T Books

My objective was simple-fast, small amount of common ingredients, appealing meal ideas.

This book called for some strange ingredients, some of the recipes looked tedious, and I really just wasn't very attracted to any of the meal ideas in here. Not the type of food I am going to be able to get husband to eat either, so I wound up sending it back.

I have had great success so far with a few other books:
Diabetic Low-Fat & No Fat Meals in Minutes
The Busy People Series of cookbooks.

This is the most used cookbook in my house. It features simple to find and use ingredients and all recipes are quick and tasty, not to mention quite healthy. I have given this book out as gifts to two others already and they both have given it similar reviews.

I have about 12 lowfat cookbooks in my collection. This cookbook and volume 1 in the series are my favorites because the recipies taste great and they are very easy to make. You will love this cookbook!

A superbly organized and presented introduction to low-fat, carb conscious dining, Quick & Healthy Low-fat, Carb Conscious Cooking showcases more than two hundred new and/or updated, delicious, nutritious, "heart healthy", diabetes appropriate, weight control friendly recipes. Quick & Healthy Low-fat, Carb Conscious Cooking is enhanced with easy to follow low-fat menus, detailed nutritional analysis for each recipes, tips for trimming fat and sodium from a diet, a listing of foods and their fiber content, conventional and microwave directions, time saving ideas, weight loss and exercise tips, and "Products Worth Trying". From Hot Artichoke and Spinach Dip; Three Bean Soup; and Pear Salad with Raspberry Dressing"; to Low-Fat French Fries; Green Chile Chicken Enchilada Casserole; and White Chocolate Mousse with Berries, this completely revised and updated second edition of Quick & Healthy Recipes and Ideas offers a highly recommended compendium of palate pleasing, appetitive satisfying, kitchen cook friendly recipes.

This is the cookbook I depend on. I am a Lifetime member of Weight Watchers, and I used this book (and the other Quick and Healthy) when I was losing weight, and still use it all the time now that I am maintaining. There is enough nutritional information to calculate points. The ingredients are all readily available in our small town. You don't spend all afternoon in the kitchen. Everybody likes the result! I can't say enough good things about these books.

Maybe to that limited set of writers who thinak they are the Homers of today.

But a great american novel would be read by many people with differing levels of appreciation and determined to refelct the CURRENT and essence of America (oh what about south america) not just the mythical past.

THe words may flow as a poem, and cover or expound cleary or lyrically the points of life in this country but that alone does not make it a great story. Or a timeless one.

In preface to my review, I have to say that my favorite writers are Thomas Wolfe, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Henry Miller, Hermann Hesse, Heinrich Boll, Arthur Rimbaud, etc.
Many of the reviews here have bandied about the name of Thomas Wolfe (whose "Look Homeward, Angel" was brilliant); and the comparison is richly deserved; but the most insightful comparison came from the person who said it reminded him of an American version of Tolstoy's "War and Peace".
I've actually read "War and Peace". Lockridge's "Raintree County" rises to that level--and, in my estimation--surpasses it. I love the Russians--Tolstoy, Dostoevsky, Turgenev. And I love Walt Whitman and Ross Lockridge for the same reason. They all have what the Spanish call "duende," what the American blacks clamor to express by the word "soul". These aren't weak, spineless, effete Victorians afraid of beauty, passion, shame and awkward emotions.
They cast light into the dark corners of the human soul and throw open man's collective experience for all to see--something rarely achieved in typically dryer Anglo-Saxon literature.
Ross Lockridge's "Raintree County" astounded me. It left me wondering how this great American genius has been ignored, neglected. The only thing I can think of is that Lockridge makes the fatal mistake of being honest, of writing too accurately about the time-period, of not lying and indulging in historical revisionism. As a result, spineless readers wince when the "N" word is used, or terms like "pickannies," "darkies" or various other period vulgarities are employed by despised side-characters.
For this reason geniuses like Booth Tarkington are banned and suppressed.
It's sad. They want to revise the past and make it "acceptable" for modern audiences. But if you sanitize, you gut, you neuter, you destroy the hard edges which give the time-period texture, verisimilitude. (I mean, if slaves were well-treated why did we fight the Civil War?) But modern hacks would have writers keep all profanities out of it, re-write it so that nothing crude or insensitive made its way in.
If you want lies, watch a Hollywood movie, read a trash novel; if you want genius, poetry, brilliant insights and literary talent, give "Raintree County" a try. Maybe, with enough of us protesting, the prude schoolmarms with tenure at universities will be nudged from their slumber and realize that they have neglected one of the titanic achievements of modern American literature.

