American Government (Cliffs Quick Review)

Book Description

CliffsQuickReview course guides cover the essentials of your toughest classes. Get a firm grip on core concepts and key material, and test your newfound knowledge with review questions.

Whether you are a student under pressure, an interested citizen trying to brush up, or a recent arrival trying to understand this new land in which you find yourself, CliffsQuickReview American Government can help. This guide introduces each topic, defines key terms, and carefully walks you through each sample problem step-by-step. In no time, you'll be ready to tackle the key concepts in this book such as

The Declaration of Independence
The Constitution and Bill of Rights
Congress, the President, and the Judiciary
Political parties
Voting and elections
Civil Liberties
Economic and foreign policy

CliffsQuickReview American Government provides an overview of the history, institutions, practices, and policies of the American government with plain words and useful formats, so that you can use your time efficiently. Use this reference in any way that fits your personal style for study and review — you decide what works best with your needs. Here are just a few ways you can search for topics:

Use the free Pocket Guide full of essential information
Get a glimpse of what you'll gain from a chapter by reading through the Chapter Check-In at the beginning of each chapter
Use the Chapter Checkout at the end of each chapter to gauge your grasp of the important information you need to know
Test your knowledge more completely in the CQR Review and look for additional sources of information in the CQR Resource Center
Use the glossary to find key terms fast.

With titles available for all the most popular high school and college courses, CliffsQuickReview guides are a comprehensive resource that can help you get the best possible grades.

Customer Reviews:

All you need for the CLEP:.......2007-08-22

If you're looking for a study guide for the American Government CLEP test, then this book is all you'll need. I read it from cover to cover during the 3-days before my test and passed with flying colors. It covers EVERYTHING you need to know and doesn't leave anything out. I highly recommend it!

EASY CLEP!.......2007-02-03

This is the only book that you'll need to pass the American Government CLEP! I agree that you should do what it says in the other reviews and they're all good reviews but I would like to add a new slant. After you buy this book go and buy some page flags and mark every single page in the book that has words in BOLD format. Make your very best effort to read this book from cover to cover at least 2 weeks before you take the American Government CLEP. Then use the next 2 weeks before the test date to review all of the items in the book that are in BOLD which are easy to locate because of the page flags. Of course do what it says in the other reviews such as try know and have a good understanding of every Ammendment and Supreme Court Case in the book. After you pass the American Government CLEP give this book with the page flags still in it to somebody else because you won't need it anymore!

It works!.......2006-03-22

I studied the Cliff Notes American Government book and Microsoft Encarta for 2 weeks and got a 68 on the CLEP. This book has got it all covered for you.

That's not to say that all you need to do is read through this book once. American Government is a harder-than-average CLEP (most people score 5-15 points below their usual score with the same amount/intensity of study). The main difficulty lies primarily in the wording of the questions and answers, not necessarily the difficulty of the subject matter itself. They won't just ask a straightforward question with a straightforward answer. You have to be able to pull from your knowledge of several different facts in order to answer one question. Don't go in to the test without all your Amendments and Court Cases memorized.

However, this book is tailored to the point, focusing on all the issues you need to know. It can guide your study and help it to be maximally profitable.

Almost perfect.......2006-03-14

I used this book as my ONLY study guide for the CLEP test of the same title.

I studied for only three weeks, I passed with an A.

My score was 61 (50 is passing on the CLEP).

This was the lowest score that I have ever gotten on a CLEP test. If this book had more of a question and answer section, I'm sure my score would have been higher.

But all in all, the book was "almost perfect".

Great for CLEP.......2005-10-13

I used this book to study for the American Government CLEP. I easily passed. I support what the other reviewers have said exactly- this book covers almost everything on the exam but a few questions and it does not contain much extra information that you don't need to know. Easy to read. Easy to understand.

Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Technology and Systems Applications

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Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells: Technology and Systems Applications
Adolf Goetzberger , Joachim Knobloch , and Bernhard Voss
Manufacturer: Wiley
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

General | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0471971448

Book Description

As environmental concerns escalate, solar power is increasingly seen as an attractive alternative energy source. Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells addresses the practical and theoretical issues fundamental to the viable conversion of sunlight into electricity. Written by three internationally renowned experts, this valuable reference profits from results and experience gained from research at the Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems. Features include: Introduction to the principles of photovoltaics, providing a grounding in semiconductor physics for the novice reader Special emphasis on the methods of attaining high efficiency and thereby cost-effective solar power Examination of the physics, design and technology of crystalline silicon solar cells, in particular thin film cells Survey of a selection of alternative cell types equipping the reader with a complete overview Detailed description of measuring and analysis techniques to facilitate determining physical semiconductor and solar cell parameters Accessible to those with a basic knowledge of physics and mathematics, this is an excellent introductory book for students studying solid state and semiconductor physics. All those working in photovoltaic development and production will find Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells an indispensable resource.

Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement

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a great introduction to the American labor movement

Hard Work: Remaking the American Labor Movement
Rick Fantasia , and Kim Voss
Manufacturer: University of California Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Labor & Industrial Relations | Economics | Business & Investing | Subjects | Books

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Labor Unions | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0520240901

Book Description

This concise overview of the labor movement in the United States focuses on why American workers have failed to develop the powerful unions that exist in other industrialized countries. Packed with valuable analysis and information, Hard Work explores historical perspectives, examines social and political policies, and brings us inside today's unions, providing an excellent introduction to labor in America.
Hard Work begins with a comparison of the very different conditions that prevail for labor in the United States and in Europe. What emerges is a picture of an American labor movement forced to operate on terrain shaped by powerful corporations, a weak state, and an inhospitable judicial system. What also emerges is a picture of an American worker that has virtually disappeared from the American social imagination. Recently, however, the authors find that a new kind of unionism--one that more closely resembles a social movement--has begun to develop from the shell of the old labor movement. Looking at the cities of Los Angeles and Las Vegas they point to new practices that are being developed by innovative unions to fight corporate domination, practices that may well signal a revival of unionism and the emergence of a new social imagination in the United States.

Customer Reviews:

a great introduction to the American labor movement.......2005-07-15

In this book, Fantasia and Voss--two long-time, respected labor scholars--provide a great overview of and introduction to the American labor movement. The book was actually originally written for a French audience, so they assume you know very little about the American labor movement, explaining things like the National Labor Relations Board and the Taft-Hartley Act, instead of assuming you know about them. They also at times contrast the American labor movement with those in Eruope, which is also frequently illuminating.

Building upon Voss' previous work, they address the question of the supposed exceptionalism of the American working class--the fact that, unlike European working classes, they never developed a militant labor movement that fought for the interests of all workers and embraced socialist or social-democratic politics; instead, the labor movement has fought primarily for benefits for its members and embraced mainstream politics. But, Fantasia and Viss argue, the American labor movement was not always like this--in the mid- to late nineteenth century, the American labor movement was as militant, broad-minded and radical as its European counterparts, if not more so. What was exceptional was not the American working class, but the American capitalist class, which was far more hostile to labor than their European counterparts. This hostile social environment, in which any major labor organziation that showed signs of a broad vision of social justice was brutally crushed, lead to the thoroughly domesticated politics of the AFL-CIO, in which they agreed to act as business' junior partner, gaining increased wages and benefits for their members, in return for abandonning any broader vision and supporting the Cold War agenda.

Even at its height, this bargain excluded most workers outside the core manufacturing industries. When the US and global economy began to undergo major changes in the 1970s (changes Fantasia and Voss don't explain well--this is one of the few weaknesses of the book), US business decided this bargain no longer suited its needs, rolling back the gains workers had made, a process that accelerated once the Reagan administration came to power. Traditional labor leaders were totally unprepared for this assult and it looked like organized American labor might go down the tubes.

Fortunately, the decentralized structure of some unions, while allowing for local corruption, had also allowed for progressives to survive in some localities. They have responded to the crisis of American labor with innovative new tactics and a new vision that embraces the interests of all workers, not just union members. They have begun working with other community groups and organizing groups unions had traditionally ignored--people of color, women and immigrants. (This is the other big weakness of the book--Fantasia and Voss don't pay enough attention to how deeply entrenched racism, sexism and nativism were entrenched in mainstream unions. They treat these matters casually instead of as central to understanding the crisis of American labor). With the election of Sweeney and the New Voices slate to the leadership of the AFL-CIO, these efforts began to get some official support. It is in this new, social movement unionism Fantasia and Voss see hope. However, it faces huge obstacles, both in the form of the entrenched leaders of many labor unions, leaders who are often conservative, corrupt or both; and the continuing hostility of American business and government to organized labor.

