Books

Letters to "Penthouse": v. 17 (Letters to Penthouse)
How to Love a Black Woman: Give and Get the Very Best in Your Relationship
Understanding Childhood Eczema (Understanding Illness & Health)
The Emotionally Abusive Relationship: How to Stop Being Abused and How to Stop Abusing
Heal Your Hips: How to Prevent Hip Surgery - and What to Do If You Need It
Know Your Parenting Personality: How to Use the Enneagram to Become the Best Parent You Can Be
Breaking the Antibiotic Habit: Parent's Guide to Coughs, Colds, Ear Infections and Sore Throats
Breathe Well, Be Well: A Program to Relieve Stress, Anxiety, Asthma, Hypertension, Migraine and Other Disorders for Better Health
The Healing Journey Through Menopause: Your Journal for Reflection and Renewal (Healing Journey S.)
Return to Wholeness: Embracing Body, Mind and Spirit in the Face of Cancer
The Antioxidant Miracle: Your Complete Plan for Total Health and Healing
The Corporate Athlete: How to Achieve Maximal Performance in Business and Life
Christmas Angels and Other Tatting Patterns (Dover Needlework Series)
Women's Wardrobe (Chic Simple S.)
The Years of Silence Are Past: My Father's Life with Bipolar Disorder
Love Life for Every Married Couple: How to Fall in Love, Stay in Love, Rekindle Your Love
Who Made Me?
Hot Love
Fit for Life
227 Ways to Unleash the Sex Goddess in Every Woman
The False Fat Diet
Fighting Fat, Fighting Fit: Eat Well, Get Active, Lose Weight
Candida: Diet Against It
Dairy-Free, Lactose-Free Diet Plan
Women on Top

Average customer rating:

One Point
If you want a challenge
Ranting and Raving
There is Nothing Original Here
I Wish I Had Said That...

Letter to a Christian Nation
Sam Harris
Manufacturer: Knopf
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

The God Delusion
The End of Faith: Religion, Terror, and the Future of Reason
God Is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything
Breaking the Spell: Religion as a Natural Phenomenon
Atheist Universe: The Thinking Person's Answer to Christian Fundamentalism

ASIN: 0307265773
Release Date: 2006-09-19

Book Description

“Thousands of people have written to tell me that I am wrong not to believe in God. The most hostile of these communications have come from Christians. This is ironic, as Christians generally imagine that no faith imparts the virtues of love and forgiveness more effectively than their own. The truth is that many who claim to be transformed by Christ’s love are deeply, even murderously, intolerant of criticism. While we may want to ascribe this to human nature, it is clear that such hatred draws considerable support from the Bible. How do I know this? The most disturbed of my correspondents always cite chapter and verse.”

So begins Letter to a Christian Nation…

www.samharris.org

Customer Reviews:

One Point.......2007-06-27

Sam Harris makes his point here. He makes it well. It is worth considering, then looking for the facts that will permit you to accept or deny what is said is this all too thin volume.

If you want a challenge.......2007-06-27

I am leading a men's Bible study that is reading this book together. It has been a challenging book for us, which is great. My guys & I have had to wrestle with some tough questions from the author. I think that it is good to challenge yourself and your thinking to test the strength of it. This book is not for someone who is looking for a light read.

Ranting and Raving.......2007-06-27

Sam is ticked - at the Arabs and the Christians and the Jews and...well, you get the idea. I'm betting that if your belief system allows you to read this book, you'll be ticked too.

There is Nothing Original Here.......2007-06-26

I found Letter to a Christian Nation a difficult book to read. It is, after all, a book whose purpose is to criticize one of the things I hold most dear--the church of Jesus Christ. While certainly deliberate and measured as these things go, it is still something of a rant against religion in general, Christianity in particular, and, at its narrowest focus, those who call themselves by the name of Christ (and hence, the one they call themselves after).

With the publication of The End of Faith in 2004 Sam Harris became one of the more prominent American atheists and he is often grouped together with his British counterparts Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens. Though no less militant than these Brits, he has a measure of American charm that makes him appear a little less hostile and perhaps a little more credible. Not too many people, having seen Hitchens or Dawkins in action, would like to sit down and converse with them. Harris, though, is more affable; more personable. He is also a capable writer and a clear communicator. And where the latest volumes from the other men have been criticized for long-windedness, Harris' book is a mere 91 pages. The book is original and interesting more for its format than for its arguments. In terms of content, it offers little that is new in the genre. It is the same arguments Christians have faced and refuted time and time again.

The book is really a letter. This letter is a response to arguments Christians use to defend their beliefs and an attempt to "demolish the intellectual and moral pretensions of Christianity in its most committed forms." It's a letter to a Christian nation calling it to secularize, to wake up and understand the danger posted by Christianity and other religions.. Religion, it seems, is the enemy of reason. Reason is, of course, the hope of humanity. But Harris' disgust towards Christianity seems not to allow him to maintain his focus. This letter to a nation is really a letter to religious people who may or may not be Christian; certainly the "Christian" as Harris uses it would apply to the majority of the U.S. population whether or not they show the marks of a Christian as defined by the Bible.

And so Harris moves quickly but deliberately from point to point, touching briefly on many of the common arguments used against Christianity and against religion. It is one of thousands of religions each of which claims to hold the truth; the Bible is a grossly immoral and imperfect book; the Bible is unnecessary as a foundation to our morality; that people of all stripes to good deeds and more good deeds than Christians; that God, if He is real, would be horrifically unjust and powerless were He to allow or inflict all the suffering we see in the world; that religion is an opponent to science rather than being able to coexist with science; and so on. These are all arguments we have heard before (as recently as last year's release of The God Who Wasn't There it seems to me.). As I said, there is nothing really new in this book's content. Its appeal and success owes, in my view, primarily to the author and his style combined with the utter accessibility of the volume. And, of course, atheism is a hot topic these days, perhaps particularly among young people.

Because this is simply a review, I will not take the time to answer Harris' charges. Truthfully, because there are so many, it would take a similarly-sized volume to answer them successfully. And, in fact, Douglas Wilson has done just this in his newly-released Letter from a Christian Citizen, a book that I will review in the very near future. For now, suffice it to say that Letter to a Christian Nation is valuable in providing a concise summary of the common arguments against Christianity. They are all here and are explained well. As mentioned at the outset, I did not find it easy to read simply because it cuts deep to have someone attack something (and Someone) I love so much. Yet I'm glad I took the time to read it. It leaves no doubt where Harris stands and where the points of conflict are between Christian and the modern atheist. I look forward now to reading Douglas Wilson's measured response.

