November and December 2021 Book Reports

Calvary Hero: Casimir Pulaski by Dorothy Adams (American Background Series) - I picked this book up used at a big sale because my grandmother was Polish. I remembered stories she would tell about celebrating Casmir Polaski Day at her Polish school (in Illinois) when she was a little girl. This book is from an older series, well-written and enjoyable, though his life story has many tough times. It's a good supplemental book for a Revolutionary War study, if you happen to be particularly interested in Polish war heroes. (purchased used)

Anthony Burns: The Defeat and Triumph of a Fugitive Slave by Virginia Hamilton - I'm not sure where I heard about this book, but I wanted to add it to Second Son's history reading for the year (Level 2 Year 2, when he was still reading This Country of Ours, because I rearrange our history). It provides an interesting perspective of a slave's life in the years before the Civil War, when the patchwork of laws in different states were confusing to everyone, especially to the enslaved. (purchased used)

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison - This book is on the Mater Amabilis high school schedule for English in Level 6 Year 2 (twelfth grade). First Son was starting his senior year, but because he started high school on the beta plans and was taking a college writing course in the spring, I adjusted his English assignments. I pre-read this book, planning to assign it to him. It's a tough read, because the language is sometimes fluid and fast, the action is alternatively slow and shocking, and the subject matter is difficult to absorb. It's a masterpiece, but in the end I decided not to overwhelm First Son's schedule by adding it. (He did a semester of English with me in the fall in addition to a whole credit's worth of writing in the spring at a local college.) I feel like most high school students would be overwhelmed by this book without a wise teacher to walk through it with them, and I am probably not that teacher. If First Son continues in the seminary, he will read it in college, and that's probably a good plan. (Kansas Dad's course copy)

Lights in a Dark Town: A Story about John Henry Newman by Meriol Trevor - link to my review (purchased copy)

30 Poems to Memorize (Before it's too Late) edited by David Kern - link to my review (purchased copy)

Rainbow Valley by L.M. Montgomery - I've read this book many times, of course, but it's been decades. I think I enjoyed this book more now that I'm a mother; I found it easier to keep the children separate in my head. I encouraged Second Son to read it, even though he hadn't read the books between this one and Anne of Green Gables. He's always on the search for relaxing bedtime reads. He laughed at all the words they considered bad. There are a number of funny stories. If you're reading aloud to younger kids, this is a good book to follow Anne of Green Gables. (gifted copy)

Home by Marilynne Robinson - This is a slow gentle book I found a bit more depressing than Gilead by the same author, but still beautifully written. (library copy)

Harriet Tubman: Conductor on the Underground Railroad by Ann Petry - I can't remember where I first found this book, either, but it was a good fit for Second Daughter's American History study in seventh grade (Level 3 year 2). I wanted something on the Underground Railroad. This is a well-written biography for middle grade readers that covers Harriet Tubman's life in slavery and freedom. (purchased copy)

Woman and the New Race by Margaret Sanger - link to my review (available free online)

My Man Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse - I wanted something funny and light-hearted to listen to while riding in the van with First Son. Neither of us had read or heard any Wodehouse. This had some truly hilarious moments, and we both enjoyed it in our little thirty minute increments. (purchased audiobook)

King Lear by William Shakespeare - This was First Son's final Shakespeare play. He read all three of his senior year plays in the first semester (to finish them before his college writing class in the spring), so it was a quicker read than we usually do. King Lear is an excellent choice for twelfth grade; it's one of the more referenced Shakespeare plays, and therefore a good one to read before going to college, but it's also grim and depressing. So, read it, but save it for your older high school students. (purchased copy)

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon, Bookshop.org, and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

An American Odyssey: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

audiobook from Audible, performed by Elijah Wood

First Son is completing a blend of the beta Mater Amabilis high school plans and the updated ones, so I have to condense the six novels from Level 6 (eleventh and twelfth grades) into three novels for senior year. After talking with Kansas Dad and polling the Facebook group for thoughts, I think I've narrowed it down to four. I already own Mark Twain's Adventures of Huckleberry Finn on Audible, and I'm going to assign this to First Son as a free-time listen. He's not as devoted to audiobooks as First Daughter, but he'll find it easier than reading so I think we can squeeze it in as a fourth novel.