Despite the weaknesses I have mentioned, overall Fantasia and Voss do a great job of summarizing the history of the American labor movement, how it got into the mess it is today, and possible avenues out of the mess. The book is hopeful without being naive.

America's New Democracy, Election Update, Penguin Academics Series (3rd Edition) (Penguin Academics)

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America's New Democracy, Election Update, Penguin Academics Series (3rd Edition) (Penguin Academics)
Morris P. Fiorina , Paul E. Peterson , Stephen D. Voss , and Bertram Johnson
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

Social Policy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0321423623

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A Favorite Astronomy Textbook
Out of this world

21st Century Astronomy, Second Edition
Jeff Hester , David Burstein , George Blumenthal , Ronald Greeley , Bradford Smith , Howard Voss , and Gary Wegner
Manufacturer: W. W. Norton
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Astronomy | Astronomy | Science | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0393924432

Book Description

This extraordinarily readable, cohesive text presents twenty-first century astronomy as a dynamic story of theory building and theory testing, as a fascinating process of observation and discovery. The authors' primary goal is to build students' scientific literacy by emphasizing how science works and why it is relevant, rather than by cataloging a large mass of individual details. With a clear focus on core concepts and carefully crafted pedagogical aids, 21st Century Astronomy chronicles scientists at work on the most important questions about the Universe, highlighting the excitement of making new discoveries and the puzzlement created by new lines of inquiry.

"One of the most exciting things about astronomy is that sometimes you get up in the morning and discover that we know fundamental things about the Universe that we didn't know the day before. The recent release of the results from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) satellite observatory are one of those historical moments."—Jeff Hester

Customer Reviews:

A Favorite Astronomy Textbook.......2004-11-20

This is my third year teaching introductory astronomy. I've used three textbooks. Last year I got a copy of 21st Century Astronomy free--publishers are always trying to get professors to adopt their textbooks. Anyway, I really like this one. I haven't been able to use it in a class yet, but I would like to. I use it already to help me prepare for lectures. It's clear and don't talk down to the reader. Many textbooks get weighted down with frills, but not this one. The graphics are clear but never superfluous. In keeping with its title, it includes may up to date topics.

The other texts I have used are Kaufman, Seeds, and Bennet et al. (which I liked a lot too--it's a little bulky though.)

Out of this world.......2003-08-06

Wonderful explanations. This is the astronomy book I never had as a kid! I'm a biologist and always thought I had the good fortune of working in the most interesting field. It sounds trite, but this book has opened my eyes to a universe out there. Now I even sort of understand black holes and the implications of relativity.

America's New Democracy (Penguin Academic Series) (3rd Edition) (Penguin Academics)

Average customer rating:

Uneven, especially for a third edition

America's New Democracy (Penguin Academic Series) (3rd Edition) (Penguin Academics)
Morris P. Fiorina , Paul E. Peterson , D. Stephen Voss , and Bertram Johnson
Manufacturer: Longman
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

Democracy | Government | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

General | Politics | Nonfiction | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0321355237

Book Description

25% less expensive than other brief texts, and 20% shorter than the previous edition, this book is an excellent option for professors who want to use supplementary texts, readings, or periodicals. Written in a strong narrative voice and brimming with student-relevant examples, the second edition of America’s New Democracy provides a focused and stimulating treatment of politics in the United States. Illustrating popular influence across the political system in defense of a central theme–that elections matter more in America’s political system today than they have in the past or do in other democracies–the book challenges the pessimistic view that government seldom listens to ordinary people. America’s New Democracy encourages readers to see that in a system where votes are the main currency, both power and responsibility rest on the shoulders of all citizens.

Customer Reviews:

Uneven, especially for a third edition.......2006-10-10

I am currently using this textbook for my introductory course in American politics. It is the second time I am using this text, and I will likely use it at least once more. So while I say that this book is uneven, it is still better than most other introductory texts out there.

The most attractive features of this text are its size and price. In a typical semester you can read this text along with two other short texts and still keep your students' book bill under $80. I'm using the book with the Dover edition of Lincoln's Great Speeches and the Essential Federalist and Anti-Federalist Papers, and it all comes in around $70.