I Wish I Had Said That..........2007-06-25

This is a phenomenal little book that expresses all of my thoughts and beliefs in a way that I'm not capable of doing. It gives excellent arguments , irrefutable arguments, about why there is no supereme being - no god. And it comforts me immensely to read someone who so completely agrees with my theories and beliefs. It's hard to imagine that any fundamentalist could continue to believe as s/he does after reading Harris' Letter to a Christian Nation.

His Princess: Love Letters from Your King (His Princess)

Average customer rating:

Something everyone needs!
His Princess
Pass it on!!
Awesome...definitely a blessing
I Shared This Book before reading it

His Princess: Love Letters from Your King (His Princess)
Sheri Rose Shepherd
Manufacturer: Multnomah Gifts
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Prayers to My King (His Princess)
His Little Princess: Treasured Letters from Your King (His Princess)
My Prince Will Come: Getting Ready for My Lord's Return (His Princess)
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Life Is Not a Dress Rehearsal

ASIN: 1590523318
Release Date: 2004-01-23

Book Description

This beautiful four-color book opens the eyes of women to see themselves the way God sees them. Many don't even know that they are daughters of the King - chosen to be His Princess. Somewhere between childhood and adulthood, they trade in their fairy-tale dreams of being cherished for a tarnished identity fashioned by their own insecurities and the mixed-up messages of the media. Now, these tenderly adoring letters written from God's persepective demonstrate that every woman is beautiful just the way she is. Walking in confidence toward her God-given purpose, every woman can bless others - even future generations.

Customer Reviews:

Something everyone needs!.......2007-01-25

I enjoyed the passages from this book in my bible study class and I am so pleased now to own my own copy for enjoyment everyday. Very Beautifully written.

His Princess.......2007-01-12

This book is so touching. A friend gave me a copy and I loved it so much I ordered 7 more to give as Christmas gifts. I've read one or two letters every night before going to sleep. These letters are written as if God is writing to each woman personally, father to daughter. Each letter is based on a Bible verse that is included. The letters are so loving and personal. I will read this book over and over.

Pass it on!!.......2006-10-21

Within these pages you will truly find words of love and encouragement from your God and King. God sees us with such loving and forgiving eyes and He desires for us to see ourselves through His eyes. May each Princess find herself through this wonderful little book.

My good friend and mentor gave this book to me and it has been a great encouragement. I have since given this book as a gift to friends. It is a book you will not want to keep to yourself - Pass it on!

Awesome...definitely a blessing.......2006-07-17

This book has been a huge encouragement to me in times of trials. I would definitely recommend it. It would also be a great gift.

I Shared This Book before reading it.......2006-05-22

I read a few of the letters and then shared it with my aunt, who loved it. I so recommend this to every woman - I have hundreds and hundreds of books, and I think this is one I will buy for all my friends. There is only one "drawback" - it is so beautiful, so lovely that I don't want to underline or highlight the book. This makes a gorgeous gift!

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Three kinds of love and how to sanctify them with a Fourth
Listen to Lewis
"For news of the fully waking world you must go to my betters": But Lewis is a Great Place to Start
Loves are beautiful, but 'the greatest of these is charity'
A Spiritual Intuitive's View

The Four Loves
C.S. Lewis
Manufacturer: Harvest Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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The Problem of Pain
Mere Christianity
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Surprised by Joy: The Shape of My Early Life
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ASIN: 0156329301

Amazon.com

The Four Loves summarizes four kinds of human love--affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. Masterful without being magisterial, this book's wise, gentle, candid reflections on the virtues and dangers of love draw on sources from Jane Austen to St. Augustine. The chapter on charity (love of God) may be the best thing Lewis ever wrote about Christianity. Consider his reflection on Augustine's teaching that one must love only God, because only God is eternal, and all earthly love will someday pass away:

Who could conceivably begin to love God on such a prudential ground--because the security (so to speak) is better? Who could even include it among the grounds for loving? Would you choose a wife or a Friend--if it comes to that, would you choose a dog--in this spirit? One must be outside the world of love, of all loves, before one thus calculates.

His description of Christianity here is no less forceful and opinionated than in Mere Christianity or The Problem of Pain, but it is far less anxious about its reader's response--and therefore more persuasive than any of his apologetics. When he begins to describe the nature of faith, Lewis writes: "Take it as one man's reverie, almost one man's myth. If anything in it is useful to you, use it; if anything is not, never give it a second thought." --Michael Joseph Gross

Book Description

A candid, wise, and warmly personal book in which Lewis explores the possibilities and problems of the four basic kinds of human love- affection, friendship, erotic love, and the love of God. “Immensely worthwhile for its simplicity...a rare and memorable book” (Sydney J. Harris).

Customer Reviews:

Three kinds of love and how to sanctify them with a Fourth.......2007-06-24

In the introduction, Lewis discusses the differences between Gift-love and Need-love. He explains that although our Need-loves may be demanding and greedy, they are good and necessary because there is little danger that they can be made into gods. They are not near enough to God, by likeness, to be twisted like that. The highest does not exist without the lowest and a plant has roots below as well as sunlight above.

Chapter 2: Likings And Loves For The Sub-Human, is a discussion of Pleasures of Need versus Pleasures of Appreciation. The types of love explored here include patriotism and love of nature. The next chapter: Affection, deals with the humblest love as Lewis calls it. He refers to literary works like The Wind In The Willows, Tristram Shandy, Emma and others to demonstrate the good and the bad manifestations of this kind of love.

Friendship is explored in Chapter 4, again with reference to literature, including inter alia Ralph Waldo Emerson. This section includes an interesting discussion of the word "spiritual" - which is nowadays often used as substitute for "religious". Lewis reminds us that there is spiritual evil as well as spiritual good. The next chapter deals with Eros and he points out its aspects of glory and its playfullness, with reference to books like Anna Karenina and 1984, and certain passages from scripture.

The final chapter is titled Charity and includes an interesting view of a passage from the Confessions by St Augustine. Lewis notes that the Gift-loves are natural images of God whilst the Need-loves are correlatives (not opposites) of the love that God is. When God is admitted to the human heart, He transforms our Gift-love and our Need-love. Conversion is necessary for our natural loves to enter the heavenly life.