Raintree County is the anatomy of a fall from Paradise-with all the Edenic metaphors placed in a fictional county in Indiana-and the process by which it is regained. The structure and scope of the book are extraordinary, a system of telling and suspension that turns one day into a hundred years, all hinged upon the American Civil War (and the allegorical death of the principal character). Like another great contemporary American novel, All The King's Men, Raintree County was built upon the wreckage of a failed epic prose poem. Also, like Robert Penn Warren's glittering classic, Ross Lockridge's best-selling masterpiece deals with a gifted primary character caught up in the vortex of human history (though Penn Warren was more interested in the problem of power than he was in the cataloging of the life of Huey Long).

Raintree County should be a standard of 20th Century American literature. It is perhaps the greatest novel ever written. I'm mystified as to why it doesn't make Random House's Top 100 Novels List. I think in all honesty that Raintree County is too straightforward, too compassionate, too wise, too loving, too optimistic, too gently humorous, and too accessible to please the moldy and myopic listmakers. Really "great" books, as everyone knows, are dry game puzzles, smug literary fogs, brutal crayon travelogues, or ancient misanthropic sphinxes that museum directors and tenured professors of the academies alike can dust off occasionally without fear of ever having to update their pamphlets.

The texture style and meter of this work is astoundingly lyrical yet clear. To wit: "The world is still full of divinity and strangeness, Mr. Shawnessy said. The scientist stops, where all men do, at the doors of birth and death. He knows no more than you and I why a seed remembers the oak of twenty million years ago, why dust acquires the form of a woman, why we behold the earth in space and time. He hasn't yet solved the secret of a single name upon the earth. We may pluck the nymph from the river, but we won't pluck the river from ourselves: this coiled divinity is still all murmurous and strange. There are sacred places everywhere. The world is still man's druid grove, where he wanders hunting for the Tree of Life."

As long as I have a mind, I won't forget this profound and wonderful book or the characters who inhabit it: Perfessor Stiles with his pince-nez and Malacca cane, the cigar-chewing bighearted phony senator from Indiana, Garwood Jones, sweet Nell Gaither, the dark lost and deranged Susannah Drake. Carefully researched (it took seven years to write), it is also an excellent freshener on historical events of the nineteenth century, especially the Civil War. Contained within, for all you philosophiles, is the added bonus of cogent and detailed arguments for free will over predetermination, the triumph of spirit over matter, a solution to the riddle of the Many and the One, an explanation of the Word, and many more.

Born four years before J.D. Salinger, who still breathes at this writing, Ross Lockridge Jr. ended his life by carbon monoxide poisoning March 6th, 1948, two months after the publication of his one and only novel. He was thirty-three. He left behind a wife and four children. His second son, Larry, five years old at the time of his father's death, has written a book (Shade of the Raintree) attempting to explain what he calls "the greatest single mystery in American letters." He largely blames success in combination with a "biological (possibly genetic) predisposition to depression" along with "suicide-personality disorder (narcissistic)." It's easy to see why a John Kennedy O'Toole battering his manuscript (Confederacy of Dunces) against the unbreachable ramparts of Harcourt Brace and Get Lost, might do himself in (and then of course win a Pulitzer). But to receive a Harvard scholarship, publish an immediately successfully and lavishly acclaimed book which wins several major prizes including an MGM contract, and then to take your life as a proclaimed lover of life and a protector of four children, is a riddle beyond the ken of my meager imagination.

You may have once wandered through an art gallery and
while walking between images both beautiful and banal
happened upon a painting unlike few you have ever seen before.
It was found placed in a more remote part of the exhibit
and poorly lit thus causing you to give it a brief glimpse.
At first glance, the quaint simplicity caused you to smile yet upon
a second look you noticed the unmistakable quality, the rich
shadings, the subtleties, the emotion upon the faces of the characters,
and within a short time you realized that the artist had captured the
very essence of humanity. Shades of life both light and dark and all
the hues in between, this is what Ross Lockridge has placed upon his canvass for
posterity. This is Raintree County.

Raintree County; a mythical place, a gentle and beautiful tale of an
age and culture that has long since been harrowed under and paved over.
A verdant and pastoral county whose heart is found at the crossroads of
two dirt roads, whose inhabitants are poised at the intersection between a young
and thriving republic and greatest wrong every allowed to fester within
its expanding frontiers. The sunny days of community existence intertwined
with the political complexities surrounding the greatest rift ever to divide a
nation. A portrait of the land and its people in the midst of life and the
trials and tribulations of life's inescapable vicissitudes.

Within the covers of this book are found the joys of love upon the banks of
a river, the excitement and pride of a community during the celebration of
Independence day, the pungent smells and prolific yet depraved lifestyle during
the last days of antebellum New Orleans, and the songs of the slaves in their
agony, joy, and uncertainty. An epic, a day in the life of a ordinary man and
how he came full circle-if that is indeed possible. A reminder of the nation and
her people who were deeply shattered by the violence of a Civil War.