Several of the chapters are, moreover, either good or at least competent. The chapters on American political culture, parties and interest groups, and elections are quite good, and those on civil liberties and civil rights are at least satisfactory. In all these cases there are accurate discussions of basic concepts and facts, illustrated with appropriate and interesting examples. The chapter on parties and interests groups, for example, manages to pack a short history of American parties, the Framers' view of parties, pros and cons of strong parties, and a basic explanation of interest groups and interest group theory into a 29-page chapter. Throughout, the chapter is quite accessible for 100-level political science students. The chapter on American political culture, likely under the knowledgeable direction of Fiorina, is also good.

There are poor chapters as well, however. In the introductory chapter "Democracy in the United States" the authors make a half-hearted attempt to suggest that there is something new, exciting, and positive about America's democracy. At times they seem to argue that ours is an age of American democratic revival--a thesis that quickly collapses due to lack of evidence ("plentiful elections" may have once been a populist demand, but do not mean better--or even more--democracy). The authors end the chapter with a promise to combat against prevailing cynicism in the following chapters (a worthy goal), but they are forced to admit that many of the alleged ailments of the 'new democracy' may indeed be real.

In other chapters, errors sometimes pop up. They range from the relatively insignificant ('almost all of Reagan's vetoes were pocket vetoes'--wrong: exactly half were); to the common but inexcusable (confusing checks and balances with separation of powers); to the egregious (e.g. the Supreme Court "rarely invokes" the Tenth Amendment in federalism cases). Overall the rate of errors is somewhere between an average Wikipedia article and a good reference book on American politics. At any rate, the text is not a reliable enough source for facts. Aren't these kinds of errors that are supposed to be gone by the first, to say nothing of the third edition?

This last error is a part of a separate problem in the book--the authors occasionally but suddenly reveal various axes that they proceed to grind for paragraphs at a time. The federalism chapter is a prime example. The chapter is not without some good basic instruction on the key federalism issues, and an explanation of the constitutional sources of federal authority (though they omit a good discussion of the constitutional basis of state government authority). However, before the text actually finishes explaining how the federal system works, it paints an ominous and hyperbolic picture of a federal government run wild. To be sure, some intelligent people have argued against, e.g. post-New Deal Commerce Clause jurisprudence and other expansions of federal authority. But this admittedly legitimate point of view is simply imposed on a 100-level student before he or she knows hardly anything about federalism at all. The rhetorical means of this imposition, moreover, seem to be beneath the authors. For example, in a caption to a photo related to the Wickard v. Filburn case, the authors ask suggestively: "Do you think the framers envisioned a national government with such power?" (despite what Fiorina et al suggest with this question, my view is that in the case of Madison or even Marshall, the answer is yes, quite possibly). The case that the federal government is dangerously imposing, even against the will of the American people, is driven home by the marginally useful statistic that Americans say they trust their local governments more than the federal government. Nowhere is it mentioned that most of the purportedly breathtaking expansions of federal power in the post-New Deal era, including minimum wage and workweek regulations, child labor laws, environmental regulations, and food and health safety regulations, not to mention Social Security, are massively popular with the American people. If the federal system is seriously out of balance in favor of the national government, then the American people are largely okay with it. A more balanced chapter would have mentioned something like this.

When discussing the "retreat from centralization" in federalism, the authors only mention a few episodes from the 1990s, completely ignoring the New Federalism of Nixon and Reagan and of the Berger and early Rehnquist courts. They do mention New York v U.S. (1992), but that stands in direct contradiction to their bizarre claim earlier in the chapter that the 10th Amendment is a dead letter.

The Constitution chapter has similar problems. Part of what could be a good background on the writing of the Constitution is there, but it is incomplete. Moreover, the authors go to considerable lengths to point out how "unsavory" the Constitutional convention was (mainly because none of the members of the convention were poor, because their discussions were secret, and because they went beyond merely amending the Articles of Confederation), but then inexplicably shift direction and conclude that the final product was good anyway. Very little is said about what is actually in the Constitution, why many 'yeoman farmers' were against it, and why the mostly wealthy authors of the Constitution (along with legislative majorities in every state) were for it. If the authors' attempt in the book is to combat cynicism with understanding, then the Constitution chapter falls somewhat short.

With other texts, and in the hands of a knowledgeable instructor, the flaws of this book are not too great to overcome. But I hope that future editions of this text will be free of some of the flaws that still appear in this third attempt.

Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS

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Good book, but must be read with a bit of skepticism.
Duped!
Nothing else touches it, for what it is.
Invaluable Insights Into the Mind of a Waffen-SS Soldier
During war, truth is whatever is efficacious!

Black Edelweiss: A Memoir of Combat and Conscience by a Soldier of the Waffen-SS
Johann Voss
Manufacturer: The Aberjona Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

General | Biographies & Memoirs | Subjects | Books

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ASIN: 0966638980

Book Description

Originally written while the author was a prisoner of the US Army in 1945-46, Black Edelweiss is a boon to serious historians and WWII buffs alike. In a day in which most memoirs are written at half a century's distance, the former will be gratified by the author's precise recall facilitated by the chronologically short-range (a matter of one to seven years) at which the events were captured in writing. Both will appreciate and enjoy the abundantly detailed, exceptionally accurate combat episodes.

Even more than the strictly military narrative, however, the author has crafted a searingly candid view into his own mind and soul. As such, Black Edelweiss is much more than a "ripping yarn" or a low-level military history. Black Edelweiss joins not only the growing body of German military memoirs, but the more select, more narrowly-focused group of personal memoirs by other Waffen-SS enlisted men. Beyond the microcosmic view of combat these books relate—to the extent that they are honest and candid—such books are important for what they can reveal about their authors' motivations and reflections on those impulses and their consequences. To date, these works differ significantly.

As it joins the ranks of the books in this genre, Black Edelweiss makes a unique and very important contribution. It is a true, personal account of the author's war years, first at school and then with the Waffen-SS, which he joined early in 1943 at the age of seventeen. For a year and a half, the author fought as a machine gunner in SS-Mountain Infantry Regiment 11 "Reinhard Heydrich," mainly in the arctic and sub-arctic reaches of Soviet Karelia and Finland, and later at the Western frontier of the Third Reich. The characters in the story are real, and the conversations and actions are recounted to the best of his ability from the short distance at which he wrote the manuscript in 1945-46.

Apart from the piercing insights into the question of why the German soldier fought as he did, what makes this book truly unique is the author's anguished, yet resolute examination of the dialectic between the honorable and valorous comportment of his comrades and the fundamentally reprehensible conduct of about 35,000 men behind the front lines who nevertheless wore the same uniform.

During his captivity, the author was assigned for a time as a clerk to a US Army Judge Advocate General's Corps officer, and in the performance of his administrative duties, the author had access to the mounting reams of documentation of the Holocaust. His growing recognition of the involvement of Waffen-SS personnel in the monstrous crimes of that process caused him to dig deeply into his soul, to examine his most intimate and private motivations and thoughts, and to reevaluate the most basic assumptions of his life to that point. The author captured this process and the result in the notes which became this book.

Honestly, forthrightly, and courageously told, Black Edelweiss is a precious gift to historians and other students of World War II. It not only provides a glimpse into the attributes that made the German armed forces a formidable and tenacious foe, but squarely confronts the most painful issue facing German World War II veterans in general, and Waffen-SS veterans in particular.

Supported by 22 photos, 8 maps, and notes.

Customer Reviews:

Good book, but must be read with a bit of skepticism........2007-10-04

I purchased this book to help me understand the otherside of WWII. I was curious to see how the war was witnessed through the eyes of the defeated.
Voss does a good job with his descriptions of life in the SS. I believe that he goes a bit far though with trying to persuad the reader that the SS was not the criminal gang portrayed at the Nuernberg trials. Every Officer was excellent and every soldier was honorable. Anyone with military experience knows that no unit has perfect sodiers and officers. I can understand and respect that he wants to protect the honor of his fallen friends. He also tries to portray the unit as humanitarian when they hand out what few rations they have to American POWs since they fought so bravely against his unit. Or when they bury church bells in Finland to "protect" them from the advancing Russian Army. Again these stories seem to embelish upon his recollections of the war.
I find a common thread within the book, that is a patriotic, selfless, honorable individual who did what he felt was right given the information provided to him from his government. Voss does note that he sees a box car filled with people but states he was ignorant as to where they were going. He never takes this any further. This could be attributed to his youth, military training not to ask questions, or ignorance is bliss. If on the otherhand Voss is telling the truth and he was a simple soldier doing what he felt was right then it makes it difficult to think of the whole German Army as a simple killing machine. He was just a person who wanted to do what was right and may or may not have been ignorant of the atrocitties his government was commiting. But as the story goes on you find Voss not fighting for Hitler but instead for his own survival and his comrades around him. Maybe it is a good thing to put a human face on the Axis soldier.
I would highly recommend this book along with the Forgotten Soldier, In Deadly Combat, and Seven Days in January.