Mark Twain is not my favorite author, though I very much enjoyed his Joan of Arc. Listening to Elijah Wood's performance was vastly more enjoyable for me than reading the book would have been. He does a terrific job. It is a little disturbing for modern listeners to hear the language of the characters, but I feel like it's true to the historical dialogue Twain was invoking and the harshness of it to our ears is a reminder of the traumas of slavery and racism.

Because I listened to the book rather than reading it, I don't have many reliable quotes to share. My favorite parts of the book illuminated Huck's thought processes as he desperately tried to discern right and wrong in a world that honored the legal ownership of slaves. Twain skillfully reveals much of the despair and inequality of the institution of slavery, but without challenging it entirely, even though it was published after the Civil War.

I also loved the descriptions of the weather and natural world of the Mississippi River. Mark Twain knew that land inside and out and beautifully describes it, whether in narrative text or in the voice of Huckleberry Finn.

Huckleberry Finn lies at every town up and down the Mississippi. He lies even when he doesn't have anything to fear. Sometimes, these whoppers are tremendously entertaining, but I personally would have preferred half of them, and the ones remaining lasting only half as long. First Son will probably enjoy them more.

I'm pleased to include this book in our high school studies. It's a complicated book with lots of room for discussions and thoughts, most of which we won't cover explicitly, but I think it's an important American novel I'm sorry I missed before now. Now that I've read it, I feel sure I'll hear echoes of it in many other American works.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I purchased this audiobook.

Spiritual and Material: The Sacraments

The Sacraments: Discovering the Treasures of Divine Life

by Fr. Matthew Kauth

This book was first recommended in the Mater Amabilis Facebook group by a friend of mine. She knows Fr. Matthew Kauth, who is a priest and Rector of the college seminary at Belmont Abbey. 

This relatively short book devotes a chapter to each of the seven sacraments, along with an introduction, a conclusion, and a chapter on the definition of a sacrament. The sacraments might seem simple; after all, we introduce them to young children, but they are a convergence of the spiritual and the material and therefore an eternal source of meditation and contemplation.

Fr. Kauth's chapters are insightful, revealing mysteries of the sacraments through examples of modern life. Though short, they are rich in meaning. I read most of the chapters while praying at adoration and found much to ponder as I sat before the exposed host. Fr. Kauth doesn't just explain the sacrament featured in each chapter; he invites the reader to allow participation in the sacraments to become the center of life.

Living liturgically sanctifies the time and our lives. It allows us to move with the rest of the Body of Christ through the mysteries of Christ's life. It imparts meaning and drama. It inserts my mind into the mind of Christ and allows me to participate in his thoughts and capture the movements of his Sacred Heart. (pp. 144-145)

My son read this book in his eleventh grade year. I think high school, even later high school, is a perfect time for it. At first, I had considered this book as a replacement for The Creed in Slow Motion in ninth grade, which I've moved to middle school as our confirmation preparation. After reading The Sacraments, I've decided to keep it as a spiritual reflection book for later in high school. I believe an older student with a little more maturity will appreciate the book more.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop are affiliate links. I purchased this book.

High School Astronomy: The Planets

The Planets

by Dava Sobel

This is such a delightful book through the solar system. There are chapters devoted to each of the planets (and some other astronomical bodies) that cover science along with history, mythology, poetry, and literature. The goal is not to impart all the knowledge possible, but to invite the reader to glory in the wonder and mystery of the universe, and to long to know more in the future.