The main lesson of the book is the importance of Charity. Without it, all three of the aforementioned types of love may become distorted and even dangerous. Although this little book provides great insight, I have not found it to be as accessible as his masterpiece Mere Christianity or his comforting book titled The Problem of Pain.

Sometimes his arguments are hard to follow and his views and examples of certain types of love are coloured by the English culture of the period in which he lived, thus not always universally applicable. The book would also have been a better reference source if an index had been provided. Besides these minor comlaints, The Four Loves is still a great read that provides valuable insight into the human condition.

Listen to Lewis.......2007-06-06

If you have only read "The Four Loves," you haven't heard all that Lewis had to say on the subject. The audio version, read by Lewis himself is shorter than the print version of this book, but it includes material not in print. It takes a few minutes to get used to Lewis' voice, but soon you feel that you are sitting in a room with him as he tells stories and talks about what he has learned from his experiences of the four loves.

"For news of the fully waking world you must go to my betters": But Lewis is a Great Place to Start.......2007-05-29

C.S. Lewis's short _The Four Loves_, published near the end of the author's life in 1960, is worthy companion for a long afternoon or evening of reading and meditation. Lewis discusses in both an enlightening and light tone the four forms of love in ascending order: affection, friendship, eros, and charity. As a preliminary to this discussion, Lewis also describes likings and loves for "sub-human" (that is, loving a cup of tea or loving nature). The work is a philosophy of love that draws upon Lewis's own day-to-day observations, the writings of well-known and lesser known philosophers, and the works of artists. All of these types of love lead to an insight that these natural loves--that is, the loves that make up our daily lives--intimate a much large love, that of God for humankind. For Lewis, these natural loves are themselves not enough. Lewis describes a form of Christian love based on Jesus's own sacrifice and the unknowable mystery of God's love. This is the majesty of charity.

One basic principle of Lewis's work is the distinction between Need-love and Gift-love. The Need-love has to do, for Lewis, with "a craving to be loved," which is akin to a child's longing for the love of his parents'. Instead of disparaging this type of love as wholely selfish, Lewis describes how this type of love, while limited, is "the accurate reflection in consciousness of our actual nature." Lewis writes that "we need others physically, emotionally, intellectually; we need them if we are to know anything, even ourselves." Lewis acknowledges the human condition sympathetically. Gift-love, by contrast, has its ultimate expression in Christ's death on the cross. This is an active, selfless love. Lewis characterizes Gift-love in its ordinary expression as "that love which moves a man to work and plan and save for the future well-being of his family which he will die without sharing or seeing."

Lewis's book is filled with wise observations. The chapters on affection and friendship, which are the least religious in nature, are superb. The comments about divine love are engaging, as well. For example, in describing human beings' craving for God's help, he writes, "Man approaches God most nearly when he is in one sense least like God." Here, Lewis points out that often humans turn to God or spirituality in type of deepest despair or wretchedness. Later, he quotes a line of verse, "The Devil was sick, the Devil a monk would be" to highlight how in need people will search for god, not out of sincerity per se, but in a desperate longing to be saved. In chapter one, Lewis draws an analogy between a traveler's journey being not always straight in path and the journey toward God. For example, a traveler who is near to a village in physical proximity, say staring down on the rooftops from a mountain crag that he can almost touch with his hands, may need to follow a path that takes him much further from town before bringing him closer to it (for instance, as the path winds slowly down the hill).

Most of Lewis's observations about love speak to all religious traditions as does, arguably, the recognition that human love longs for more than its natural forms. The final chapter "Charity" is the most explicitly Christian in worldview, and it is the most difficult to grasp. Lewis admits the possible imperfection of his own knowledge and that what he writes about are imagined experiences rather than real ones. He reflects, "Those like myself whose imagination far exceeds their obedience are subject to a just penalty; we easily imagine conditions far higher than any we have actually reached."

Lewis's _Four Loves_ brims with human insights about love. This is a short work, written in the style of a kind, wise friend sharing his thoughts on a walk or over an evening.

Loves are beautiful, but 'the greatest of these is charity'.......2007-05-29

An illuminating view on affection, the so-called 'the most humble', friendship, 'the least natural and the most independent', eros, 'the most natural' and charity, 'the noblest' of all loves, treated in terms of the so-called 'need love', 'gift love' and 'appreciative love'. The beauty and potential danger of distortion and abuse of each love is also covered excellently. C.S. Lewis is both a psychologist and a philosopher, a brilliant one. His treatment on this subject of love is important for every one to know; some that I personally learn and thought to be beautiful, are:

- That we ought to love with decency and common sense;
- The reward of the accomplishment of a gift-love is its abdication, when it is no longer needed.
- When love becomes a god, it turns into a demon;
- The calculating love is no love at all which leads to the beauty and mark of eros, where calculations are irrelevant, and when it is in us, we "had rather share unhappiness with the Beloved than be happy on any other terms", and finally...

- The excellence of charity, confirmed in the Scriptures, something Jonathan Edwards calls 'the sum of all virtues', where Lewis exhorted to love God who will never pass away, "Do not let your happiness depend on something you may lose. If love is to be a blessing, not a misery, it must be for the only Beloved who will never pass away."

- The gracious call to risk and forego for the greatest good. Speaking of Christ, Lewis says, "... His teaching was never meant to confirm my congenital preference for safe investments and limited liabilities... And who could conceivably begin to love God on such a prudential ground -- because the security is better? ...Christ did not teach and suffer that we might become ... more careful of our own happiness... We shall draw nearer to God, not by trying to avoid the sufferings inherent to all loves, but by accepting them and offering them to Him; throwing away all defensive armour. If our hearts need to be broken and if He chooses this as the way in which they should break, so be it."

Get this book, friends, and learn that "loves" are beautiful, when handled properly, but 'the greatest of these is charity'.

A Spiritual Intuitive's View.......2007-05-16

It was wonderful to actually hear Clive's actual voice and put a little more of the man behind all his words.
I was left with the impression of an ascetic academic. Little of the passion and spirit of Christ was conveyed. For me, at least, there is an overriding feeling of fire in my heart which precludes and is present in my connections with people and when I'm in an Agape connection there is a world of spirtual and physical cues that flow.
But the classification is useful and confirms that the greeks had figured this stuff out long ago.
4 out of 5.