Within the prose are whispers of Plato, Poe, and Shakespeare. Characters
of well developed intellect and humor coexist amid the turgid and the
unlearned. At its core is love, insanity, birth, death, family, war,
and a river that courses through the county to both nourish the smiles and
drain the bitterness. Indeed perhaps the "Great American Classic," and a
sadly overlooked book. Lockridge is of the same ilk as Wolfe, Faulkner,
and Emerson. It has been said that each of us contains a book. To have this
as your only book is a majestic feat. Raintree County can be analyzed at many
philosophical levels and I am sure subsequent readings will reveal a multitude
of lessons. To me, my first time just staying at the surface brought me
the great joy that a masterfully written novel must impart.

I have positioned this book as "The" Great American novel - in reccomending it to a dozen friends. Only one has disagreed. Nuff said.

I own this book, and even purchased a copy for the use by my Alma mater University for their children's collection of books.
This book is the FINAL published book of poems by 13 year old Mattie Stepanek, who died on 22 June 2004 from a rare form of muscular dystrophy: Dysautonomic Mitochondrial Myopathy. He was a genius by intellect, but as sweet as a boy could have been. I recommend this book because of Mattie's keen insight into major human issues such as LOVE, PAIN, SUFFERING, FRIENDSHIP, SICKNESS, LONLINESS, FULFILMENT, DEPRESSION, AND IMPENDING DEATH. By late Autumn of 2003, I believe Mattie surmised that not only was death possible but was probably imminent.

By Dec 2001, Mattie and former US President Jimmy Carter became close friends, and this undoubtedly had an impact on Mattie's later poems. You actually SENSE Mattie becoming a Peacemaker like his childhood idol, Jimmy Carter. This book is more than simply GOOD poetry, but the plethora of photos from his mother's collections give the reader a visual biography of a boy who ROSE ABOVE his fatal sickness and who proved to be an angel in disguise for millions upon millions of people, when the day was Done! A MUST BUY Book.

Mattie's writings have touched my spirit like no other. His wisdom beyond his years and how his books make us look at life, especially our own, in a different light, has to be from God, therefore, making Mattie an "Angel Among Us" in my book.

This book is a must-read for all adults, and older children. The amount of suffering this child endured, and yet could find a reason to grasp life to the fullest, is a lesson for all of us. Mattie had a special gift that only comes from God, with messages that are profound. And yet, the messages are delivered in utter simplicity. It will absolutely change your life.

I got this book last year from my grandmother and really enjoyed it. The poetry was nice, even if most of it didn't rhyme, and the color photos were excellent. This book was an awesome collection of Mattie's poetry from when he was really young, to his last words before he died in 2004. The only thing I wish was in the book was more information on Mattie's brothers and sister, so everyone could know about them as well as Mattie.

If anyone wants to learn about courage I would suggest this book. What a remarkable person Mattie Stepanic was, his poems will pull at your heart strings as they did mine. It will be a book to treasure all my life, and reread.
Betty Blake
Book lover in Vermont

This book is highly recommended for those individuals who are seeking their true identity.

The Author who herself has had an aristocratic bearing also explores and sheds light onto one of the pasts most important and intriguing European dynasties: The Ottomans

Albeit, currently she is plainly refered to as Ms. Kenize Mourad, the authors full name is Her Imperial Highness, Princess Kenize Mourad, Princess of the Ottoman Empire. Thus, shes is in the best position to reflect on such empire.

She is the daughter of His Imperial Majesty, The Grand Sultan, Mourad V, whose titles included: Sovereign of the Imperial House of Osman, Sultan of Sultans, Khan of Khans, Commander (Caliph) of the Faithful and Successor of the Prophet of the Lord of the Universe, Custodian of the Holy Cities of Mecca, Medina and Jerusalem, Caesar of the Roman Empire, Emperor of The Three Cities of Constantinople, Adrianople and Bursa, and of the Cities of Damascus and Cairo, of all Azerbaijan, of the Magris, of Barka, of Kairouan, of Aleppo, of Arabic Iraq and of Acem, of Basra, of Al-Hasa, of Dilen, of Ar Raqqah, of Mosul, of Parthia, of Diyarbakýr, of Cilicia, of the Vilayets of Erzurum, of Sivas, of Adana, of Karaman, Van, of Barbary, of Abyssinia, of Tunisia, of Tripoli, of Damascus, of Cyprus, of Rhodes, of Candia, of the Vilayet of the Morea, of the Marmara Sea, the Black Sea and also its coasts, of Anatolia, of Rumelia, Baghdad, Kurdistan, Greece, Turkistan, Tartary, Circassia, of the two regions of Kabarda, of Georgia, of the plain of Kypchak, of the whole country of the Tartars, of Kefe and of all the neighboring countries, of Bosnia and its dependencies, of the City and Fort of Belgrade, of the Vilayet of Serbia, with all the castles, forts and cities, of all Albania, of all Eflak and Bogdania, as well as all the dependencies and borders, and many others countries and cities.