I read this book a bit ahead of First Son this year as he completed the Astronomy study guide from Sabbath Mood Homeschool. This study is considered required for the Astrophysics one he will be completing in the third term, so I selected it for his Earth Sciences in eleventh grade, even though it's designed for Form 3-4 science. It does include activities and labs, which were relatively easy to implement. Certainly First Son had more success with them than with some of the chemistry and physics experiments we've attempted over the high school years.

I added some work to increase the difficulty level a little.

• I made all the math exercises required. (They are optional in the text.)
• First Son read the skipped chapters of The Planets.
• I also added Brother Guy Consolmagno's Brother Astronomer to his required reading, with narrations.
• I think we'll also have time at the end for him to listen to An Introduction to the Universe.
• I wanted to add some evenings at the local observatory, but between Covid restrictions and our own schedule, we didn't make it there even once. 

I intend to assign this study and book to First Daughter next year in ninth grade. I will probably keep the extra assignments the same for her. I expect it to be a good fit for freshman year.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased the Sabbath Mood Homeschool study guide and will receive nothing if you follow the link. I received my copy of The Planets from a member of PaperBackSwap.com (not an affiliate link). Links to Bookshop are affiliate links.

Ideals of American Government: The American Cause

The American Cause

by Russell Kirk

with a new Introduction by Gleaves Whitney

The American Cause is the spine of the new high school Government course for Mater Amabilis™. (Click Civics, Government, and Economics on the main high school page.) I'm adjusting these plans a little for my oldest as I need to fit government into two years instead of three or four, but he's going to read The American Cause and all the amazing primary source documents linked in the course. Combined with American History, this is going to be an excellent foundation in Foundations of American Government.

This book proposes to better understand "the American cause" by exploring the moral, political, and economic principles upon which our government and society are based. It is important to note that Dr. Kirk is not attempting to "convert" anyone to the American point of view, merely define and explain it. He does, however, hope to inform Americans of the principles of their own nation in order to provide a defense (within the individual) against what he saw as the treat of Communist propaganda.

One of the most important and beneficial aspects of our American tradition, indeed, is toleration: and this toleration extends to a sympathetic approval of variety, national and private rights, and freedom of choice, both at home and throughout the world. The American mission is not to make all the world one America, but rather to maintain America as a fortress of principle and in some respects an example to other nations. (p. 12)

Dr. Kirk traces modern American society to three "cardinal" ideas: "the idea of justice, the idea of order, and the idea of freedom." He identifies what those ideas meant to the founders of the United States, including their historical roots in Western civilization and Christianity.

This book is a wonderful explanation of the ideals of American ideas of justice, order, and freedom. I tend to believe we often stray far from those ideals, especially when confronted with the tenets of Catholic social justice. I like that this book provides a counterpoint to what my children may hear from me or the media, and that it identifies the measures we should use when determining what the Constitution meant in the past and how it should be applied in modern life.

The book was originally published in 1956. I think the American economy was closer to our ideals than it is today. I assigned a few articles about the distribution of wealth in 2020 to read alongside chapter 8. His chapter on justice is also a little suspect given what we know of the Civil Rights movement in the 1960s. I think his assertion that America was the most just society (in 1956) may be true, but it's also true that it was not as just as we would hope. I think we can say that about today as well. 

What really creates discontent in the modern age, as in all ages, is confusion and uncertainty. People turn to radical doctrines not necessarily when they are poor, but when they are emotionally and intellectually distraught. 

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this book used. Links to Bookshop and Amazon are affiliate links. 

Catholic Social Teaching and Businesses: Force for Good

A Force for Good

by Brian Engelland

I found this book while looking for something about Catholic principles in business for our economics course next year. Last year, First Son read half of Economics: The User's Guide by Ha-Joon Chang. He also read You Need a Budget by Jesse Mecham along with some other articles for personal finance. The two streams together were half an economics credit.