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds

Average customer rating:

Absolutely essential for the self-study student of Arabic
Great beginner text
This is AWESOME!
Ignore the last guy...
Expensive but the best

Alif Baa: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds
Kristen Brustad , Mahmoud Al-Batal , and Abbas Al-Tonsi
Manufacturer: Georgetown University Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Answer Key To Alif Baa: Introduction To Arabic Letters and Sounds
Al-kitaab fii Ta'allum Al-'Arabiyya with DVD's A Textbok For Begining Arabic
Arabic-English Dictionary: The Hans Wehr Dictionary of Modern Written Arabic
Answer Key To Al-Kitaab Fii Ta Callum Al-cArabiyya
Al-kitaab Fii Ta'allum Al-Arabiyya With DVDs: A Textbook for Arabic

ASIN: 1589011023

Book Description

The beauty of the Arabic language, both spoken and written--and the richness of the Arabic-speaking world, its history and culture--has recently become of increasing importance and a matter of revelation for the English-speaking world. It is essential as this new century unfolds, that understanding develops between nations--and language is the magic key.

The Al-Kitaab Arabic language program is among the English-speaking world's most widely used Arabic language learning texts. Alif Baa with DVDs: Introduction to Arabic Letters and Sounds is the first part of the Al-Kitaab program. This revised, second edition contains updated readings, new and revised exercises, and completely new audio/video materials on two DVDs bound into each volume.

In teaching the sounds and letters of Arabic, Alif Baa provides a variety of exercises aimed at developing the crucial nascent skills of reading, listening, writing, speaking, and cultural understanding. In conjunction with learning how to read and write the alphabet, Alif Baa introduces about 150 basic vocabulary words, including conventional forms of politeness and social greetings.

Standard Arabic vocabulary is distributed throughout the book, enhanced by the visual and audio materials on the DVDs and implemented in practical exercises. It introduces a range of Arabic from colloquial to standard in authentic contexts, including social greetings in dialogues that take place in an Egyptian context, the most widely-used and understood Arabic dialect.

Finally, Alif Baa includes capsules on Arab culture as well as an English-Arabic glossary. Alif Baa provides the essential first twenty contact hours of instruction that are the foundation for the rest of the Al-Kitaab language program.

Customer Reviews:

Absolutely essential for the self-study student of Arabic.......2007-05-19

You CANNOT learn Arabic letter sounds from book pronunciation guides. The DVDs allow you to actually hear the sounds from native Arabic speakers. I had no problems with the DVDs. It even shows you how to write the letters as demonstrated by master calligraphers. I'd say this book is an absolutely essential resource for the self-learner. Well worth the money.

Great beginner text.......2007-05-15

This book is easy to follow and offers an elementary introduction to Arabic. The focus is primarily on the alphabet, written structure, and pronounciation. It is not, however, designed to teach the student to speak conversational Arabic quickly.

This is AWESOME!.......2007-04-09

This product is AWESOME! The explanations are very clear. The listening exercises give students exposure to colloquial Egyptian Arabic. The listening exercises also help the learner to distinguish between letter sounds and reinforce their letter sound pronunciation.

You really should buy this if you are learning Arabic. It is that useful!

I highly recomend that you also purchase the answer key for this set (it comes as a seperate product).

Ignore the last guy..........2007-02-16

If you'll notice the book comes with 2 DVDs which have the videos on them; They came with mine as well. People should post a review on the proper item instead of ruining the reputation of something that you have not even tried out. In addition, the answer key only cost me $4 extra when ordering from Amazon which is hardly an inconvenience.

This book had me reading, writing, and prounouncing Arabic properly within one month, so I would have to say that it is an excellent book. If you follow the exercises and make sure to get the pronunciation down pat then you will be fooling Arab people into thinking that you speak their language like I did!

This book series is so good that UC Berkeley uses it for all of their beginning and intermediate Arabic classes; check it out for yourself and go to their online textbook ordering site and search for the books for Arabic 1A, 1B, etc...

Lastly, this book is not intended to be a COMPLETE self-guided course on Arabic, as Arabic is a very deep and rich language that takes many years to fully master and understand but that is why they released the three volumes of Al-Kitaab which build upon what you have learned in this book and teach you grammar, morphology, and much vocabulary; again people, do a little research first and make sure you are reviewing the proper item instead of ruining the reputation of something unrelated.

Expensive but the best.......2007-01-11

This book is the best of its kind for learning the Arabic script, but is expensive.

The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for War in Iraq

Average customer rating:

Fairly thin on the purported topic
Whoa....
Excellent story of the lead up to the Iraq War
A Stunning Indictment for Bush Inc

The Italian Letter: How the Bush Administration Used a Fake Letter to Build the Case for War in Iraq
Peter Eisner , and Knut Royce
Manufacturer: Rodale Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Collusion: International Espionage and the War on Terror
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Hubris: The Inside Story of Spin, Scandal, and the Selling of the Iraq War

ASIN: 1594865736
Release Date: 2007-04-03

Book Description

Filled with headline-making revelations, this explosive account by two award-winning investigative reporters tracks the behind-the-scenes story of the forged intelligence document that the Bush administration used to push the nation into war with Iraq

Like Barbara Tuchman’s 1958 classic, The Zimmerman Telegram, about the decoded German wire that drew the United States into World War I, or the recent bestseller Cobra II, The Italian Letter traces the road to war by following the scandal surrounding the Italian Letter, a fraudulent intelligence document that cooked up proof that the African country of Niger was prepared to supply Saddam Hussein with uranium for nuclear weapons.

What is the real story that led to President Bush’s 16 famous words in his 2003 State of the Union address, "The British government has learned that Saddam Hussein recently sought significant quantities of uranium from Africa."? In the first book to uncover the details of the scandal that has already led to the indictment of one administration official—a scandal bigger than the Iran-Contra affair—the authors have drawn on their unique access to a large group of CIA, FBI, and international sources as well as whistle-blowers.

As frustration over the increasing deaths in Iraq continues to mount, this timely, page-turning narrative provides fresh insights for a nation hungry for greater understanding of the Iraq War and the manipulated intelligence document that altered the course of contemporary history.

Customer Reviews:

Fairly thin on the purported topic.......2007-06-14

I have read most of the books on how and why the US went into Iraq and how badly we botched it up once we got there. I found this book interesting and there was some valuable new information, but I came away knowing little about the Italian letter I hadn't already read elsewhere. The central question of who wrote it and why went unanswered, beyond the belief that it originated within SISMI. It's an interesting book if you don't know the story, but unsatisfying if you do and desire to know more.

