This was the best book on ambiguous comprises I have ever read. The twist at the end was very exciting. I would recommend to all my family and friends.

Admiral Jean-Francois Darlan, heir-apparent to Marshal Petain, is revealed in this book to have been a key player in a pivotal episode in World War II. Behind the mystery of Admiral Darlan's presence in Algiers in November 1942 was a conflict between Franklin D. Roosevelt and Winston Churchill on which hung the fate of France.

Darlan in fact was involved in a plan to keep Petain's Vichy government in power as a counter to the growing streangth of Communism. When the terms of the plan was revealed, they shocked all those in Britain, France, and the United States who were backing Charles de Gaulle. On December 24, 1942, the Gaullists, supported by the British Secret Service and the American OSS, and probably with the knowledge of Churchill himself, stood back while a certain "patriot" entered Darlan's office and shot him dead. Drawing on interviews and new-found sources, the author tells the full ugly story of the unknown turning point in the secret battle over who would lead France.

Review of Augustine and the Catechumenate William Harmless Augustine and the Catechumenate (Collegeville, MN: The Liturgical Press, 1995). 406 pages with charts, index and bibliography. $34.95. St. Augustine: priest, bishop, theologian, doctor of the church, polemicist, apolo-gist, scholar-and catechist. Augustine is respected and loved by the Christian church for his many roles, but his role as a catechist has been the least well known, until now. Wil-liam Harmless has provided us with a magnificent portrait of Augustine the catechist. Harmless wrote this book to assist the Roman Catholic Church's Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults (RCIA). The RCIA was launched in 1972 by the Vatican thus "reversing a thousand years of initiatory practice and attitude" (p. 1). Harmless' operating assumption is that "if the Church has found itself increasingly renewed by the wisdom and richness of these ancient rituals and their underlying pastoral vision, then the Church might find itself similarly renewed by our gleaning the best from ancient styles of catechesis" (p. 25). The RCIA has been used with great effectiveness in many Roman Catholic parishes. It is basically an adoption of the early church's classic catechumenate process, as that process reached a high point in the fourth century. Harmless sets out to investigate one example of the ancient catechumenate: the catechumenate of St. Augustine of Hippo. The reason for this is simple. Augustine wrote a number of treatises on the subject of catechesis and the catechumenate; he is the only pa-tristic author from whom we have samples of each of the four stages of the ancient catechumenate; there are excellent critical editions of Augustine's works, both in the origi-nal language and in English; and finally, Harmless notes that within the past sixty years there have been many archeological and textual discoveries that offer much detailed infor-mation about Augustine and his Church in Hippo. Harmless organizes his book in a clear and orderly fashion, something that can not always be said of scholars' books. In addition to the book's excellent organization, Harm-less' writing style is very engaging. This book was a delight to read. This reviewer found it hard to put down, so interesting is Harmless' narrative descriptions of Augustine as preacher, catechist, exegete, pastor and church leader. Throughout the book Harmless of-fers direct quotes from Augustine's sermons, a major source of our knowledge of Augustine's catechetical method and content. His translation of Augustine's sermons is vivid, as was Augustine in the original. Harmless recounts how the congregation in Augustine's day was often swept up by the Bishop's masterful rhetoric, applauding, weeping, cheering or shouting out Bible verses as Augustine preached. Harmless' book will both complement and supplement other treatments of Augustine in English. Definitive studies include Van der Meer's Augustine the Bishop; Brown's Augustine of Hippo and Bonner's St. Augustine of Hippo . For the best, and most complete, translation of Augustine's sermons into English we have The Works of Saint Augustine (New City Press, 1995). In this collection of Augustine's sermons, translator Edmund Hill has captured the vividness of Augustine's oratory and relies on the best manuscripts available, and includes copius notes. Eventually, the project hopes to make available, for the first time, Augustine's complete writings in English. Those who know Augustine only through the Victorian English of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers collection will be delighted by the New City Press edition of Augustine's works. Harmless traces Augustine's own catechetical experience under Ambrose of Milan and then takes a look at how Augustine approached each phrase of the classic catechumenate model: evangelization, catechumenate, candidate for Baptism (Lenten catechesis), and then post-Baptismal catechesis. In each section, Harmless masterfully il-lustrates how Augustine pulled out all the stops in his efforts to reach each catechumen. He especially focuses on Augustine the master orator, indicating how Augustine both used and ignored the classic rules of rhetoric in his catechetical work. For Augustine, reaching both the head and the heart was the goal, neither whipping up hearers into mindless emotional frenzy nor boring them to death with encyclopedic lectures on theological facts. Harmless does not gloss over the challenges faced by Augustine, or paint this as some sort of utopian era for the church. He makes it clear that Augustine grew frustrated with his congregations. Writing about the catechetical task, Augustine once rehearsed the catechumen's vices: "Those depraved persons who in mobs fill the churches in a bodily sense only: . . . drunkards, covetous, extortioners, gamblers, adulterers, fornicators, lov-ers of shows, wearers of idolatrous charms, soothsayers, astrologers, or diviners employ-ing vain and unholy arts" (p. 133). This was not a "pure church" - as if there ever was such a thing. Since we are not Donatists, we should not try to locate perfection in this fallen order either, or else we will become either self-righteous hypocrites or despairing pessi-mists. Harmless' shows us how one Christian theologian and teacher struggled with the all too human qualities of his congregation and continued to strive for uncompromising excel-lence in service of the Gospel. William Harmless has provided a true gem to the Christian church. He offers a very organized description of Augustine's catechetical work, in the process helping us to under-stand even more this great doctor of the church and how his genius for rhetoric was com-bined with his passion for teaching the Faith. Augustine would be pleased not only with what Harmless has to say, but how he has said it, and so will Harmless' readers. Paul T. McCain St. Louis, Missouri October 29, 1996