This coming year, he'll finish Economics: The User's Guide. I'm going to create a second stream to read that will focus on Catholic and moral aspects of economics. It's very much still in flux, but I imagine it will include some chapters of Small Is Still Beautiful, some essays from Wendell Berry, and possibly an encyclical. Force for Good is a good option I'm considering for Catholic business principles.

The book is a relatively easy read, providing introductions to Catholic teachings of natural law and Catholic Social Doctrine (or Catholic social teaching) and their relationship to policies and decisions in a business. The author draws on business articles, encyclicals, Scripture, and the Catechism. He also draws on his own experiences as a manager, owner, and university professor.

While not all of the business-related information is directly applicable to all students, thinking about these ideas is beneficial to everyone. We all buy products and choose which companies to support with our purchases. This is also an excellent book for any student considering a career in business or entrepreneurship. 

I am a radical Catholic in terms of my economic ideas, so reading this book was sometimes difficult for me. I think Professor Engelland is much more idealistic in his beliefs about how easy it is to run a large successful business based on Catholic social teaching. He claims such practices are actually better for a company and allow it to flourish in the competitive market environment. I think the number of international and conglomerate companies that do not adhere to such principles belies his assertion, but such principles can be and should be the bedrock of Catholic businesses. I want to share these kinds of ideas (and ideals) with my students as we think about economics.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. Links to Bookshop are affiliate links. I purchased this book used.

Alone in a Crowd: One Hundred Years of Solitude

One Hundred Years of Solitude

by Gabriel Garcia Marquez

translated by Gregory Rabassa

This is one of the books listed as a possible supplemental reading book for Mater Amabilis™ Level 6 Year 1 Geography on the Americas. For some reason, I thought this would be a good choice to pre-read while sheltering at home during a pandemic.

You can find far better essays and explanations of the book elsewhere. It's lyrical but startling, touching but shocking. There's a great sadness and perplexity throughout, as if no one understands anything and is struggling toward a goal they can't see. The magical elements would jar my complacency as I read, which was difficult for me but rewarding.

I am ambivalent about scheduling this for my eleventh grader next year. I can see how reading it would give him a glimpse into the struggles and culture of Colombia, but I also wonder if it might be too confusing for him. He might dismiss it and never read it again, and that would be a great loss. I definitely think some maturity makes the novel richer. I also think it's the kind of novel that benefits from multiple reads.

Another aspect that concerns me is the wide variety of rather strange and often illicit behavior of the characters in intimate situations. I would not say the actions and events of the novel endorse such behavior, but it would probably be a good idea to mention these things and discuss them with a high schooler reading the book.

I do not think I'm going to assign it, but I think I might leave it on the eleventh grade list as an optional read, knowing I'd want to share a few comments about the behavior of the characters before it's read. In all honesty, I know that means my son will not read it. My second child is a much more voracious and adventurous reader; she may want to read it.

I have received nothing for this post. I requested the book from PaperBackSwap.com. Links to Amazon and PaperBackSwap are affiliate links.

Begin by Looking Up: Introduction to Astronomy

An Introduction to the Universe: The Big Ideas of Astronomy

by Brother Guy Consolmagno

I recognized Brother Consolmagno's name from Brother Astronomer when I saw this audiobook and a few others in a recent Audible sale. This series of twelve audio lectures, each less than thirty minutes in length, begins with an exhortation to go outside and look at the sky, to document it over days, months, even a year.

It begins with wonder.

For Brother Guy, an astronomer with a degree from M.I.T. and a position at the Vatican Observatory, the night sky and the big ideas of astronomy connect directly to our Creator. He covers a wide range of astronomical topics in a conversational manner, none of them in the kind of detail you would encounter in an astronomy course, but all of them with delight. He also balances well the scientific rigor of the academic world with the rational exploration of how those academic facts and ideas inform our spiritual lives.