Whoa...........2007-06-06

This book really opens your eyes to what exactly this administration has done to push the war in Iraq. It is very indepth and very accurate. While I was reading this book, at times, I would forget that I am reading about something that is going on right at this moment because the crap they have pulled sounded like something in a movie. It's frightening that this is real. I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants to know what the hell is going on.

Excellent story of the lead up to the Iraq War.......2007-04-29

I'm a news junkie, read several news websites, watch CNN, read the Wall Street Journal and the New Yorker. Still there were surprises for me in this book regarding the misuse of intelligence by both the White House and the intelligence agencies themselves. It also offers excellent insight as to the workings of some of our allies' intelligence agencies. Trust me, you WON'T be bored. The authors interviewed current and former US intelligence personnel and the book appears very well sourced.

A Stunning Indictment for Bush Inc.......2007-04-16

I found the book to be frightening in its accuracy and detail. What we are slowly finding out is that the Bush Administration literally tried to float a world war on pure ideology and to heck with public advisement. Each chapter is meticulously footnoted and and cross-referenced. There can be no other conclusion than that crimes were committed. The author has tremendous courage to reveal these facts as others like him have become targets of a vindictive Administration out for retaliation.

Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace (2nd Edition)

Average customer rating:

very clear
a gem
Better than Strunk & White, better than Turabian
How Style Ought to Be Taught
Truly great, smaller but updated version of his bigger book

Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace (2nd Edition)
Joseph M. Williams
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Qualifying Textbooks - Spring 2007 | Stores | Books
Similar Items:

Style: Toward Clarity and Grace (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
Style: Lessons in Clarity and Grace (9th Edition)
The Craft of Research, 2nd edition (Chicago Guides to Writing, Editing, and Publishing)
Line by Line: How to Improve Your Own Writing
On Writing Well, 30th Anniversary Edition: The Classic Guide to Writing Nonfiction (On Writing Well)

ASIN: 0321330854

Book Description

Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace reflects the wisdom and clear authorial voice of Williams best-selling book, Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace, while streamlining every chapter to create a very brief, yet powerfully direct guide to writing with style. The brevity and clarity of this book make it a quick and ideal read for freshman composition courses, as well as for writing courses across the disciplines. Style: The Basics of Clarity and Grace covers the elemental principles of writing that will help students diagnose their prose quickly and revise it effectively. The ten lessons feature principles of effective prose written in William's hallmark conversational style, offering reason-based approaches, rather than hard and fast rules, for successful, effective writing.

Customer Reviews:

very clear.......2006-08-14

I am a non native speaker, and even though my grammar is not too bad, my writing style has always been a source of frustration. At work, when comparing the texts I would write with the one of good native writers, I could see that theirs were better, but could not find why.
I bought this book based on the high reviews it got on amazon, and I was not disappointed. After reading a few pages, I scanned the research proposal I was writing at the time, and could already make significant improvements on it. The advices that the author give are sometimes quite simple, especially at the beginning of the book (for example : the main character should be the subjects of the verbs, which themselves should correspond to the main action). But surprisingly, I realized that I was rarely applying these simple rules of clarity. The author is never dogmatic, and insists that the only thing that matters is that the reader easily understands what we're writing. All throughout the book, numerous examples illustrate the concepts just introduced so that it is quite easy to test whether one has really got the point.

a gem.......2006-07-21

I found an used copy of " The Basics of Clarity and Grace" at bookstore. After reading 3/4 of the book I ordered two more copies. One copy for my son who is a journalist major and the other for my eldest son who writes good comedy. I liked its size and its no nonesense approach.

Better than Strunk & White, better than Turabian.......2005-12-19

The longer version of Joseph Williams "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace" has been justly praised for many years. But as a director of writing programs at NYU, Princeton, and Yale, I never felt right adopting that text: it was too expensive, and more than the average student needed. This "Basics" Style is the perfect solution. All the brilliance of the longer book at 1/3 the price, "Style" perfectly balances explanations of style rules with practical examples. The rules that Strunk and White encourage are good ones, and American prose would be leaner if their precepts were universal. The problem with that book is that the advice is not explained systematically. You can use their suggestions when you face similar cases, but only Williams' text breaks down topics like elegance, coherence, and cohesion in ways that will let you carry the ideas into every text you write. I would not recommend this book for the casual 10th grader; although it's clearly written, its ideas are somewhat advanced. But for professionals, college writers, and any teenager who takes writing seriously, "Style" is an indispensable tool, a book you'll use for the rest of your life. For learning to write good college papers, I also highly recommend his "Craft of Research."

How Style Ought to Be Taught.......2005-07-13

Teaching style is not an easy task. Just look at the number of books on the market that portend to do this task, and it becomes obvious that not all authors succeed in their efforts. Some manuals attempt to teach by rules, others by persuasion, and still others by example. This book takes all three approaches and illustrates that the art of stylistic writing is a matter of know-how. Unlike most books in the field, I find this one generally successful.

The book's method is heuristic. It begins with causes of bad writing, and progresses to clarity, cohesion, emphasis, coherence, concision, length, and elegance. Each principle is given a bad examples compared to a good one. Direct, subject-verb-object writing is extolled, and certain anathemas of other texts are approved under the right circumstances. While I disagree with one its principles: That it is acceptable to begin a sentence with "There" and "It," these are minor quibbles in an otherwise strongly argued case.

Strunk & White's "Elements of Style" now has a major competitor, and this book is it. Whether one writes in fiction or non-fiction, the principles and examples given throughout this book are to be commended. I know of one author, a philosopher, who took these principles to heart. What once was ambiguous and contorted writing is now lucid, clear, and vivid. If this book can make this kind of progress, I certainly recommend it to all writers.

While on the subject of good writing, I also recommend Corbett's "Classical Rhetoric" for those authors who want to write convincing arguments. One on style, the other on substance. While William's book on style will make prose more readable, Corbett's book will make it more intelligible.

Truly great, smaller but updated version of his bigger book.......2004-01-24

This smallish book summarizes and updates "Style: Ten Lessons in Clarity and Grace (7th Edition)." I rank both books at least a "5 out of 5" ranking. I bought the "Style: Ten Lessons" book first and after reading his previous book, I wanted more from this author. This new book is a fitting treat; it is destined to be a classic in the field of writing.

This smaller 150 page book presents many easy-to-apply principles and, for me, were easier to understand.

The principles that I liked most were:

+ How nominalizations can be very good or very bad, depending on their purpose, or lack of it.
+ How to re-arrange sentences putting the new and most important ideas on the end; thus sometimes flipping the sentence around and making good use of the passive tense.
+ The importance of aligning the characters of your story with the subjects of your sentences, and using active verbs to make "interesting subjects do interesting things."
+ Why and how to keep the distance between subject, verb and object short.

