At one point during our lunch the famous Sonny Bono asked, "So in other words, we've reached a point where a rescuer can't say 'screw the rules' and just do the right thing?" Not in other words, Sonny. Those are the perfect words. Immutable Law #2 Saving lives is not our priority. Following our policies is our priority. Protecting ourselves comes next. Avoiding lawsuits comes third. You come somewhere after that. * * * I was not even out of school before I witnessed my first doctor commit murder. It would not be my last - Lord, no - but I can recall that night as vividly as though it happened last week. Few medics forget their first physician homicide. * * * The ugly truth is some of the most macho medics on the planet turn into complete lollipops in the presence of an arrogant, incompetent physician. No matter how you parse it, that is professional cowardice. * * * K. Patrick McDonald is a graduate of UCSD La Jolla School of Medicine original Advanced Field Medicine program. He was appointed the first EMS Supervisor for the City of San Diego under Mayor (and then Governor) Pete Wilson's administration. He created one of the nation's first STAR (Special Trauma & Rescue) Teams and co-authored the San Diego City Disaster Preparedness Plan. He was a co-author of the National Waterpark Lifeguard Training Manual. He has acted as consultant to the U.S. Secret Service in Presidential Protection matters. He writes, "After 30 years of occasionally saving lives, I learned that by writing and speaking, I can do more good for more citizens, while tolerating far fewer medical-political snollygosters." (For more on this fascinating subject, visit www.ParamedicHeretic.com)

The brilliant, controversial, bestselling critique of American culture that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times)—now featuring a new afterword by Andrew Ferguson in a twenty-fifth anniversary edition. In 1987, eminent political philosopher Allan Bloom published The Closing of the American Mind, an appraisal of contemporary America that “hits with the approximate force and effect of electroshock therapy” (The New York Times) and has not only been vindicated, but has also become more urgent today. In clear, spirited prose, Bloom argues that the social and political crises of contemporary America are part of a larger intellectual crisis: the result of a dangerous narrowing of curiosity and exploration by the university elites. Now, in this twenty-fifth anniversary edition, acclaimed author and journalist Andrew Ferguson contributes a new essay that describes why Bloom’s argument caused such a furor at publication and why our culture so deeply resists its truths today.

For four hundred years--from the first Spanish assaults against the Arawak people of Hispaniola in the 1490s to the U.S. Army's massacre of Sioux Indians at Wounded Knee in the 1890s--the indigenous inhabitants of North and South America endured an unending firestorm of violence. During that time the native population of the Western Hemisphere declined by as many as 100 million people. Indeed, as historian David E. Stannard argues in this stunning new book, the European and white American destruction of the native peoples of the Americas was the most massive act of genocide in the history of the world. Stannard begins with a portrait of the enormous richness and diversity of life in the Americas prior to Columbus's fateful voyage in 1492. He then follows the path of genocide from the Indies to Mexico and Central and South America, then north to Florida, Virginia, and New England, and finally out across the Great Plains and Southwest to California and the North Pacific Coast. Stannard reveals that wherever Europeans or white Americans went, the native people were caught between imported plagues and barbarous atrocities, typically resulting in the annihilation of 95 percent of their populations. What kind of people, he asks, do such horrendous things to others? His highly provocative answer: Christians. Digging deeply into ancient European and Christian attitudes toward sex, race, and war, he finds the cultural ground well prepared by the end of the Middle Ages for the centuries-long genocide campaign that Europeans and their descendants launched--and in places continue to wage--against the New World's original inhabitants. Advancing a thesis that is sure to create much controversy, Stannard contends that the perpetrators of the American Holocaust drew on the same ideological wellspring as did the later architects of the Nazi Holocaust. It is an ideology that remains dangerously alive today, he adds, and one that in recent years has surfaced in American justifications for large-scale military intervention in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. At once sweeping in scope and meticulously detailed, American Holocaust is a work of impassioned scholarship that is certain to ignite intense historical and moral debate.

Combining scholarly authority with a new awareness of today's communication demands, "Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus" is the simple, reliable way to find the perfect word for your needs. It features as easy-to-use dictionary format plus a revolutionary concept index that arranges words by idea, thus enhancing the user's process of association, and leading scores of additional selections. The inclusion of a wide spectrum of words and phrases with each entry -- from sophisticated choices to completely new vocabulary in the language -- brings the user an exceptional number of alternatives to fit any variation of style and tone. Created by a leading expert in linguists and lexicography with today's communication needs in mind. More word choices than any other thesaurus -- Over 1 million words! Concise definitions for each main entry. A revolutionary concept index -- arranged by idea, it mirrors the way we actually think! No obsolete terms -- all synonyms reflect modern usage.