Despite de jure claim to the aformentioned titles, she insistingly prefers to be refered to as simply Ms. Kenize Mourad.

Suave and sagacious she is a true symbol of magnanimity.

A book definately worthy of reading, from an individual whose life could be an inspiration for others.

I guess I was the only one who was not fond of this book (I read it in English, so maybe it's a bad translation).

I found the main character, her mother, to be a worthless human being who never did find her role in life. Her life was depressing to the max... no matter what she did, seems like she made things worse instead of better.

There were a lot of little mentions that never got followed up, which I found annoying (in particular, several hints at lesbianism, but then the characters involved either disappeared or were married off).

The history and perspective were interesting (justifications for slavery and creating eunuchs!), but I found it to be a bit of a slog through her trying to justify her existence.

The story is so intense and gripping that it carries the reader past whatever difficulties there may be in style. Since reading this several years ago, I have haunted the library waiting and looking for the promised second book. I don't know if that was ever translated from the French to English or not. Anyone interested in history or biography will find this book goes over the top in interest.

I had seen Regards From the Dead Princess for a number of years on the shelves at my town's public library. I never read it until after I travelled to Turkey as a tourist in 2003. I could barely put the book down. I came to admire Ms. Mourad's quest for her identity, the truth about her mother, and the origins of her family and how with the bits and pieces she was able to gather over the years she was able to write this wonderfully tragic tale. When I went back to Turkey in 2004 to teach English, I told my intermediate level students about this novel. Several expressed an interest in reading it.

Since the 8th grade, I have read about and studied the demise of the European dynasties after War World I, especially the Russian imperial family, but I had never seen anything about what happened to the Ottoman (Osmanli) family once Turkey became a republic. It was not until after my trip to Turkey that I decided to make Turkish and Ottoman history a part of my knowledge. This book was the beginning of my studies.

Regards From the Dead Princess is the story of Selma, a granddaughter of the last Ottoman Turkish sultan (padishah). Selma grows up happy, but cloistered in the family's palace in Istanbul. She dreams of marrying General Mustapha Kemal, a celebrated Turkish general who helps saves the Turkish mainland from being partitioned by the victors of World War I. She and others call him the "Golden Rose" because of his unusual blonde hair. Selma says that when she grows up, she will marry the "Golden Rose." Little does she know that once this same war hero comes to power as the first president of Turkey that her family will be sent into exile. This is one of the earliest betrayals and disappointments which Selma will face in her short and tragic life.

Selma is a victim of history. Her family had ruled Turkey for 500 years. She and her family must learn to live as near penniless exiles whereever they are accepted in the world. Selma finds that she never quite belongs anywhere. That is her ultimate tragedy. Selma's beauty, depression, and loneliness could not be more beautifully told.

This intense novel was written by a journalist, Kenize Mourad, and it makes the reader travel through different historic periods.
It is the true story of a granddaughter of the last Sultan of Turkey, Mourad V .The Turkish Princess was exiled from Turkey during the stablishment of the Turkish Republic in 1918, spent her chilhood in Beirut during the French occupation and married to an Indian, Rajad, in the last years of the British Empire in India. She ended up in Paris during the Nazi occupation.
It was one of the most complete books I've read. I really recommend it to lovers of historical novels from teens to adults.

This book was first given to me at a funeral home YES... a funeral home not just any funeral home it was the funeral home where my mother in law laid to rest after a year long struggle with cancer. I felt hopeless asking myself how would I'd be able to support my husband when I indeed was a mess myself. I took the book and did not loose sight of it waited 5 months after her death to finally open it and read it. The best thing I could have done to find the answer to grievence and acceptance. I cried every night as I read it and since then have passed it one to others who find themselves lost of answers when a loved one crosses over...

I bought this book for my wife, who lost her mother to Alzheimer's a year ago. Too often, as Americans, we seem to want to move on past the loss of a loved one quickly. We've learned over the years that grief lasts for a long time. The book is loving and healing for this process.

I was given this book just after we lost our 22 year old son. It was one of two that helped me the most. It tells you to keep looking for the roses through all that you are having to endure.
"God is continually keeping His promise by providing roses, sometimes with actual flowers, sometimes through friends, and often in the form of memories as a reminder He is caring for me, and when I hurt, He hurts."
The book is about the many kinds of "roses" that God sends us. I now send it to those parents that lose children, no matter the age or circumstance; but I have also sent it to those that have lost a spouse. It is a wonderful "rose" for anyone grieving a loss.