There are many, many other writing principles that you will find very useful. Although this book is written for someone with writing experience, a beginner will also find it MOST helpful.

I recommend any budding writer to buy both books. The bigger, older book has more discussion. But I found this smaller, newer book easier to read and understand. I'm now reading his Craft of Research book, and it looks like a winner too.

This is an author whose books you should collect. He has become a highly recommended expert in the field of writing. Look at the reviews of the bigger book to see what others are saying. I am so happy that I found his books.

John Dunbar
Sugar Land, TX

Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny

Average customer rating:

Not just for African-American Males! For everyone who need inspiration!
Every Black man, boy and parent should read this book
Letters to a Young Brother
Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny
encourageing material

Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny
Hill Harper
Manufacturer: Gotham
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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The Covenant with Black America
Never Mind Success - Go For Greatness!: The Best Advice I've Ever Received
A Hand to Guide Me
Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life
The Pursuit of Happyness

ASIN: 1592402003

Book Description

Most people associate Hill Harper with Hollywood, as he's appeared in dozens of films and television shows. But he is just as comfortable in a school auditorium, rousing groups of students with his unique style of real-life wisdom. Having addressed thousands of high-school and middle- school students over the years, Hill is ready to take his message to an even wider audience. Letters to a Young Brother is drawn from the humbling life lessons he learned on the road to his Ivy League education and beyond. Inspired by the countless letters and e-mails he has received from teens, Hill Harper set out to write a series of letters to young people that would catch the attention of even the most reluctant readers.

The result is a motivational but approachable book full of encouragement on a wide array of hot topics, particularly among young African-American and Hispanic men. From the challenges of getting a good education and making it through college to the media's destructive emphasis on material wealth, Letters to a Young Brother delivers eye-opening answers. Reminiscent of Marian Wright Edelman's New York Times bestseller, The Measure of Our Success: A Letter to My Children and Yours, Hill Harper's words will resonate for years to come.

Customer Reviews:

Not just for African-American Males! For everyone who need inspiration!.......2007-06-27

Reading this literature truly changed who I am as a man. I no longer fear doing what I truly want to do, I take chances and find inspiration within myself now. I highly recommend this book for anyone who feels lost about their path in life.

Every Black man, boy and parent should read this book.......2007-06-13

Every young man should read this book, or a parent of a young man should read it to their young son or give to a nephew ... Study groups should be started with young brothers. This book can guide the conversation. I was enlightened beyond measure. I gifted this book to my nephew - 13 years of age.

Letters to a Young Brother.......2007-05-31

Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny
This book was long overdue. It is good for young men to read. I bought a few books and sent them to the young teenagers in my family.
J.L. Kelly
Brooklyn, NY

Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny.......2007-04-13

Great idea for a book. Mr. Hill is a great role model for ALL young not just African-American men.

encourageing material.......2007-04-10

I read this book and it was very encouraging. I work with the youth in my church and I presented this book to a high school senior to read. He told me he started reading the book and can not put it down. The book covered issues in his daily walk of life and issues he thought he was only thinking about were being discussed in the book. I decided to start giving a copy to every Male in high school to help guide them through some of the obsticles they will encounter in life as young men.

How to Say It: Choice Words, Phrases, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Every Situation, Revised Edition

Average customer rating:

Great Graduation Gift
How to say it
Great Reference Book
The best so far
A Good Resource

How to Say It: Choice Words, Phrases, Sentences, and Paragraphs for Every Situation, Revised Edition
Rosalie Maggio
Manufacturer: Prentice Hall Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

How to Say It At Work: Putting Yourself Across with Power Words, Phrases, Body Language, and Communication Secrets
1001 Letters for All Occasions: The Best Models for Every Business and Personal Need
How to Write It: A Complete Guide to Everything You'll Ever Write
The Thank You Book: Hundreds of Clever, Meaningful, and Purposeful Ways to Say Thank You
The Art of Talking to Anyone: Essential People Skills for Success in Any Situation

ASIN: 0735202346
Release Date: 2001-08-28

Book Description

The best-selling How to Say It® is now better than ever. The second edition of this one-of-a-kind book has been updated with ten new chapters-that's fifty chapters in all-offering readers even more material for quickly and effortlessly constructing original, effective letters.

How to Say It® provides short lists of what to say, and sometimes more importantly, what not to say when writing business or personal letters. It begins with examples of why and when certain letters are appropriate, tips on writing the letter, and advice for special situations. It then offers sample words and phases for each type of correspondence, as well as examples of sentences and paragraphs that are best suited for the task. Finally, it provides full sample letters giving readers a sense of what to look for in the final product. Includes appendices offering tips on etiquette, formatting, and grammar.

Customer Reviews:

Great Graduation Gift.......2007-06-22

I believe the ability to write a thoughtful and effective letter is an important skill to have, and one that many younger people today are not developing due to all of our electronic communications. I got this for a graduation gift and it has truly helped me become better at writing good letters for my new "adult" life, from thank you letters to job correspondence and more.

How to say it.......2007-05-12

This is a must have for anyone who writes, talks, or otherwise communicates with other people. I use it all the time for writing letters.

Great Reference Book.......2007-02-02

I draw a blank sometimes on what to say and when to say it. That's why I bought to book - to fill in the blanks !! Love it ! More than I expected.

The best so far.......2006-07-14

A lot has been written already about this book, so I would like to concentrate on one major feature of this manual.

I have several books about letter writing and this is the one I most often use and whoever I showed this book to wanted to buy it. Books of this kind fall into two broad categories: 1. short explanations and a lot of sample letters. 2. long explanations and a reasonable amount of sample letters. This book, however, shows that something more can be done. I usually have the problem with the first category that some authors tend to empty their Document folders from the work computers into a book and write some clever remarks as an introduction to them. Rosalie Maggio's book introduces methodology into the editing process: she gives you useful advice and also warning what not to do, but after that the topics are built up from word level gradually through phrases, sentences, paragraphs until you get to the actual sample letters. This way, you get much more useful material than you could get only with sample letters.

A Good Resource.......2006-07-06

In attempting to put together a training session on communication, I was at a loss in where to begin and what to cover. The topic can be a sensitive one, especially when working with non-native English speakers.

