Garden, turned back the scalp of the corpse lying before him. Beneath the skin he found evidence of internal bleeding, and, peeling away the flesh along the length of the neck, he saw similar minor haemorrhages at the top of the spinal column. He concluded that death had been caused by a sharp blow to the back of the neck.brbrThe body was that of a boy of around fourteen years of age, 4 feet 6 inches in height, with fair hair and grey eyes that were bloodshot and bulging. Blood oozed from an inch-long wound on his left temple, and his toothless gums were dripping blood. At the time of his killing, a meal – which had included potatoes and a quantity of rum – was being digested. A large, powerful hand had grasped the boy on his left forearm – black bruises from the finger marks were plainly visible – and earth or clay had been smeared across the torso and thighs. The chest appeared to have caved in slightly, as though someone had knelt upon it. The heart contained scarcely any blood, which Beaman took to indicate a very sudden death, but all the other organs were found to have been unremarkable and perfectly healthy. The most perplexing thing about the corpse was its freshness: it had been alive three days earlier, Beaman felt sure; and it was also clear to the surgeon that this body had never been buried, had never even been laid out in preparation for burial – and yet it had been delivered to King’s College’s anatomy department as a Subject for medical students to dissect.brbrIt was late evening, Sunday 6 November 1831, and Beaman was anatomising the corpse in the tiny watch-house in t@(õÂ? )ÿ¾Û€  (less)

county commissioners who had been taking kickbacks paid by suppliers on orders for county road-building supplies. That corruption could be so wide-spread and long-standing was hard to understand. How could so many good ol' boys (usually popular and respected local officials) become so corrupt? Determined to study the problem, Harry Holloway and Frank S. Meyers sifted through a large body of evidence, conducted a public-opinion survey, and interviewed nearly half of all county commissioners in office following the prosecutions. Their discoveries were two. First, because rural populism had splintered Oklahoma government from top to bottom, commissioners were left with so much money and discretion as to invite abuse. Second, abusers justified their illegal behavior on the basis that they were entitled to their gains. Local government, the authors argue, is improved but remains vulnerable. Analyzing the national savings and loan scandal, they review prospects for corruption within the state - especially the scheme of education bonds developed within the state in the late 1980s. The book will interest citizens, academics, and officials at all levels of government who want to understand an Oklahoma scandal of momentous proportions and, even more, to appreciate how political culture and institutions may contribute to corruption. As the authors show, values and institutions democratic in intent may lend themselves to the purposes of corrupt people who rationalizetheir misdeeds.  (less)

for 68 days until he saw his first fellow American. Rasmussen healed himself, relying on his Chippewa knowledge of how to survive in the wild and staying alive by raiding farms at night. The account is drawn from tapes of interviews with Rasmussen about his ordeal and personal records and other material from his family. Beginning with Rasmussens life as a young boy growing up on a poverty-stricken Chippewa reservation in northern Wisconsin, the book then details at length Rasmussens almost unbelievable ordeal. Also included is information on his top-secret role in the Navys only nuclear weapons squadron.  (less)

Independent/i, and has appeared oniThe Daily Show/i,iCharlie Rose/i,iThe Chris Matthew’s Show/i,iReal Time/iwith Bill Maher, and C-Span’siWashington Journal/i. He was named one of the world’s “Top 100 Public Intellectuals” by Foreign Policy and Britain’s Prospect. Christopher Hitchens lives in Washington, D.C.brbrbriFrom the Hardcover edition./ibPutting It Mildly/bbrbrIf the intended reader of this book should want to go beyond disagreement with its author and try to identify the sins and deformities that animated him to write it (and I have certainly noticed that those who publicly affirm charity and compassion and forgiveness are often inclined to take this course), then he or she will not just bebrquarreling with the unknowable and ineffable creator who–presumably–opted to make me this way. They will be defiling the memory of a good, sincere, simple woman, of stable and decent faith, named Mrs. Jean Watts.brbrIt was Mrs. Watts’s task, when I was a boy of about nine and attending a school on the edge of Dartmoor, in southwestern England, to instruct me in lessons about nature, and also about scripture. She would take me and my fellows on walks, in an especially lovely part of my beautiful country of birth, and teach us to tell the different birds, trees, and plants from one another. The amazing variety to be found in a hedgerow; the wonder of a clutch of eggs found in an intricate nest; the way that if the nettles stung your legs (we had to wear shorts) there would be a soothing dock leaf planted near to hand: all this has stayed in my mind,@Cy™™™™šÿ¾Û€  (less)