My husband is a Catholic theologian and I am a scientist by training (a biology degree many years in the past). This course includes many of the ideas and questions we want our children to consider. It will be, I think, a perfect "introduction" to a brief look at astronomy (currently planned for third term of junior year in high school; the last part of our earth sciences which will also include weather in ninth grade and geology in tenth grade). I do want to find something a little more academic to include as well, but this is where we'll start.

I have received nothing in exchange for this post. I purchased this audiobook during an Audible sale. Links to Amazon are affiliate links.

A Land Nearly Undiscovered: Wild Coast

Wild Coast: Travels on South America's Untamed Edge

by John Gimlette

John Gimlette travelled extensively in Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. He obviously devoted a great amount of time to researching the area and learned at least a minimal amount of languages that allowed him to communicate better with the people he met. While a travel book, it's nearly as much one a journalist might have written.

This could be a fantastic addition to the Mater Amabilis™ Geography course in high school for South America, scheduled for Level 6 year 1 (eleventh grade). I say could be because there's quite a lot of violence and depravity in the book, because there was quite a lot of violence and depravity in the land. There's an entire chapter on Jonestown, nearly all of which is disturbing at one level or another. (This chapter is early in the book and one of the hardest to read; you could just skip it and enjoy the rest of the book.) I think First Son, who would be sixteen or seventeen by the time he read this book, would be fine. But if I had a young ninth grader and wanted to jump into South America rather than Asia, I would pass on this book.

That being said, I enjoyed this book immensely. It really brought this part of the world to life for me, revealing its past and present in a way I can't imagine enjoying without traveling there myself.

Mr. Gimlette didn't just research historical records before his trip. He read all the literature he could find. Interspersed in his own travels are snippets of quotes from other authors and his own reflections on them, often with humor and appreciation despite acknowledged deficiencies. On Evelyn Waugh:

All he seemed to want was to suffer, to find some distant and barbarous place, and to go there and hate it. Eventually he chose Guiana -- not that he cared much about it. This was not supposed to be a voyage of enlightenment but a punishment. Even the book he wrote, 92 Days, sounds like a sentence. He arrived that new year, and after hating Georgetown (too big, too dull, too much sugar), he set out to hate the interior.

There's a lovely interlude at a Benedictine monastery.

At exactly the moment they promised, their euphonious chanting would lift up out of the trees and carry out across the river. Loosing off canticles into this vast expanse of light and silvery water must have felt like addressing heaven itself. 'The only way I can live with celibacy,' Brother Pascal once told me, 'is by having all this beauty.'

Mr. Gimlette describes the forest as he was nearing the end of his journey.

The superlatives necessary to express the density of forest simply don't exist. The roadside was like night-time, packed with spikes and armour. As for the canopy, it looked equally defiant, a thick phalanx of huge brain-like structures, riding at anchor. I'd lost count of the schemes and colonies that had foundered under this magnificent vegetable onslaught.

The author has a few other books which I intend to read, including one on Paraguay which might also be useful in the South American course.

In the end, this is a brilliant book of depth and humor about an area still full of mystery as it struggles from a difficult past through a complicated present. Share it only with mature students and pre-read for anyone sensitive.

This post contains my honest opinions. I have received nothing in exchange for it. I borrowed this book from the library. The link to Amazon is an affiliate link.

Faith, Science, Life: Brother Astronomer

Brother Astronomer: Adventures of a Vatican Scientist

by Brother Guy Consolmagno

A fellow member of the Mater Amabilis™ Facebook group recommended this book as a living book on astronomy. I have read The Heavens Proclaim by the same Jesuit brother and was thrilled to find this one at our library. It will be a marvelous supplement to our study of astronomy in eleventh grade.

The book is a mixture of essays and explorations on the relationship between faith and science and stories of his own personal experiences as a scientist and as a Jesuit scientist. It feels a little disjointed rather than a coherent whole as it seems to be a mixture of essays he'd originally written for other publications, but I think it's still valuable.