This book is the tender, bittersweat story of a grieving mother working through her sorrow after losing her teenage son. As I read it, tears flowed down my cheeks as I found I could relate to the many emotions the author experienced. With every heartbreak, she looks for and finally discovers a "rose" - a person, a gesture, a memoery which gives her a sense of peace, and meaning and strength to carry on with life.

Grief has a life of its own. You don't know this until you are faced with it. Unless you are able to talk with someone who has experienced it or read a book such as this one, no one can understand what you are feeling. I appreciated Marilyn's candidness of all she was feeling and how she came through it. It was a comfort to find that I was feeling some of the same things she was feeling. That brings healing in itself.

I recommend this book highly to anyone who has lost someone and is grieving. You will find yourself connecting with Marilyn and it will help you know that what you are feeling is normal. I would also like to add that her Christian perspective is vital. Because it's times like this when we see our need for the Lord; his grace, strength, and presence in our lives. Many would ask: "How could God let this happen?" Well, it happens to all of us at one time or another...that is reality. The question should be: "How can God help me?" And He will.

This was an interesting book, but it is not much of a first hand account. The author obviously went through a lot, but he was at a very high command level and his participation in the battles were very limited and in all honesty not very entertaining. If you want an exciting book to read about Nord and what it was like to be a soldier, I highly recommend "Black Edelweiss." This book is a very detailed account that often goes over the logistics of the battle and the planning on both sides. A great resource for somebody doing research for something larger concerning the western front late in the war, but not a page turning thriller likely to keep you up all night.

This book is remarquable.
The author is an excellent writer. The book is well written and of great historical value for people interested in the battle of the low Vosges.
The book describes the battle of Wingen sur Moder from the point of view of a very young German officer leading a whole battalion.
In January 1945, Wingen was 2 miles behind a stabilized front line. It was the hardest Winter of the century in Alsace. The aim of the Germans was to seize a valley in order to send 2 tank divisions to take Strasbourg. The 6th SS mountain division which has been fighting the Russians for 4 years were sent to take Wingen. They slipped through the main front line and took half of Wingen.

The memoirs available on line of the veterans of the 70th infantry division describe the battle seen from the US side. Wolf Zoepf gives us a stunning description from the German side, from a battalion commander view.

Leaving a few miles from Wingen, I was truelly impressed by the precision of the description of the battlefield.

Although the emphasis that this book gives to the "technical" aspects of the operation "Nordwind" and the fine accuracy of the terminology may cause some readers to avoid it, it is a very interesting and thought provoking analysis of the battles that the famous 6th SS Mountain Division fought in Alsace. The first 56 pages are devoted to that division's operations in Finland where, in late 1944, it was forced to retreat under attrocious conditions. Transferred to the Western Front, it participated in the operation "Nordwind" fighting excellently against the US 70th and 45h Infantry Division and causing many days of alarm and consternation to its opponents. Unfortunately for the 6th SS Mountain Division, the success it achieved outflanking the US positions and capturing Wingin-sur-Moder, proved to be just another "lost victory" since the other German divisions didn't advance in the same depth. The author was a junior officer in the Division "Nord" and he wrote this book with the help of many German and US first hand accounts, presenting a complete picture of the battle, from both sides of the hill. The book contains dozens of excellent three dimension maps, some two dimension maps and a few black and white photos. There is also an appendix with the German and US equivalent ranks. The book is higly recommended to the serious students of military history, since it is not only a battle story but a very critical and professional analysis of the operational and tactical factors that led the battle to its outcome.

The author was the adjutant of a German SS mountain infantry battalion that successfully infiltrated through the mountains and American lines before seizing its objective, a small village where most of these highly trained and well led soldiers were surrounded and killed in action while awaiting a relief force to link up with them that never came. The combat performance of this superb unit, and its strict adherence to the rules that govern modern warfare, so impressed their American opponents that both sides routinely met at annual reunions after the war. Parts of the book read like poetry, particularly the all too brief description of the German retreat across Finland and into Norway where the soldiers embarked on rusty transport ships that would transport these doomed soldiers to the shrinking perimeter of the Thousand Year Reich where they would be sacrificed on the fields of Mars during the last operational level German counteroffensive in the west.

At the tender age of 22, the author was the senior staff officer and second in command of the 3d Battalion, SS-Mountain Infantry Regiment 12, 6th SS-Mountain Division NORD. This book is his story.

It begins with an amazing account of how he was captured hiding in a foxhole with two American soldiers that he declared were his prisoners of war. One of the soldiers in the foxhole had shot at the author, hitting him from about 30 meters away. The author instinctively charged right at the foxhole. The surprised soldier got off one more round before the author jumped in the foxhole, hit the soldier on the head with his fist, and declared him to be his prisoner as he unbuckled his pistol. He then discovered that there was yet another soldier in the foxhole who had slept through all this. The author declared him to be his prisoner too. The author was eventually captured when a GI sergeant became upset that one of the men would not leave the foxhole and grabbed the soldier's blanket, uncovering the author as well.