I found the book to be very helpful. It was great to point to samples that have been effective and use those as boilerplate templates to teach the class. The participants learned a lot and many purchased the book to have for themselves afterwards as a reference.

Average customer rating:

A delight to read.
A wonderful companion to Sowell's "A Personal Odyssey"
I Nominate Thomas Sowell for the Nobel Prize
Thomas' Sowell
A Worthy Successor to Milton Friedman

A Man of Letters
Thomas Sowell
Manufacturer: Encounter Books
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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Similar Items:

Ever Wonder Why? And Other Controversial Essays
Basic Economics: A Common Sense Guide to the Economy
Knowledge and Decisions
A PERSONAL ODYSSEY.
Basic Economics: A Citizens Guide to the Economy, Revised and Expanded

ASIN: 1594031967

Book Description

A Man of Letters traces the life, career, and commentaries on controversial issues of Thomas Sowell over a period of more than four decades through his letters to and from family, friends, and public figures ranging from Milton Friedman to Clarence Thomas, David Riesman, Arthur Ashe, William Proxmire, Vernon Jordan, Charles Murray, Shelby Steele, and Condoleezza Rice. These letters begin with Sowell as a graduate student at the University of Chicago in 1960 and conclude with a reflective letter to his fellow economist and longtime friend Walter Williams in 2005.

Customer Reviews:

A delight to read........2007-05-27

His letters of the past 40 years gives us a glimpse to one of the greatest modern thinker's life. I have read Mr. Sowell's editorials many times and always find his commonsense to be refreshing. This book takes us through history as he recounts the current events of the time, from his unique perspective, with colleagues, students and policy-makers.

A wonderful companion to Sowell's "A Personal Odyssey".......2007-05-24

I have admired Thomas Sowell since I first read his writings more that twenty years ago. When clerks at the local Ann Arbor Borders (in the original store on State St.) chided me for buying a book of his I asked them why they disliked him. They (and there was more than one) said that he had benefited from Affirmative Action and now wanted to keep anyone else from doing so. Knowing how wrong this idea was, I pointed out to them that he was born in 1930 and that his achievements were made long before anyone had dreamt up those crippling policies. For this they had no reply.

If you haven't read Thomas Sowell's memoir "A Personal Odyssey" (ISBN 0684864657), I encourage you to get a copy and read about his extraordinary life. It will certainly surprise you. His background was not only unlikely for someone who became a highly regarded economist and commentator; it was unlikely that he would even go to college. He certainly had no straight path to success, either. What he had was an intense focus on where he wanted to go (even though that changed in unexpected ways over the years), a core understanding of who he was, and a commitment to reason and truth. Still, he did not have an easy personal or professional life. You will learn more about that interesting and inspiring life by reading the memoir and this wonderful book.

This book is a collection of letters he wrote and received throughout his life. They are so valuable because they are contemporary to the man Sowell was at the time. As we look back on our lives it is quite easy to fall into the trap of making the path of our life too straight a path to where we are today. When Sowell first got to college he was a Marxist, if you can believe it. It is quite fascinating to watch his grappling with ideas that lead him to the University of Chicago, George Stigler, Milton Friedman, and the other greats in the freshwater school.

He provides us with some background for the letters and in a few places refers the reader to more extended commentary in the memoir (another reason I recommend it to you). Sowell is also a writer of wit. I laughed out loud several times. He is also writes concisely. No rambling or side journeys for him. The letters get to the point and say what they meant to say quite directly and clearly. He covers the issues of the relevant decades, what was happening in his life, and even provides us with a few of his favorite articles and columns when that became a bigger part of his life.

His work in late talking children that grew out of his own son's development is also quite inspiring and shows the background of what became a much bigger movement than he ever expected or desired.

This book is inspiring, informative, and I believe it is quite valuable. Get it, read it, learn from it, and enjoy it (along with the memoir).

I Nominate Thomas Sowell for the Nobel Prize.......2007-05-24

An example from a recent article ... how Thomas Sowell can say what I only wish I could put into so few words:

Presumptions of the Left

by Thomas Sowell

"Many on the left may protest that they do not believe in the ideas or the political systems that prevailed under Hitler, Stalin or Mao. No doubt that is true.

Yet what the political left, even in democratic countries, share is the notion that knowledgeable and virtuous people like themselves have both a right and a duty to use the power of government to impose their superior knowledge and virtue on others."

Thomas Sowell (national treasure) gets my vote for most intelligent man in America.

He deserves a Nobel Prize in Economics. In addition, award him a Nobel Peace Prize and he can visit Oslo and the rest of Norway after picking up his prize in Stockholm.

Thomas' Sowell.......2007-04-09

No doubt many people will be drawn to this book for the same reason I was. It is not so much to pick up anything new of Sowell's ideas. At this point, after several decades and dozens of book, his ideas are familiar to those who are interested in them. But rather, for those of us who took the journey from the left to the right, it was Sowell more than anyone else whose writings seemed to place whatever experiences in our lives may have been the impetus for such a journey into context.

For me, it was INSIDE AMERICAN EDUCATION, not a major work by Sowell, but an intellectual life-preserver to me while I was being viciously attacked by the politicially correct crowd while in graduate school. The book produced those a-ha moments which precipitate a major change in ideological orientation. Again, no doubt others have had a similar experience with Sowell. A MAN OF LETTERS therefore, is not so much an intellectual excercise to learn something new, but rather a nice treat that allows us a better glimpse at the man to whom intellectually we owe so much. I am happy to say that the book provides such a view much better than the unfortunately sterile A PERSONAL ODYSSEY, Sowell's memoirs, of a few years back.

Anyone familiar with Sowell's background will find a lot of familiar ground here. There is his early teaching career at various schools, including the controversial times at Howard and Cornell. The reader also is in the passenger seat for Sowell's intellectual journeys through such areas as education, race relations and ethnic histories, the history of ideas and ideology. One is struck time and time again at how much of his own path Sowell really blazed. This is a man, after all, who made his first public comments against racial preferences in 1963, one year before the landmark Civil Rights Act.

By rummaging through his old letters and serving them up to the reader, Sowell provides a much more human face to the man behind these ideas. And what a list of pen pals - Milton Friedman, George Stigler, Clarence Thomas and Walter Wiliams are just some of the names most people will recognize. Sowell also includes many letters to and from the not-so-famous but who are nonetheless important in his own life. Again, this serves to place many of the man's thoughts and ideas into a context more emotionally accessible than usual.