Duped!.......2007-09-30

The name of this book should have been `Duped! They Fooled Me!' The author enlists in the Waffen SS to save Germany and Europe from Bolshevism, and to be a good citizen by fulfilling his duty to his country. His unit has uniformly good officers who are competent and morally admirable. However, the author witnesses some disturbing incidents, including a train of sealed boxcars full of people going to a concentration camp, slave laborers begging for food and being brutally rebuffed, and an uncle forced to divorce his wife because she was a Jew. These incidents are rationalized away by the belief that all will be straightened out after the war is won.

All of the good officers and most of his friends and comrades are killed in action. Upon capture by the Americans, Voss learns that the SS has exterminated millions of people in death factories. (He calculates that in one camp alone, 3000 people a day were murdered.) But his SS unit never exterminated anyone (or so he claims). They fought a `clean' war under exemplary officers. It dawns on the author that something might be wrong. His loyalty to the men he fought with, and to those who died dominates his thinking. He has a lot of trouble coming to terms with the reality of Nazism.

The book reads well, but the first 50 pages tend to drag as the author describes his family life. Later in the book, his high school sweetheart Christina is killed in a bombing raid. His family's house is destroyed. Germany has attacked the whole world and is in shambles. Again there is little discussion about these tragedies. In his mind he is still fighting Bolshevism.

He risked his life in combat to keep the concentration camps open for business, to allow SS troopers (in other units) to burn down villages and execute people, and give nazi bigwigs time to grab their loot and head for Argentina. But he clings to the idea that his SS unit consisted of good men fighting Bolshevism, and can't get himself to see beyond that. He was manipulated and used as a tool by a cult group of homicidal maniacs. He sees only that good men were killed. I'm not sure he recognizes the bigger picture.

Nothing else touches it, for what it is........2007-07-08

Wow. Great book. Nothing combines insight and combat like Black Edelweiss. This guy was a fighter and a thinker. See how a waffen-ss soldat comes to introspective conclusions about his part in Hitler's war and his comrades' part as well. Also shows the varied mind-set and attitudes torward the war from German civilians close to Voss before info about how bad things really were was widely available. Written close to the time it happened so it has a very 1940s feel to it. And as an extra bonus, if you want more statistical type data to go with it, you can read "seven days in january" along with it which isn't near as introspective but goes into what actually happened on the battlefield, espcially during 1945. You may not like it, but Voss will tell you what he was really thinking as close as any man could get, and it gives you a glimpse of what many "realistic" Germans must have been going thru when they had to come to terms with what Germany had done.

Invaluable Insights Into the Mind of a Waffen-SS Soldier.......2007-05-18

"Black Edelweiss" is a thought-provoking memoir by a machinegunner in a Waffen-SS mountain/Alpine division. (The "black" in the title refers to the black uniforms of the SS. "Edelweiss" refers to a mountain/Alpine flower used as a symbol by German and Austrian mountain troops.)

The book follows the author from his experiences as a 13-year old boy in Nazi Germany, to the time he volunteered for the Waffen-SS at the age of 17 in 1943, to his training as an SS soldier, to his combat experiences in World War II, to his capture by the Americans as a prisoner of war in 1945, to his discovery of the atrocities of other SS in concentration camps, and to his release in December 1946.

Several things set this memoir apart as an outstanding addition to the history of World War II in Europe.

One of the things that sets this memoir apart is that it is an engaging first-hand account of how German soldiers interacted, not only with each other as Kameraden, but also their officers, their enemies on the battlefield, and civilians.

Another is that this memoir was written in 1945-46, only a few months after the war, so the author was able to recount things from a fresher, and clearer, perspective.

A third is the setting of these memoirs, which take place primarily in Soviet Karelia and Finland. The book provides a fascinating, and rare, look into battlefield conditions-operations in arctic temperatures.