The author then recounts in a very absorbing way his introduction to life as a German soldier where he became a member of the division of German mountain troops that eventually (in 1943, when Waffen-SS Divisions were officially numbered, based on seniority) became the sixth Waffen-SS division, the 6th SS-Mountain Division NORD. In so doing, he also provides a fascinating history of the training, experience, and development of this division, which, after an inauspicious beginning, obtained a well-deserved reputation for being a skilled and respected fighting force. This division spent almost the entire war fighting in the rugged, mountainous terrain of Finland with the Finns against the Soviets until the Finns and Soviets achieved an rapprochement, part of which included that the Finns capture, disarm, and turn over to the Soviets any German soldiers left in Finland after a 10-day allowance for their withdrawal. (The German wihdrawal was designated Operation BIRKE ("Birch").)

After the division's withdrawal from Finland, at the end of 1944, the Germans decided to utilize it (as well as other troops) in Operation NORDWIND ("Northwind"), an adjunct to Operation WACHT AM RHEIN ("Watch on the Rhein"), the offensive launched in Decermber 1944 through the Ardennes forest, better known in the West as the Battle of the Bulge.

The vast majority of the book describes in great detail, not only day by day, but hour by hour, the 7 days of fighting by the author's battalion and other elements of the 6th SS Division ("Combat Group Wingen") in January 1945 in and around the mountain town of Wingen-sur-Moder, in the Low Vosges in Northeastern France, primarily against forces of the U.S. 70th Infantry Division.

Drawing upon a wide array of sources from both sides of the battle, American and German, including numerous personal recollections by participants on both sides, the author not only describes what happened in an engaging writing style but objectively analyzes and criticizes the strategies and tactics of each side, giving credit where credit is due, during each stage of the fighting. The book is an invaluable addition to the history of this battle, mountain fighting, World War II, and warfare in general.

The entire book is enhanced by the use of about 3 dozen well-drawn and clearly stated maps of the fighting in Finland, the withdrawal, and Operation NORDWIND, including the daily battles around Winger-sur-Moden. There are no photos to speak of (the cover photo is not that of the author).

The work of Hakim Bey is well-known in that other american world, the "underground" society, the one of subculture, silent resistance and anarchy. But slowly it has been bubbling to the surface, often in unexpected places. The novel and film Fight Club, surely shows an affection for poetic terrorism, an idea rooted in Bey's ontological anarchism and closely related to the situationist tactic of detornement. T.A.Z. is not the property of any philosophy but chaos and elegant disorder. Sure, there are aspects of anarchism, chaos thinking, situationist leanings, but that is just a symptom of the spectacle and is such precisely because of it. These essays all point to a way out of this spectacular society, but the first step comes with the mere recognition of it. This is harder than it sounds, or perhaps easier. TV and the media are always easy components to recognize, the real challenge is to recognize how the spectacle, i.e., the prefabricated, artificial, consumerist milieu penetrates, influences and shapes even our most intimate thoughts--which we often mistake for our own desires, wants and needs. In T.A.Z. Bey offers suggestions on how we can extricate ourselves from this structure and start creating our own temporary autonomous zones, within this system of economic, social and cultural oppression. Immediatism, Poetic Terrorism, and the embrace of Chaos are just a few of the strategies that he advises, all of which presuppose a new dialectic with reality.

This is only an outline, a mere review, I leave discerning and interpreting the details to you...Get this book today (also available in spoken word from axiom records).

TAZ is an amazing book. I personally see it as a philosophy and a self-improvement book. Hakim Bey presents his ideas about how the universe should be, chaotic. If you are into chaos magic or discordianism you will find this book very appealing and its a book that must be in your collection.

TAZ is a virus, it spreads through all the self-created walls that hold you down with the promise of true freedom. Suddenly you will become chaos.

Assume nothing.

I am surprised that the sort of people attracted to such a work--to guess from previous reviews--are still apparently apt to want to swallow the thing wholly, assertions that "they lied to you, sold you ideas" and all. Personally i reckon that we are in the midst of a conspiracy, yes...but most likely an unconscious one--the aggregate of fear & complacency & ignorance & such things, that is, resulting insidiously in the effects of a sort of conspiracy. What sort of result, for example, would one really expect from blowing up a transmission tower? A sudden enlightenment of the populace? No: most people would likely become even more reactionary when faced with causes for alarm.

Essentially this book, in spite of its claims to the contrary, seems to me a variety of art movement and not the "ultimate" anything, but as with anything so incendiary and beautiful its value can still hardly be overestimated. Who can resist Poetic Terrorism or Bey's felicity with language (eg. Chaote art)? The language and imagery are colourful and bursting full. Imagine a feast laid out on a table with barely enough room for the feasters' plates--and certainly not enough for their elbows--and everyone seated around it wearing purple plumage or velvet saris or nothing at all & laughing with food in their mouths.

