Lead

Over a decade after the Berlin Wall was torn down, the Cold War continues to fascinate both scholars and members of the reading public. David McCullough's biography of Harry Truman, which in part told of the modest man from Missouri's fiesty determination to stand up to Soviet provocations in the dangerous early years of the Cold War, was immensely popular in the early 1990s, and Blind Man's Bluff by Sherry Sontag and Christopher Drew with Annette Lawrence Drew, the fascinating story of Cold War submarine spying, remains just a rung below the paperback nonfiction bestsellers list published by The New York Times. Scholars of American and Soviet culture realize that understanding the origins of the Cold War remains vital to a full appreciation of the titanic, 40-year military confrontation between the United States and the Soviet Union, which was the dominant fact of the history of the second half of the 20th century, and John Fousek's To Lead the Free World: American Nationalism & The Cultural Roots of the Cold War is a splendid addition to this literature.

In recent years, American military missions have been sent to places as distant and diverse as Lebanon and Kuwait, Granada, Somalia, and Kosovo, but we must remember that avoiding foreign military commitments, especially outside the area covered by the Monroe Doctrine, once was a central tenet of American diplomatic policy, and that the U.S. stayed aloof after Japan and China went to war in the mid-1930s and during the first two years of the Second World War in Europe. It has been said that American isolationism died at Pearl Harbor, but Fousek, a historian and associate director of Rutgers University's Center for Global Change and Governance, is correct that, in August 1945, most Americans wanted to "bring the boys home."

Nevertheless, the United States had important global interests, if for no other reason than to prevent another surprise attack. It is central to Fousek's thesis that the white, male, Protestant upper- and middle-class elite created a globally-activist, anti-Soviet foreign policy. He is correct that the report presented to the National Security Council in early 1950 known as "NSC-68," which Fousek characterizes as the "primal text of American nationalist globalism," was inspired by Secretary of State Dean Acheson and written by Paul Nitze, both card-carrying members of the Eastern establishment. The reasons for the public's support of the narrow, Manichean world view are less clear. If, as Fousek asserts, the ideology of Cold War had come to dominate public life by 1950, it was not because of NSC-68, which remained classified for many years. The reason was more likely economic than strictly ideological. The Second World War was, of course, a tremendous boon to the United States' economy, and, according to Fousek, the United Auto Workers became strong believers in American global responsibility. Fousek provides a lengthy discussion of the meaning of victory. The obvious, but narrow, goal of winning the war had attracted public consensus in the United States. But, according to Fousek, African Americans believed that victory was meaningless unless it brought European colonialism and racial injustice in the United States to an end. The post-war wave of lynchings demonstrated that some things had not changed at all. Fousek devotes considerable space to African Americans in the late 1940s to demonstrate that, even in the moment of victory, American society remained divided racially, economically, socially, and ideologically. One of the most appealing features of this book is a marvelous 12-page "visual essay" demonstrating how corporate advertising and editorial cartoons were illustrative of the widespread belief in the United States mission to lead the free world. My favorite is the Coca-Cola ad in which bare-chested, "battle-seasoned" Seabees land on a Pacific island and introduce the indigenous inhabitants to Coke, "the happy symbol of a friendly way of life."

I would have liked Fousek to devote more attention to American technological superiority from air power to atomic weaponry as a source of the United States' confidence in the immediate post-war period. This necessarily would have led to a more extensive discussion of the end of the United States' atomic-bomb monopoly as an important Cold War turning point. Nevertheless, this book will establish itself as a standard text for courses covering the early years of the Cold War.

The book is an excellent story and encourages children to take risk and satisfy their curiosity. There is also a strong sense of family tat the end of the book--illustrating how important it is for children to communicate with the people they love.

I really love Anita Stansfield and have really enjoyed every book she has written. "Where the Heart Leads" is a great romantic novel and I enjoyed reading about the struggles that the main characters went through to eventually be together. This was a great book and I was hooked up to the last page. My only complaint was that the romance was sometimes a little too cheesy and I wish the novel was a little longer and meatier. Other than that, it was thoroughly enjoyable!

I'll come to the point: I've read this book several times and there are few books I read more than once. It has romance, stories based on truth, and much more. When I picked it up, I was immediately attached. I got my book from BYU book store in Provo in 1994, just four years after it's first paper back printing by BookCraft. If you like stories with a hint of reality, this book is for you!