(Near the conclusion of the war, after the Finns entered into a pact with the Soviets and the Germans were forced to evacuate Finland or face fighting both the Finns - a formidible adversary on its home turf, just ask the Russians - and the Russians, the setting switches to the Third Reich's Western borders.)

Finally, the book provides a fascinating insight into the mind of a Waffen-SS soldier who tries to come to grips with the knowledge that because other members of the SS had committed atrocities, every member of the SS, even if, like him, they were not even aware of any atrocities, was branded a war criminal by the Allies and the SS itself condemned as a criminal organization.

The underlying, and recurrent, theme of the book is that not all members of the Waffen-SS were evil men, even if in the end they were advancing the cause of evil men. (The author claims he and many others joined the Waffen-SS out of patriotic reasons, to stem the tide of Bolshevism and save not just his country but all of Europe from the Bolshevik menace. This was a common reason many non-Germans volunteered for the Waffen-SS. But in the author's own country, Germany, Bolshevism was often a code word for anti-Semitism and the Nazis taught that the Bolsheviks were sub-humans, "Untermensch". The author never explains why he failed to pick up on these subtleties in Nazi propaganda, perhaps his youth explains his naivete.)

In any event, the book is really a tribute by the author to those fallen members of the Waffen-SS who had nothing to do with any war crimes but who became reviled after the war only because of the atrocities and misdeeds of others and is an attempt to restore the honor of his fallen comrades.

During war, truth is whatever is efficacious!.......2007-01-27

I was born in 1948, two years after the author completed the book on his
experience in the Waffen-SS during World War II and his slow realization
that the government he was fighting for and believed in was also
responsible for the deprivation and murder of millions of innocent
humans. My experience growing up in post war America, with a father
that had fought Germany in this war, led me to believe the SS
represented the lowest form of human behavior and no member could ever
be redeemed.

This belief is true enough for those who perpetrated the cruel and
hideous treatment of Jews, Gypsies and even some German children (see, for example, Witnesses of War by N. Stargardt) but the author presents another story that differs from what I was led to believe, notably, that Germany's motive for starting World War II was world domination by the superior German race.

But was there another motivation? The author's well written story suggests that Bolshevism and its threat to German values was the primary reason for the war, that this was a noble cause, that the threat was so great that a pre-emptive strike was necessary and that in some (perhaps many) German military units a high sense of duty to their families and loyalty to there fellow soldiers prevailed. The several philosophical discussions with friends leading the author to reevaluate his beliefs are quite revealing and his description of his captivity and treatment by the American military is most interesting.

You may judge for yourself what was the truth during this period of
world history (or for that matter today) but the author's schoolmaster
seems to have captured the operational definition of truth during any
war when he said "Truth is whatever is efficacious."

Average customer rating:

Great book on fractals and imaging
One of the best (if no the best) in the feild
A must

The Science of Fractal Images

Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0387966080

Customer Reviews:

Great book on fractals and imaging.......2006-05-07

This old book is a timeless gem. It goes into the details of the mathematics of fractals and also shows well-commented C code for producing fractal imagery along with good color illustrations.
Chapter 1, "Fractals in Nature", uses computer generated images to build a visual intuition for fractal as opposed to Euclidian shapes. There is also a mathematical characterization with Brownian motion as the prototype.
In chapter 2, "Random Fractal Algorithms", randomness is introduced into the algorithms discussed in chapter one as a way of simulating natural phenomena. Ideas are extended to higher dimensions. C programs that produce mountain ranges using these ideas are presented, along with the resulting imagery.
Chapter 3, "Fractal Patterns Arising in Chaotic Dynamical Systems", turns to the topic of dynamical systems and is less mathematical than the first two chapters. There is some mathematics and some illustrations in 2D and black and white that should be familiar to any student of dynamical systems.
Chapter 4, "Fantastic Deterministic Fractals", demonstrates how genuine mathematical research experiments open a door to a new reservoir of fantastic shapes and images. Programs are shown that extend the ideas of chapter 3 into truly beautiful fractals. Ideas here stay mainly in 2D.
The final chapter, "Fractal Modelling of Real World Images", draws from the material of the previous chapters to present C programs that produce clouds, vegetation, smoke, and mountain ranges, all by altering a few of the parameters in the sample code presented by the authors.
This book is much better than more recent titles that bury their algorithms in complex high level languages or "toy books" on the subject that provide dumbed-down applications and in which the simplest possible explanation of fractals is given with no insight. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding fractal mathematics and in using that mathematics to produce stunning visual effects.