I'll take what i need and leave the rest, as it goes. Implicit in most of the writing is criticism of those who would reject any part of the "freedom" described, but who's afraid of Hakim Bey? I'm glad he wrote even if i won't be taking all of what he wrote to heart.

Have a couple of dictionaries standing by, or be sure to have a few dozen bookmarked online while reading this, for if you're to appreciate Bey's prose, you're likely to need 'em. He writes in a strange way, obviously highly intelligent, but rambling, and if you're not quite sure what he's on about, it's just going to seem worse.

There are a lot of ideas in here, based on things I'm not very familiar with, such as Sufism and dadism - some of which are at least partially explained, but this is one of those books you need to read, and then come back to later and see how it compares. Certainly on the first go struggling somewhat to get a feel for how his mind works on paper.

It's a very inspiring work, which he may loathe to hear, but I intend to do something about it. I recommend reading it to anyone interested in expanding their interests and testing the limits of one's mind. Agreeing with everything he presents isn't necessary, but thinking about it is - doing even better. Highly recommended reading.

This is one of those pieces of literature that you simply cannot afford to miss. It's like discovering Marge Piercy at the tender, malleable age of 12, or finding Clarissa Pinkola Estes' book, worn and well-loved, after a ten-year marriage filled with abuse. Except, TAZ doesn't require you to be at any particular phase of your life to change it. It just does. Sometimes, it's not immediate. Sometimes it sits quietly in the back of your mind, bubbling up curt replies to oppressive corporate and societal forces that occasionally - tragically infrequently, to begin with - with issue forth from your mouth and cause bank tellers to go pale with shock.

Temporary Autonomous Zones are nets of co-conspirators, ready to take the mass of over-bearing government and the thin veneer of so-called civilization down, not through bloody revolution, but rather through obsolescence. If we do not respect the right to control us, if we have our own power back to do our own work, only then are we our own people. And moreover, in "Ontological Anarchism", we find the suggestion that we do not have to define ourselves by ANYTHING other than what WE feel we are. We are "supposed" to be productive, civilized, friendly, codependent, well-dressed, well-paid, well-fed and easily coddled. But humans are NOT that - we are animals, base creatures of a triple nature, as gods are, as goddesses are. And in each as our own deity, we cannot be truly shaped by anyone else but our own ineffable nature.

And that's just the beginning....

Diet Eman was a young dutch woman during WWII in Holland. Her and her fiance were involved in the Dutch resistance movement. They helped Jews find homes/families to hide with in the Dutch countryside. This was a huge undertaking that required much teamwork. (For instance, the families that took in Jews would need extra ration cards to buy more food. Extra ration cards would have to be obtained and delivered to these families.) Diet literally rode hundreds (probably thousands!!) of miles on bicycles during the war coordinating this effort to keep Jews hidden in the countryside.

As Diet tells her story, there are frequent excerpts from the personal diary she kept during the war. And excerpts from postal letters she either sent or received during the war. This helped give the book a very "real" feel...You experience her first hand emotions and thoughts as these events were actually taking place.

Diet had a strong Christian faith. Her spiritual insights are deep and powerful. Her faith sustained her during this troubling time in history.

Diet was eventually caught by the Nazis and spent time in a jail and a concentration camp. She was briefly at the same camp as Corrie TenBoom, author of The Hiding Place. Diet survived, but her beloved fiance died in a concentration camp.

I highly recommend this book. Not only is it an exceptional historical account of life during WWII, but the spiritual (Christian) thoughts in it are very profound. While Diet was living through this horrific time period, the spiritual thoughts she recorded in her diary are incredibly mature. She was so young (early 20's) but was advanced beyond her years with spiritual perception. Her faith influenced her every thought.

The true story of true Christians, and Dutch patriots, Diet Eman and Hein Sietsma, and their courageous risk of everything to resist Nazi tyranny and hide thousands of Dutch Jews.
True Christians always love the Jewish people and Israel, and true nationalists are opposed to both Communism and Nazism, both the antithesis of national self-determination.
Diet recounts her own life, and experiences and what she saw and heard, as well as her deep faith in G-D, that guided her in all she did and thought.
Diet recounts her experiences in Scheveningen prison, where she describes how Jewish families, who were caught in hiding, were hauled into the prison, mothers, fathers and children: 'On the nights the guards brought Jews in, we always heard the children crying all through that place. It was bad enough for us to have to suffer through a place, like Scheveningen, but it was terrible to hear those poor innocent children crying.'
It is up to true Christians and righteous gentiles to stand by the State of Israel today, in the struggle for her survival and that of her children, against the monstrous Islamic-extreme leftist hate machine.