Resource Review
You Can Lead a Bible Discussion Group
By Dr. Terry Powell
Multnomah Books
170 pp.
Review by Michael C. Mack on The Small Group Network

"The lowest peasant with the Bible is better than the greatest Pope without it," said Martin Luther. God's Word is beneficial only as much as it is in people's hands. Because of the Holy Spirit, all believers have the capability to understand Scripture. At the same time, however, there are certain tools to help us unlock some of the Scripture's meanings and applications. A well-trained and prepared Bible-study leader can help turn the key.

You Can Lead a Bible Discussion Group is both Terry Powell's belief and the title of this book. You can lead a productive Bible-study discussion, he says--you may just need a little help. He tells and, more importantly, shows how to prepare to study the Scripture, dig into the Scriptures to mine out nuggets of truth to be discussed, and reinforce and apply those truths. Powell provides a solid framework for Bible study in group sessions: Approach the Word, Absorb the Word, and Apply the Word. And he demonstrates a balanced method for Bible study and teaching.

One of the best features of Powell's book are his illustrations. He takes one passage in particular, Matthew 4:1-11, and uses it throughout the book to show both good and bad ways of preparing for or carrying out a Bible discussion. In Chapter 7, "Guidelines for Effective Questions," for instance, Powell discusses a number of ineffective types of discussion questions. For each one, he gives good examples of poor questions and then revises the questions for the reader to illustrate what an effective question would look like. Then he shows what is behind that revised question which makes it better. Even for veteran Bible-study leaders, this is extremely helpful and practical.

In many chapters, Powell gives step-by-step methods and processes for studying Scripture, organizing for a lesson, preparing discussion questions, and facilitating the discussion. This is good, of course, because most of us leaders need practical, step-by-step help, not just theory. The problem as I see it is that if I took all the time necessary to carry out all the steps Powell suggests, I'd spend way more hours preparing than I ever could. Perhaps that's just a problem in our hectic society today: we don't have time to dig into the Scriptures ourselves as leaders and spend adequate time in preparation. At the same time, I wonder if all of Powell's processes are practical for most people.

My suggestion is this: if you are a Bible-study leader in either big, medium, or small groups, read Powell's book and be familiar with the many good methods he provides. You may not use all of them every week, but this is valuable information to have. We cannot allow our Bible studies to become relativistic, "What's-this-verse-mean-to-you" discussions. There is a right or wrong way of interpreting Scripture. And there is a difference in how we handle a passage's meaning and its significance in a discussion. I believe Powell's book helps us distinguish these quite well.

There are a number of good books for small group leaders on the bookshelves that spend just a few pages in how to actually prepare for and lead the Bible-study portion of the meeting. You Can Lead a Bible Discussion Group fills the gap for those who want to facilitate a serious study of God's Word. Powell's twenty-five years of teaching experience shine through the pages of this practical, hands-on book.

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Adapted from "Help for Bible-study Leaders," Discipleship Journal, Issue 102, November/December 1997, p. 98. Used by permission.

Michael Mack is founder of The Small Group Network.

This was certainly one of the most poorly researched religious works I have read, and I have read hundreds of them. I understand what Mr. Green is trying to do, and I'm not saying that his premise that "Christianity is the only way to God" is intrinsically flawed. He simply made a very poor argument, and several of his implications were based upon terribly false premises.

For example: "Chapter 5: No other great teacher ever claimed to bring us to God"

In this chapter he asserts that our Lord Jesus Christ was the only god-man teacher who promised salvation for his true followers. This is of course a ludicrously false statement. I am a student of ancient history and theology and off the top of my head I can easily come up with the following list of god-men who promised salvation for their followers: Osiris/Horus, Mithra, Zoroaster, Gotama Buddha, Christna/Krishna, Bacchus, Dionysus, Attis, Sakia Muni, Thammuz, Wittoba, Iao, Hesus, Quetzalcoatl, Prometheus, and many many more.

One of the sayings the God Mithra said to his 12 disciples centuries before our Christian era was:
"He who will not eat of my body and drink of my blood, so that he will be made one with me and I with him, the same shall not know salvation."

Example of one of the sayings of the God Thammuz:
"Trust ye in your resurrected God;
For the pains of which Thammuz endured
Our salvation have procured."

Another ancient saying, this one of the God Prometheus:

"Lo! streaming nailed to the fatal tree
His all atoning blood,
Is this the Infinite? Yes, 'tis he,
Prometheus, our God!
Well might the sun in darkness hide,
And veil his glories in,
When God, the Great Prometheus, died
for man the creature's sins."