Brother Consolmagno writes about his life as a scientist at the Vatican. Most days are spent answering emails and examining meteors or preparing presentations or papers, but he does share some dramatic experiences as well. He writes about his reluctance to get up early to see a comet in person because he'd learned so much about them in books and pictures. When he woke and couldn't go back to sleep, he dragged himself from bed.

It was simply the most stunningly spectacular sight in the sky I have ever seen. It was as big and bright as a photograph on a planetarium ceiling. Five times as big as Comet Hale-Bopp. I would not call it impressive; I would call it frightening. In a world where the regularity of the stars is one of the few things that can be counted on, the presence of this flamboyant looming stranger shook me to my core.

We had a similar experience when we changed our vacation plans to drive through the full eclipse of the sun in 2017. We wondered whether it was worth changing everything and planning our vacation around an eclipse, but it was mesmerizing and unforgettable.

There is a long section in the book where Brother Consolmagno examines the historical facts of Galileo's trial and its enduring effects on the modern understanding of the relationship between faith and science.

But it was the jealous, possessive attitude of Grassi and Galileo -- all the more offensive for coming from supposedly calm and rational men of science -- that caused the final breach. The ill feeling on both sides that led to Galileo's final trial in 1633 helped set back science in Italy for years, and has fed antireligious and antiscience bigots on both sides of the issue every since.

Brother Consolmagno explicitly and clearly states that the Church was wrong it its treatment of Galileo. Unfortunately, that wrong has created a perceived insurmountable rift between faith and science in the modern world. Our response as Catholics to modern scientific theories has lasting effects on the ability to evangelize our modern society.

So why does everyone still think a Church-science conflict exists? Why is it that in the popular culture, science and religion are thought to be opposed? To understand why, we need to look not at science, nor at religion, but at the popular culture.

He talks about where people learn about the faith, pointing out that much of what we know comes from Sunday school, an hour a week during the school year when we are in elementary school. People who leave the church at a young age understandably have a childish view of religion. Similarly, most people stop studying science seriously in high school, or perhaps even younger. Finally, modern society draws on media accounts highlighting dramatic conflict, popular books with simplistic (and misleading) explanations of scientific principles, or books on astrology or UFOs, and most of all, fiction.

So what do our stories tell us about science and religion? One message all too present is that both are to be feared, each in its own way. In the movies, all preachers are power-hungry, money-driven hypocrites; all scientists are mad. They're both caricatured by wild hair and a fanatical gleam in the eye.

These ideas are ones that my children will regularly encounter, helping them to build a foundation of understanding not only the true relationship of faith and science, but also why modern culture's misunderstanding persists. After a chapter presenting how our culture has come to see science and religion as opposed, Brother Consolmagno affirms the roles they each play in supporting the other.

Good science is a very religious act. The search for Truth is the same as the search for God. And if you accept that God was the creator of this physical universe, then it immediately follows that studying creation is a way of worshipping the creator. 

Later he says:

The desire for truth and understanding, including understanding the truth of the natural world, was given to us by God in order to lead us to God. It is the desire for God. It is why I am a scientist; it is why the Vatican supports me.

St. Athanasius's On the Incarnation receives much attention in an essay called "Finding God in Creation." Mater Amabilis™ includes it in Level 5 Year 1 (ninth grade) as optional reading, so some students may be pleasantly surprised to see it related to the modern studies of faith and science (as I was).

There is even a chapter on extraterrestrial life.

People think we're looking for philosophical answers with our telescopes. What we're actually doing is inspiring philosophical questions. 

Brother Consolmagno writes about his time as a student when physics was a struggle. He writes later about what his days are like at the Vatican Observatory and about his visit to Antarctica to search for meterorites. He talks about his life as a Jesuit and how his faith is strengthened by his study of the natural world. These sections are perfect for a student considering a life in physics, geology, or astronomy.

Though I haven't selected a text or thought seriously about lesson plans for our eleventh grade earth sciences exploration of astronomy, Brother Astronomer is going to be on the free reading list as a complement to whatever else we do.