Excellent book. The book is fast paced, exciting and touching.

The risks and sacrifices that the author and her fiance went through for their beliefs and for unkwown people amazed and inspired me. Highly recommended.

The account of the author and her experiences fighting the German occupation of Holland during WWII is harrowing. It is hard to imagine that any human being can display so mush courage at such a young age.

I have read more than 75 books of this genre depicting this period of history. "What would I have done under the same circumstances?" That is the question I am always asking of myself whilst reading these stories. This is the story of a group of people with the courage of their convictions...Diet's story is inspiring and touching. It illustrates perfectly that the power of prayer is undeniable and when 'all one can do is pray' one has done everything.

Rabbi Harold Kushner is best known for his book When Bad Things Happen to Good People, but this work is in my judgment his greatest contribution to the philosophy of the spiritual life, Kushner's pièce de résistance. Using my favorite Hebrew Bible text, Ecclesiastes, as a springboard, Rabbi Kushner writes about the "ultimate thirst of our souls": the need for "meaning," for "the sense that we have figured out how to live so that our lives matter." Rabbi Kushner offers readers his wisdom -- born out of years of study, struggle and life experience -- about how to live a life that matters.

READ this BOOK! Rabbi Kushner hits on so many relevant and pertinent topics that you will be amazed how you see yourself in the anedotes and examples used to illustrate Kushner's point. Rabbi Kushner uses the Old Testament story of Ecclesiastes to illustrate how man's search for happiness is eternal and not unique. I could not believe how similar Ecclesiaste's view on life and search for happiness are so similar to my own. I found myself stopping on many occasions and telling my wife "READ THIS!"
I have been on a self-help book crusade for the past several months. Reading a bunch of these books have helped in finding some understanding to the search for happiness I have been after. After each book, I can say one or two of the points explained in the book have made sense and have some good practical applications to dealing with everyday situations that arise in my life. Kushner's book is by the far the best. He gives you straightforward and understandable examples of the negative behavior that conflict in man's search for happiness.
From the opening pages Kushner had me! He hits the nail on the head when he says the lines "If you ask anybody what is more imporant - work or family? - without a doubt they answer family. But then ask them how much time they spend away from family by putting work ahead of family and making work more important than family obligations." (paraphrased) He has many of these observations that help the reader get some insight into how destructive these behaviors are towards our supposed goal of happiness. I highly, highly recommend this book - READ this BOOK!

A great book and one the everyone should read at some time in their lives!

Thanks again for getting me the book so fast and in such good condition!

Gary

A thoughtful, spiritual examination of why fame and fortune do not produce happiness, and why "average" and "successful" people often feel emptiness in their lives. Many brief anecdotes are used to illustrate the author's observations, which are linked to the book of Ecclesiastes.
Read by the author. You will read (or listen to) this more than once!

Kushner is a sage and this book is a classic. As always Kushner's knits together wonderful stories, quotes, and historical observations that are always on the mark and move his thoughts forward. The disease that plagues our age is overconsumption and Kushner invites the reader to step away from the table of materialism and instead search out the things that really matter.

Well, I know my Presidents now, that's for sure! I had great fun learning them, too, sitting on the couch with my husband one afternoon. The two of us went through the book, working through it and giggling at the references all the while. It was a lot of fun and we learned every president during the read. I planned to buy it, learn them, and then relist the item. But, I decided to instead hold onto it for when my nieces come over. I am always hunting for new ways to entertain them and this will keep them busy for sure! :) Lots of fun for all ages.
I highly recommend that you buy it and have as much fun as we did, and learn a little something, too! 5 stars!

This book was ordered for my son, who is a teacher, for Christmas and it came in plenty of time. Thanks so much.

This book is the best and most fun ways to learn about the American Presidents that I have ever seen. For each president from Washington through Clinton, there is a brief caption regarding his life and accomplishments. There is also a drawing taken from a photo or portrait, a cartoon style drawing and associated play on words to aid in remembering the name and whom they succeeded. For example, the cartoon for Dwight Eisenhower shows the Eiffel Tower with eyes on it being held by a tree with eyes. The caption is "The tree-man is crawling up the side of a huge tower that has eyes on it. It must be the eyes-on-tower!" The cartoon for Harry Truman, who preceded Eisenhower, shows the tree-man.
One of the best books for learning history and social studies, I strongly recommend this book. If my children were of a suitable age, I would buy it for them.

After one night, I knew all 43 presidents of the United States in order without looking. This book is AWESOME!!! :D

I had to memorize the presidents in the fourth grade. I'm in college now and I can still remember everything from this book. Not only does it work, but it's fun to look at the pictures and learn the presidents. People of all ages can learn from this book.