One of the author's other ridiculous assertions is that our Lord Jesus Christ was the only god-man to ever be crucified for the sins of humanity. Again here is a partial list of ancient Gods said to have been crucified for the sins of the world: Attis, Buddha, Bacchus, Heracles, Krishna, Mithra, Thammuz, Wittoba, Iao, Quetzalcoatl, Quirinus, Prometheus, Thulis, Indra, Alcestos, Crite of Chaldea, and Bali. There are a few more but I can't recall them.

I know this was not meant to be a serious treatment of theology, more of a brief opinion guide for the lay person. However as a devout Christian I don't appreciate the author's poor research (or perhaps flat out lying, but I give him the benefit of the doubt). And I certainly don't appreciate the misleading assertions he makes that I assume most average non theology/history buffs take for truth.

Overall this was an abysmally ignorant treatment of why someone should choose our Lord Jesus Christ over the many other god-men who came before him. There are so many compelling reasons to choose come to Christ, I honestly don't understand why an author would have to resort to lies and/or ignorance to try and guide people to our faith. How about the TRUTH? I thought that was our Lord's message...

I've read a few other works by Michael Green that have been very scholarly and cumbersome in nature. This one is easy-to-read yet intellectually respectable. His stated goal is to be down-to-earth and concise, and he achieves it.

Green addresses such common themes as:
"It doesn't matter what you believe as long are you are sincere."
"Aren't all religions pretty much the same?"
"But surely all religions lead to God?"
"What makes Jesus so special, then?"

After replying to these themes, Green makes a solid case for the uniqueness of the Christian faith in general, and Jesus in particular. This book is excellent reading for all believers, and for non-believers who are struggling in one or more of these areas. I recommend it highly.

Michael Green has written another helpful book that will be very useful to people asking questions about Christianity. It is so good, it is worth buying a few copies so that you can have one available to give away when you are talking about the gospel with friends.

He clears up many popular misconceptions such as
1. It doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere
2. All religions are pretty much the same
3. All religions lead to God
4. Jesus is only one of many great religious leaders

In the last few chapters, he shows that Jesus is unique because He is the only one who
* claimed to be able to show us what God is like
* claimed to be able to deal radically with human wickedness
* came back to life, showing that his promises were true
* promised to live within us and help us to live satisfying lives which are pleasing to God

I am not happy with Green's enthusiastic endorsement of the Alpha course, but with this caveat, I heartily recommend this book as a terrific source for people thinking about religion and people who are seeking to introduce their friends to Christ.

I was tremendously dissapointed when I received this book. It is not a legitimate textbook, but rather a fairly mediocre master's degree project. Many of the pages have handwritten notations wrather than written text. The figures are difficult to read and poorly explained. Chris Stenseth, RN, MSN, FNP-C

I have taken classes and never quite understood the interpretation of 12-lead until I read this book. There are sample ECG strips and the explainations are clear and precise. Treatment options for each arrythmia are included. This book is GREAT and all of the arrythmias are discussed in detail and in a clear format; THANKS for teaching me!!!!!

This book is so AWESOME and very helpful clinically. I carry it in my lab coat everyday.....THANKS!!!!!

Another piece of nonsense to add to your journalism library, if you're foolish enough to buy it. It adds nothing to what's already been said about local news. And as for a balanced, well written critique of local broadcast news in the U.S. there is none at present. Someone ought to take television news apart for the sham it's become, but this isn't it.

The best thing about this book was it's title. The rest is not worth the bother. It was redundant and, basically, just sarcastic drivel.

I can't figure out what the critics hated about this book. Kerbel makes a fascinating connection between popular TV (talk shows) and the news and follows up with incisive, often hilarious line-by-line dissection of the formulaic venality of editorial decisions governing what we see on TV news. Perhaps it is Kerbel's implied message that we viewers, and our baffling craving to be scared and misled, are to blame for the grotesque caricature that news-at-5 and -11 has become. TV, and its interrelated fact and fiction programming, is nothing more than the sum of we the viewers' flawed values, and this is Kerbel's unsettling message behind the humor. Buy it.

Waste of time. A friend had this book and I picked it up and glanced through the book. It was a quick read that had nothing new or intelligent to say. I saw the Bachelor. Bob had nothing to offer a good woman then and has nothing to offer a reader now.