Independent/i, and has appeared oniThe Daily Show/i,iCharlie Rose/i,iThe Chris Matthew’s Show/i,iReal Time/iwith Bill Maher, and C-Span’siWashington Journal/i. He was named one of the world’s “Top 100 Public Intellectuals” by Foreign Policy and Britain’s Prospect. Christopher Hitchens lives in Washington, D.C.bPutting It Mildly/bbrbrIf the intended reader of this book should want to go beyond disagreement with its author and try to identify the sins and deformities that animated him to write it (and I have certainly noticed that those who publicly affirm charity and compassion and forgiveness are often inclined to take this course), then he or she will not just bebrquarreling with the unknowable and ineffable creator who–presumably–opted to make me this way. They will be defiling the memory of a good, sincere, simple woman, of stable and decent faith, named Mrs. Jean Watts.brbrIt was Mrs. Watts’s task, when I was a boy of about nine and attending a school on the edge of Dartmoor, in southwestern England, to instruct me in lessons about nature, and also about scripture. She would take me and my fellows on walks, in an especially lovely part of my beautiful country of birth, and teach us to tell the different birds, trees, and plants from one another. The amazing variety to be found in a hedgerow; the wonder of a clutch of eggs found in an intricate nest; the way that if the nettles stung your legs (we had to wear shorts) there would be a soothing dock leaf planted near to hand: all this has stayed in my mind, just like the “gamekeeper’s museu@#aG®záÿ¾Û€  (less)

to engage the class in a discussion of the country’s problems, such as homelessness, which could be seen just outside on Boston’s streets. Across the river at prestigious MIT, a linguist student told her colleague that she could not take time to read literature outside of theoretical linguistics if she wanted to be a top scholar in her field. Even essays that linked linguistics to its historical and social context fell outside her diligent pursuit of theory.What do these two seemingly disparate events have in common? According to Donaldo Macedo, they are part of an educational legacy that stifles critical thinking in favor of indoctrination and specialization. Our educational system has lost sight of its responsibility to prepare students in the kind of broad, critical thinking necessary for responsible citizenship./DivDIVChallenging conservatives like Allan Bloom and E. D. Hirsch, Macedo shows why so-called common culture literacy is a form of dominant cultural reproduction that undermines independent thought and goes against the best interests of our students. Offering a wide-ranging counterargument, Macedo shows why cultural literacy cannot be restricted to the acquisition of Western heritage values, which sustain an ideology that systematically negates the cultural experiences of many members of society—not only minorities but also anyone who is poor or disenfranchised. Macedo calls on his own experience as a Cape Verdean immigrant from West Africa who had to surmount the barriers imposed by the world’s most entrenched monolingual system of higher education. His eloquence in this book is testimony to the very idea that critical thinking and good education are not and @Â? (õÃÿ¾Û€  (less)

book captures it all.BR—Quincy JonesBRBRTwenty years in the making, this is the most thorough and penetrating book on the President of the Tenor Saxophone to date.BR—Publishers WeeklyBRBRA provocative book, presenting Lester Young in a novel, even controversial light while opening new avenues of possible investigation into one of the most tantalizingly enigmatic of all historic jazz figures.BR—Richard Sudhalter, Los Angeles TimesBRBRThe lessons learned from Pres' painful life tell us a lot about ourselves and the horrible consequences of racism in America.BR—T. Michael Crowell, San Diego Union-TribuneContentsBRBRPart I Many Moons AgoBRBR1. The President of the Tenor SaxophoneBRBR2. Shoeshine Boy: Way Down Yonder, 1909–1919BRBR3. The Professor: The Louisiana HeritageBRBR4. Big Top Blues: On the Road, 1919–1926BRBR5. Jump Lester Jump: Winter Homes, 1919–1929BRBRPart II The Spark in My HeartBRBR6. Red Boy Blues: The Territorial Years, 1929–1932BRBR7. Blue Devil Blues: 1932–1933BRBR8. Big Eyes Blues: In the Court of the King, 1933BRBR9. No Eyes Blues: More Than Just Music, 1934–1936BRBR10. Poundcake: The Holy Main, 1936–1940BRBR11. Watts Eyes: Paying Dues, 1941–1943BRBR12. D.B. Blues: Tribulation and Trial, 1943–1945BRBRPart III Up Here by MyselfBRBR13. Sax-O-Be-Bop: Life at the TopBRBR14. Lester Blows Again: Critics' and Sidemen's ViewsBRBR15. Movin' with Lester: "Always Reaching . . . "BRBR16. Up 'n' Adam: The Cult of the CoolBRBRBRBRPart IV The LegacyBRBR17. Good-bye Pork Pie Hat@™™™™™šÿ¾Û€  (less)