One of the best (if no the best) in the feild.......2000-07-25

You cant go past this book,

This book reads at any level, Great introduction to the field as well as an indespencible reference. Shows easy to implement code examples, and has lots of pictures showing what can be acheived.

This has been a main reference for a theisis I am currently working on. The question is, why is it out of print. If you can find it it's worth it's wheight in gold.

A must.......2000-06-22

In my opinion, the best work ever written in the category not-for-beginner-but-available-to-non-specialist (such as Beauty of Fractals, by the same authors). An easy answer to question "How can I generate a fractal image with my PC?", from brownian motion to Julia sets. A must for reader interested in fractals (a bit out-of-fashion but still very interesting field).

Faces of Time: 75 Years of Time Magazine Cover Portraits

Average customer rating:

Wow!
Summary

Faces of Time: 75 Years of Time Magazine Cover Portraits
National Portrait Gallery (Smithsonian Institution)
Manufacturer: Bulfinch Press
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0821224980

Customer Reviews:

Wow!.......2003-09-17

I bought this book for my classroom and wondered later why I picked it up. When I really looked through the book, I found some really great art focusing on important personas from the 20th Century. It is a really nice book to have. A keepsake.

Summary.......1999-12-12

'Celebrating Time's 75th anniversary, this book presents work commissioned for the magazine's cover by some of the century's best-known artists, ranging from Andrew Wyeth's portrait of Dwight Eisenhower to Andy Warhol's Michael Jackson.This book presents seventy-five artworks commissioned for the magazine's covers by some of the century's best-known artists, from Dwight Eisenhower by Andrew Wyeth to Michael Jackson by Andy Warhol. Faces of TIME accompanied an exhibition organized by the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D. C. Among the outstanding covers reproduced are Roy Lichtenstein's dynamic 1968 image of Bobby Kennedy, Ben Shahn's Martin Luther King, Jr., and Gerald Scarfe's papier-mache caricatures of the Beatles. Jay Leno relates his feelings - and his mother's reaction - to being pictured on the cover of TIME. Frederick S. Voss provides a visual history of the magazine and shows how making it onto the cover of TIME has come to be the ultimate accolade.' - From The Publisher

Design and Analysis of Experiments (Springer Texts in Statistics)

Average customer rating:

DOE
Design and analysis of experiments
Design and Analysis of Experiments

Design and Analysis of Experiments (Springer Texts in Statistics)
Angela M. Dean , and Daniel Voss
Manufacturer: Springer
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

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ASIN: 0387985611

Book Description

The design and analysis of experiments is an essential part of investigation and discovery in science, of process and product improvement in manufacturing, and of comparison of competing protocols or treatments in the applied sciences. This book offers a step by step guide to the experimental planning process and the ensuing analysis of normally distributed data. Design and Analysis of Experiments emphasizes the practical considerations governing the design of an experiment based on the objectives of the study and a solid statistical foundation for the analysis. Almost all data sets in the book have been obtained from real experiments, either run by students in statistics and the applied sciences, or published in the scientific literature. Details of the planning stage of numerous different experiments are discussed. The statistical analysis of experimental data is based on estimable functions and is developed with some care. Design and Analysis of Experiments starts with basic principles and techniques of experimental design and analysis of experiments. It provides a checklist for the planning of experiments, and explains the estimation of treatment contrasts and analysis of variance. These basics are then applied in a wide variety of settings. Designs covered include completely randomized designs, complete and incomplete block designs, row-column designs, single replicate designs with confounding, fractional factorial designs, response surface designs, and designs involving nested factors and factors with random effects, including split-plot designs. The book is accessible to all readers who have a good basic knowledge of expected values, confidence intervals and hypothesis tests. It is ideal for use in the classroom at both the senior undergraduate and the graduate level. A guide to the use of the SAS System computer

Customer Reviews:

DOE.......2005-09-23

The previous user has made pen markings allover the book.
Apart from that the book is in O K condition.

Design and analysis of experiments.......2005-08-13

This book is one of the best Exp.Design ever!It demonstrates the sas code in each design thus makes it easy to go through.

Design and Analysis of Experiments.......2005-07-22

detail and specific.
It is appropriate for graduate students.

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