I loved the honesty of this book. It says a lot about Bob that he was not afraid to expose his feelings about love and life in this book for everyone to read. It's obvious that he loves his family and turned to them when his life was falling apart. Cheers to Bob for being warm and honest. The book was great!

I loved this book for many reason. I watch the Bacholor and the Bacholorette religously. This is my favorite show of all time, so of course when I saw Bob I immedietly fell in love. He is so adorable and funny. I learned a lot more about him when I read his book. It gave you an inside look at his life through that year of the Bacholorette and everything that was going on. I loved how he would give you advise about life and how to live it to the fullest. It was also heart renching when he would talk about his wife. I loved learning how he got on the show and everything that went on behind the scenes. The book shows how he cares a lot for his family and especialy about others around him. This was a great book and an easy read, so I recommend you go out and get this one!!

Despite my attempt at a witty review title, I did enjoy reading this book. I most say, however, that I am probably the poster child for the target audience of this book. I am a reader of mostly non-fiction with a predilection for military history, and I am a bit of a Germanophile, which I find to be common in other readers of the same bent. Also, I have played my share of wargames, and can appreciate, to some extent, how the Axis may have won WWII. So, I SHOULD really like this book. A whole lot. Well, I just can't say that I do. This book could have been better, and this is somewhat bothersome to me, as I think the author really missed what was an easy mark, and I was really looking forward to a good read. As other reviewers have said, Alexander wrote an excellent "big picture" overview, discussing several crucial points where the course of the war may have taken a different turn, occupying maybe a third of the book. Alexander then sinks into re-telling European WWII in extreme tactical detail, especially in his treatment of the North African and Italian theaters. This detail is actually interesting for what it is, and even somewhat on-point as it deals with Allied and German blunders which may have effected major battle outcomes, but it drags down the book. My attention began to wander and I kept waiting to get back to the what I thought was the thrust of the book - what Germany could have done to win the war. What I continually was presented with, however, was how the Allies failed to exploit some tactical victory somewhere, or mis-used their armor in some minor battle - a sort-of Allied "bloops and blunders" which simply indicated to me that Germany would have lost sooner, if not for these Allied mis-steps. That's not where I thought the book was going to take me, and not where I wanted to go. The book is a little schizophrenic, not really sure what it is trying to be. Alexander had a chance to write a good discussion of German "opportunities lost", with maybe some new insights, which is what his title suggests. He chose, instead, to write a battle diary with a really good forward. In spite of all this, I am glad I read the book, as I did enjoy Alexanders battle narratives and what insights into German strategic thinking he actually did provide. It is easy to capture my attention and interest with books of this genre, and Alexander comes close, at times, to maintaining my keen interest. He always seems to bog down, however, and forget his overall objective with this book. I am just disappointed Alexander, who is clearly quite capable, didn't provide the book I expected and to which I looked forward when I purchased it. I would still buy this book, I would just be prepared for the detailed battle accounts which wait like minefields to destroy your attention span.

This book in an interesting read because 1) Alexander has a fine writing style and 2) it has a brilliant, well paced review of the Mediterranean conflict. However, the book never clearly delivers on its title. Like so many books and documentaries it isn't really about how Hitler could have won, but more about the mistakes that led to defeat. On the one hand appears Herr Hitler, a fool making one poor decision after another. On the other are his brilliant generals who can clearly win the war. The line between these two dots simply isn't clearly presented here. Still, there is much to read. Anyone interested in this topic will find the writing style to be enjoyable, especially Rommel's romp in Africa. On reading, one must wonder why the Allies just couldn't get it with Blitzkrieg or the use of aerial and field artillery. This inept understanding of modern warfare and a total inability to conceive appropriate strategic response would force the conflict into a long war of attrition. In the end the Allies are victorious but only because of overwhelming numbers and natural resources. Perhaps, somewhere between the lines, Alexander is making his statement. Hitler never took advantage of the Allies learning disability, and this is where he could have won WWII. Perhaps!

I picked up this book at the local library and could hardly put it down after my initial reading. Well written and easy to read, it chronicles mistake after mistake made by Hitler in overruling his very competent military advisors. What struck me most was how each mistake compounded the last.

Thankfully for the rest of humanity, the Third Reich spiraled downward into oblivion. This book does an outstanding job of detailing how each step Hitler took worked together with previous mistakes to doom his armies to failure.

A wonderful read for anyone with even a remote interest in this subject.