities or an upcoming capital campaign. Capital Campaign planning requires a diverse skill set which involves planning, relationship building and conveying a compelling story that resonates with all different personality types. This book helps provide tips, stories and guidance on many areas which can help both the novice and expert fundraiser.

Written from his decades of experience, Thomas D. Wilson leads the field of non-profit fundaraising. Designed and written to engage all readers, Mr. Wilson has found the key in turning his award-winning methods into a format that can apply to fundraisers and donors alike. I currently and will continue to personally reccomend this book to all of my clients.

Fund raising is all about relationships and Winning Gifts provides an insight in both the art and the science of fund raising. The book is an easy and fun read with comprehensive detail on the critical aspects of bringing the donor home. It's also a good reminder of the strategy needed in not only securing the gift but also the importance of laying the ground work for future support.

For those who have made development their career it is clear that the ask is a small percentage of the overall strategy. Winning Gifts helps bring into perspective the importance of all the activities and planning that go into securing support. This book provides a good overview for seasoned professionals and all the other good folks who support campaigns. This is not a quick read book in one day but rather an excellent presentation of the importance of working with and treating donors as a treasured resource.

I found this book an upbeat guide to a field that can seem offputting and depressing to the inexperienced. While not necessarily a step-by-step recipe for every stage of the fundraising process, it nevertheless made dozens of salient points and offered a way to get into the mindset of success. It leaves many of the details to the individual reader to apply to her own situation. This book helped often through "case studies," or examples of specific situations.

Winning Gifts is a great book on major gifts fundraising. Wilson incorporates humor and his personal experience to create an excellent guide to successful fundraising. Winning Gifts covers all stages of securing a donation from finding potential qualified donors to keeping up with the donor after receiving the gift. He explains text-book basics of fundraising, of gracefully approaching a donor for a major gift and making an appealing, memorable case. But Wilson goes beyond this institutional approach to a customer focused approach and nails it. Wilson has obviously perfected the art of building a relationship with donors, and his emphasis on "people centered fundraising" shows that he really cares about making people happy. He writes of satisfying the donor first, straying away from institutional fundraising to really care and understand the donor. He hammers in the concept of listening to donors with a comprehensive lesson in becoming a better listener with helpful tips and exercises. I especially enjoyed this section and my listening ability has dramatically improved from this book. It is rare to see fundraising professionals focusing so much on what the donor wants, without the underlying financial incentive. This book offers a unique perspective on the subject, focusing on the donor first, everything else is secondary. Winning Gifts is informative and enjoyable, a must have for any fundraising professional.