In this book we are given a psychobiographical treatment of Augustine's life and work, with a particular emphasis on his early period. The book draws in a good deal of detail and theory about the society surrounding Augustine in the fourth century, and looks at some of the issues with the way moderns approach the investigation of Augustine the man and Augustine the later inventions.

In the first chapter, Dixon takes up the issue of how Augustine is to be viewed.

Even if one disagrees with him, rejects his ideas, or positively excoriates him, one has to admit that he described human life powerfully and inspired many readers with the hope for the participation of humans in the love of God.'

Dixon points out that, going beyond the field of religion and history, Augustine's influence extends to other fields in ways subtle and gross. Citing influences through William James and Erik Erikson, she points out that, 'the influence of Augustine might be lurking in the thought of any scholar of psychology.'

She uses the image of a water buffalo listening to a symphony, an old Javanese image, to ask what, in fact, do we hear when we listen? Not all hearings are equal.

'I will use the metaphor of the symphony, and its contrast to the tuneless water buffalo, as a reminder of the challenge to bring together hermeneutics, historical studies, literary considerations, and social sciences in the effort to understand how Augustine's Christianity helped him discover and compose, from elements of culture and experience, a meaningful view of his crowded and disparate life.'

Dixon looks at society, culture and the person of Augustine as the broad categories of examination. Drawing on the tools of sociology, psychological anthropology and cultural psychology, Augustine is laid bare from the inside out. But this is not meant to be a methodological straightjacket, either.

The categories society, culture and person were always intended as tools of analysis, not definitions of fixed truths.

The primary lens through which this book treats Augustine is through the pivotal work 'Confessions.' A work unique for its time and the first of its kind, the 'Confessions' of Augustine represent in varying degrees the first modern autobiography, the first psychological examination of an individual, and a cutting-edge literary work that helped define both an end to the classical period and the beginnings of medieval thought strands.

The second chapter examines the ideas of person and world, which are in late antiquity quite different from modern ideas. The one and the many are vastly different; the idea of individual liberties and freedoms, the idea of personal ambition and social mobility are foreign concepts for the most part. Only the loftiest of persons could entertain ambitions, and rare indeed was the lower/working class individual who achieved or even aspired to much more. Dixon explores the various modern psychological explanations of how individuals achieve identity, comparing this with the data found in the 'Confessions.' She also draws in some theory of symbolic meaning a la Ricouer to explore hidden and intended meanings throughout his text and society.

The remaining primary chapters deal with Augustine's life period by period, exploring the ideas of culture, society and person in Augustine's childhood, adolescence, and early adulthood. These were the formative years for Augustine, and while Augustine's life and product certainly continued to mature throughout his years, he had a remarkable consistency of reflection and consideration of his early influences, many of which he continually held before himself, perhaps out of guilt, perhaps out of a sense of regret, perhaps even as a reminder of what he needed to guard against in his future. The information contained in these chapters is indeed interesting, rather unique in approach among Augustinian scholarship. While bits and pieces are certainly used elsewhere, and are adequately documented and referenced, the collection as a whole is worthwhile.

Perhaps my highest praise goes to the final chapter, 'Reflections on Hearing Music in Life.' Dixon does a good job at tying the strands together and presenting, once again drawing on the metaphor of the water buffalo and the symphony, what scholars and other interested readers should be listening for in the works of Augustine, and those who write about him.

'One of the most challenging questions about Augustine, given my interpretation of his life and thought, asks whether he remained bound by his childhood experiences and his infantile unconscious dynamics, or whether he moved on to a mature adult redirection of them, perhaps even a transcendence of them.'