I have received nothing for this post; all opinions are my own. Links to Amazon are affiliate links. I borrowed this book from our library.

An Economics Book Worth the Struggle: Economics: The User's Guide

Economics: The User's Guide

by Ha-Joon Chang

After hours spent searching our library, browsing online, and skimming economics books, I have found our high school economics text.

The User's Guide presents multiple schools of economic thought: Classical, Neoclassical, Marxist, Developmentalist, Austrian, Schumpeterian, Keynesian, Institutionalist, and Behaviouralist. Unlike every other book I found, Chang's descriptions include both advantages and disadvantages for each school. He advocates throughout the book for the use of multiple schools, arguing that each restricts the solutions to any economic problems by the questions they pose and that a combination of perspectives will provide the most robust policies.

In the very beginning, Chang addresses the all-important question: "Why do you need to learn economics?"

There are many different types of economic theory, each emphasizing different aspects of complex reality, making different moral and political value judgements and drawing different conclusions. Moreover, economic theories constantly fail to predict real-world developments even in ares on which they focus, not least because human beings have their own free will, unlike chemical molecules or physical objects.

We should all learn the basics of economics, therefore, so we can properly assess economic plans and theories proposed in government and by politicians. They are making assumptions we may refute both about the economic situation and about our goals as individuals and as a society.

The fact is, we all need to know something about diverse approaches to economics if we are not to become passive victims or someone else's decision. Behind every economic policy and corporate action that affects our lives -- minimum wage, outsourcing, social security, food safety, pensions and what not -- lies some economic theory that either has inspired those actions or, more frequently, is providing justification of what those in power want to do anyway. 

The book is divided into two main parts. In the first half, "Getting Used to It," he presents the general terms and concepts of modern economics: what it is, a history of capitalism, schools of economic thought, and economic actors (individuals, corporations, organizations, governments).

In the second part, he explores socioeconomic problems and considers each in light of different economic theories, questioning the assumptions made by some current economic policies and encouraging the reader to also consider non-economic aspects of problems like the value of work beyond a salary. This part includes chapters on topics like production, modern financial products, poverty, unemployment, the role of the state, and international economics.

While Chang is not a man of faith, his treatment of issues like poverty and meaningful work presents a picture of the world that allows discussions of our responsibilities as individuals and communities to care for those who are suffering and to provide an economic environment in which all can flourish.

The author does not hide his own opinions. For example, he argues for a greater emphasis in the economic considerations for production (the manufacturing of actual goods) and for greater regulation of the financial services industry. His biases are clearly indicated within the text, however. He uses the pronoun "I" and says what he thinks without presenting it as if there were no other side to the debate or as if it were a consensus argument of all modern economists.

Acknowledging the difficulties involved in changing the economic status quo should not cause us to give up the fight to create an economy that is more dynamic, more stable, more equitable and more environmentally sustainable than what we have had for the last three decades.

With a few exceptions, I agree with his recommendations and overall assessments of our current economic situation (national and international). Not everyone is as radical and anti-establishment as I am, though. If you are unsure, I recommend (at least) reading his concluding remarks for each chapter before assigning this book to your student. (There are also a few instances of crude language.)

This is a meaty text. The author claims it is written for anyone with a secondary education. It is bursting with footnotes, endnotes, real-life examples (and the numbers to support them), and recommended additional reading for each chapter. Many of the chapters include minutiae of details that will not need to be remembered exactly for the main point to be understood but which could easily overwhelm a student. The first part is especially dense because it focuses intently on the economic schools of thought and a large number of economic ideas that a high school student may be encountering for the first time.

A high school student with a history of reading and narrating substantial books will be able to handle this text, if it is read slowly. It is certainly one worth the time and effort. I intend to assign this book over two years, probably twice a week, to limit the length of the readings and prevent overload from the data.