Broken down by year from the 1960s to the near present, A MAN OF LETTERS is exceptionally readable as well as exceptionally enjoyable. Sowell is a national treasure and reading these personal correspondences gives one a feeling similar to gaining inside access to otherwise classified documents on some important but ill-researched aspect of American history. I cannot recommend it highly enough.

A Worthy Successor to Milton Friedman.......2007-04-07

Tom Sowell--whom I must confess I often get confused with Dr Walter Williams-- is nothing less than brilliant. He uses fundamental economic concepts to hoist up so much govt policy, regulation etc into the bright light of day and in so doing he exposes it for the illogic absurdity we in our hearts know it to be all along.
Bravo Sir.. may we have another??

Average customer rating:

A Christian Essential
A HUGE Eye-Opener!
Great Book
An everyday challenge
Excellent

The Screwtape Letters
C. S. Lewis
Manufacturer: HarperSanFrancisco
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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Similar Items:

Mere Christianity
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ASIN: 0060652934
Release Date: 2001-02-05

Amazon.com

Who among us has never wondered if there might not really be a tempter sitting on our shoulders or dogging our steps? C.S. Lewis dispels all doubts. In The Screwtape Letters, one of his bestselling works, we are made privy to the instructional correspondence between a senior demon, Screwtape, and his wannabe diabolical nephew Wormwood. As mentor, Screwtape coaches Wormwood in the finer points, tempting his "patient" away from God.

Each letter is a masterpiece of reverse theology, giving the reader an inside look at the thinking and means of temptation. Tempters, according to Lewis, have two motives: the first is fear of punishment, the second a hunger to consume or dominate other beings. On the other hand, the goal of the Creator is to woo us unto himself or to transform us through his love from "tools into servants and servants into sons." It is the dichotomy between being consumed and subsumed completely into another's identity or being liberated to be utterly ourselves that Lewis explores with his razor-sharp insight and wit.

The most brilliant feature of The Screwtape Letters may be likening hell to a bureaucracy in which "everyone is perpetually concerned about his own dignity and advancement, where everyone has a grievance, and where everyone lives the deadly serious passions of envy, self-importance, and resentment." We all understand bureaucracies, be it the Department of Motor Vehicles, the IRS, or one of our own making. So we each understand the temptations that slowly lure us into hell. If you've never read Lewis, The Screwtape Letters is a great place to start. And if you know Lewis, but haven't read this, you've missed one of his core writings. --Patricia Klein

Amazon.com Audiobook Review

This adaptation of C.S. Lewis's biting satire received a 1999 Grammy nomination for best spoken-word performance, and it's easy to see why--the story fits the format perfectly. It's relatively brief (the unabridged reading takes a mere four hours), and contains only one character--the demon Screwtape, who writes letters to his novice nephew Wormwood, instructing him on how to best tempt his "patient" (a wayward soul on earth) into the bosom of "our Lord below."

Obviously, the book wasn't written with former Monty Python John Cleese in mind, but it's hard to imagine a better Screwtape. Cleese's voice provides the perfect vehicle for Lewis's dry, razor-edged wit. His uncanny comic timing and ability to milk each phrase for maximum effect betray an infectious enthusiasm for the story. It's clear that he's having a great time reading, and it's impossible not to laugh along with him. This inspired pairing of two of the 20th century's greatest wits makes for a meditation on the dark side of spiritual guidance that's as relevant and funny today as it was in Lewis's war-torn England. (Running time: 4 hours, 3 cassettes) --Andrew Neiland

Book Description

In this humorous and perceptive exchange between two devils, C. S. Lewis delves into moral questions about good vs. evil, temptation, repentance, and grace. Through this wonderful tale, the reader emerges with a better understanding of what it means to live a faithful life.

Customer Reviews:

A Christian Essential.......2007-06-28

'The Screwtape Letters' is a brilliant book that should be read by every Christian or anyone else seeking to understand the nature of evil.

I first read this classic about 20 years ago. I thought it was great then and even better when I just reread it.

Written as a series of letters from a senior demon, Screwtape, to his nephew, Wormwood, this book paints an amazing picture of the tactics used to divert people from their walk with God.

As Screwtape writes: 'You will say that these are very small sins; and doubtless, like all young tempters, you are anxious to be able to report spectacular wickedness. But do remember, the only thing that matters is the extent to which you separate the man from the Enemy (Christ). It does not matter how small the sins are provided that their cumulative effect is to edge the man away from the Light and out into the Nothing. Murder is no better than cards if cards can do the trick.'

Lest anyone come away with the false impression that Lewis is condemning card playing, that is not the point at all. He is talking about anything diverting one from his/her relationship with God being a potential problem.

This book is full of brilliant dialogue from the senior miscreant to the junior. It is a great eye opener about the types of things that can lead one astray.

Highly recommended.

A HUGE Eye-Opener!.......2007-06-24

"The Screwtape Letters" is perhaps my most favorite C.S. Lewis book. In it we read a series of letters from a "senior" demon to his "junior" temptor. And in it we learn all about the fine and subtle tricks that demons play on us. What makes this book so amazing (and quite honestly frightening!) is that as you read you begin to mentally check off each trick that you've encountered in your OWN life! By the time I finished this book, I was so convinced of its truthfulness that I started telling all my friends and family to read it (and read it carefully!) Read it yourself -- you'll be shocked, but you won't be disappointed.

Great Book.......2007-05-25

This is a masterpiece. People just don't write like this anymore. If anyone told you not to get this book they are crazy.

An everyday challenge.......2007-05-15

Mr. Lewis' great achievement here is that he manages to succeed where literally thousands of fire-and-brimstone sermons have failed -- this book forces you to analyze your life against the Christian ideal. At the same time, it is carried forward by an inherent sense of hope and optimism -- Mr. Lewis doesn't fall into Milton's trap of admiring Screwtape. It also serves as a great spiritual pep-talk: you are given the secrets, if you will, of how the Enemy works...and strategies to foil him are freely confessed.

Some letters are more entertaining than others, but each finds its mark (and each found at least one mark within me, to be sure).

A friend of mine (a professed agnostic) once described this book as the most compelling case for Christianity he ever came across. I would have to agree.

This book does contain the essay "Screwtape Proposes a Toast," but it lacks the wonderful introduction (by Mr. Lewis himself) that I found in another paperback (which I have since lost). Still, it is hard to argue with _any_ version of this work.

Excellent.......2007-05-13

I have not found a book by C.S. Lewis to be anything other than EXCELLENT and this is no exception!!!!

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