Dixon finally asks why we need to set up the dichotomy of child versus adulthood that early psychological theory puts forward. Do any of us escape our early influences? Is this even desirable? Quoting Peter Brown's authoritative biographical work on Augustine, that the Confessions are 'the self-portrait of a convalescent', Dixon agrees that there is some element of self-healing going on here, and that in this process, Augustine shows us a very real element of the human condition.

'Having been taught by Augustine, we could do a great deal more for each other'. We could act on love for our neighbours, offer care for their bodies and instruction for their minds, and discover joy in their apprehensions of music in their lives. W could apply our conscious efforts to hearing the music of our own lives, even if we never perceive its unconscious sources. We might even discover in these efforts an approach to God in the company and service of our neighbours'human, animal, inanimate, and those already hallowed beyond this earthly life.'

The book contains a worthwhile bibliography of primary and secondary sources (13 pages of such), extensive endnotes (42 pages for a 220-page text), and a good index. It is produced by the Chalice Press, the publishing arm of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ), who are the denomination that founded my seminary. The author, Sandra Lee Dixon, is associate professor of religious studies at the University of Denver.

Take and read.

At a time when more and more postcolonial countries are leaning toward Islamic fundamentalism, this thoroughgoing study of the situation in Algeria puts the past and present in perspective. Recommended reading for anyone who is concerned about the future of the Third World.

Cervantes In Algiers: A Captive's Tale is a meticulously researched and scholarly study by Maria Antonia Garces (Associate Professor of Hispanic Studies, Cornell University) of the years that Miguel de Cervantes, the author of the celebrated Hispanic literary masterpiece "Don Quixote", spent as a slave and prisoner of the Muslims in Algiers. Examining how captivity affected Cervantes and his writing, the complex interplay between Christian Spain and Islam, and searching for enduring truths that reflect throughout history and modern times, Cervantes In Algiers is clearly a "must-read" title for any devoted reader or scholar of Cervantes' classic work and enduringly popular work.

The process of moving from promiscuity toward chastity is difficult and demands the courage of a soldier. Augustine gathers the steps from his personal experience and writes about them in his Confessions. The nine step process is outlined as follows:

1. Become attracted to the goal of chastity. "Oh that the tides of my youth might have spent themselves upon the conjugal shore" (Book II. Chapter 2.);

2. Be honest and admit that promiscuity is very alluring. "It was foul, and I loved it. I loved to perish. I loved my own error-not that for which I erred, but the error itself" (II.4);

3. Realize that promiscuity is eagerly chosen with a small amount of reflection. "I was most certain that it was none but myself who was willing and unwilling, and immediately perceived that there was the cause of my sin" (VII.3);

4. Become informed of the strength of promiscuity. "Because of a perverse will lust was made; and lust indulged in became custom; and custon not resisted became necessity." It seems impossible to become chaste. "For the law of sin is the violence of custom" (VIII.5);

5. Procrastinate and put-off the attainment of chastity. "I, miserable young man, supremely miserable even in the outset of my youth, had entreated chastity of You, and prayed 'Grant me chastity and continence, but not yet'" (VIII.7);

6. Develop a healthy desire for chastity. There "was nothing else but to will to go, but to will it resolutely and throughly" (VIII.8);

7. Become courageous and enter the struggle. "I all but came to a resolve. I all but did it, yet I did not do it.Yet I did not fall back to my old condition, but took up my position hard by, and drew breath" (VIII.11);

8. Cry. "I flung myself down, how, I know not, under a certain fig-tree, giving free course to my tears, and the streams of my eyes gushed out" (VIII.12);

9. Receive the power of God and become secure. "I grasped ... the volume of the Apostle, ... and in silence read: 'Let us live honorably as in daylight; not in carousing and drunkenness, not in sexual excess and lust, not in quarreling and jealousy. Rather, put on the Lord Jesus Christ and make no provision for the desires of the flesh' (Romans 13: 13-14). No further would I read, nor did I need to, for instantly, as the sentence ended-by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart-all the gloom of doubt vanished away" (VIII.12).

Why is it that a person becomes chaste? Is it because he is secure? According to St. Augustine, security is that which enables a person to adjust the intensity of every human attraction and repulsion. Security belongs to the chaste person, the sensible eater, the one who is calm and logical and generous.

Let me put it this way, and I quote another translator of this book, "You have not read 'Confessions' until you have read the Sheed translation."

This book (in french)is a series of 56 interviews DeGaulle gave to Jean Lacouture and Roland Mehl produced for Television over France's TF1, published in book form by Editions du Seuil in 1988. Hardcover.

This diplomatic history of the Algerian independence movement offers insight into the events of the past year, i.e., Iraq II. As the book points out, fifty years ago American stood on the right side of history, and France faced the opposition of the world. Interesting sidenotes include France's dirty tricks by its special forces. Read this history and learn how Dulles and Eisenhower would be doves in the current US administration.