C Books

The shopping experience was great with Amazon. The book that I ordered was shipped and had gotten delivered in the amount of time that I had expected and what I needed it for.

My Brother-in-law was on the Roberts when she hit the mine. The story was well written and is a fascinating example of what men can do when properly trained, motivated and well led.

I believe the author does a good job of relaying the type of atmosphere that persisted on this ship from it's construction through deployment. My only critical point would be he doesn't spend enough time with the common sailors' point of view.

I also found it interesting that he covers Operation Praying Mantis. I was unaware that this was declassified.

All in all, nicely done and an informative and gripping account of one of the forgotten chapters of our continued presence in the gulf.

I am very impressed by No Higher Honor. It is interesting, well written, and an engaging read. No Higher Honor is an overdue tribute to a group of heroes that deserves to be remembered.

Anyone interested in naval history should read this book. I heartily recommend it.

I am a librarian at a Navy library and a patron recommended this book for purchase as a management book. It is the most exciting, well written and gripping management book you will ever read. It is a tale of heroism, competence and pride.

The first management lesson you will learn is that instilling pride in your workers will get you very far. Captain Paul Rinn worked on this from the day he learned the not yet built guided missile frigate was to be named the Samuel B. Roberts. He researched the first two ships with the same name and the sailor it was named after. He made sure the pre-commissioning crew knew all the history instilling pride in their ship as she was being built.

The second is even non-glamorous jobs are important, sometimes the most important. I suspect that not too many people go into the Navy with the idea of being the best damage control officer in the service. Rinn knew the importance of damage control and had his men trained, drilled and equipped to the best of his and his officer's abilities. He wanted them to be good at all tasks on the ship and gave them the appropriate training and encouragement.

Above being a book about leadership, it is also a gripping tale. The first lines of the book describing the initial spotting of the mines that were to damage the frigate are as gripping as any in any novel about the sea. It also brings into remembrance a dangerous time in our planet's history with Iran, Iraq and the US face to face in the Persian Gulf.

The author's style is both journalistic and literary, making the book a good read.

I was there and this book captured the entire ordeal as well as it could be captured. Bradley did a wonderful and thorough job collecting data and memories. I now know far more about the whole incident than I knew when it happened. I'm grateful that our story got told, but more grateful that it was told so well.

I gave this book 5 stars not because it is an easy read and certainly not because books detailing the atrocities of the holocaust "should" be given a high ranking. I rate it high precisely because of the high quality of scholarship and because of the author's insights.

I will make no attempt to summarize this detailed, complex history. I will, however, paraphrase what I learned. The Nazis entering the halls of power in 1933 were antisemitic but, despite Hitler's barely-veiled threats in "Mein Kampf", there was no plan for genocide. Also, Nazi anti-semitism stemmed from multiple roots one of which was an ingrained pattern of belief going back centuries. Another root was no-doubt the Nazi struggle with Communists in Bavaria in the 1920's and early '30's. Many/most of these Communists were Jews. Somehow--gradually probably--the belief arose that the Jews were inveterate Communists and the Communist leadership was essentially Jewsih. Here, I think, we can smell a whiff of "Protocols of the Elders of Zion."

In any event, the Nazis were determined to get rid of the Jews by "humane" means and ratcheted up the pressure on German Jews to leave the country--school segregation, Stars of David, boycotts and Kristal nacht. Many left. Then came the war and suddenly millions of Jews were included in the Greater Reich. The Nazis, in their malign wisdom, decided it was necessary to compel ethnic Germans to live in or close to Germany; for Poles to settle elsewhere; and for Jews to survive as best they could. The Nazis got USED to the idea of absolutely controlling the movements and fates of millions of people although, at this point, murder was the exception.

No problem. Germany would win the war and the Jews--all the Jews--would be rounded up and exported to Madagascar. Germany, although militarily successful beyond their early expectations, couldn't defeat England...and...England controls the waves. Germany continued to gain ground--and Jews--in the East but had no military capability of shipping the Jews out. Something had to be done. Forced labor was definitely considered and, to a certain extent, was used. More radical Nazis--Heydrich, Himmler and probably Hitler--opted for mass murder rather than the use of the Jews as slaves.

The Nazi psychology is remarkable. To the extent that is possible to get into their mind-set, the "Final Solution" was incredible. Why not, indeed, use the Jews--many of whom were skilled craftsmen and scientists--for their talents? These arguments were definitely made but the exterminatists gained the upper hand. Here we see the schizophrenia inherent in Nazi circles. They came to a kind of evil compromise. Jews were worked as slaves as they were simultaneously starved to death. What kind of a worker is a starving, dying person?

Nazis responsible for Jewish labor made precisely this complaint to their superiors but, like I said, the exterminationists won the argument. Or, as one Nazi official said, "We may lose the war against our external enemies, but we'll win our war against the Jews." [!].

Still, the holocaust was not deliberately sadistic. German soldiers suffered imprisonment and even death for deliberate cruelty against the Jews and other people. Not that there wasn't plenty of sadism but this was counter to official Nazi policy. The killings, the camps, the gas chambers were meant to be cold, efficient and mechanical. Let Poles, Ukrainians, Russians and even Jews do most of the real dirty work.

There are still important questions. How many Jews actually died? I've heard figures of six to fourteen million but how were these figures arrived at. Robert Conquest, in his studies of Stalin's purges, actually studied Russian population statistics to come up with a minimum of twnety million people murdered by Stalin. Why hasn't this been done for the holocaust? Maybe it has and I'm not familiar with it.

In one sense the precise number matters only to the dead. Is a person who murders 100 people less evil than someone who murders 1,000? I doubt it.

Ron Braithwaite, author of novels--"Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"--on the Spanish Conquest of Mexico

Christopher Browning has left us with THE book written on the topic.
Highly detailed, meticulously and flawlessly researched this book presents the result of many years of careful studies.
The gradual shift in Nazi-Policies to wholescale extermination of an important part of the European population is well described and intelligently subdivided in chapters by which the author helps the reader along carefully page for page sharing his wealth of knowledge and understanding of "the inexplicable".

It is after all one very well crafted piece of research dealing with one truly important topic in human history and clearly shows, as the Nazi administration struggled along to find a "viable solution", that early naivety of both victims and on-lookers was terribly out of place. True, the Nazis took great pains to hide the truth from the population, but it is only through this book that I came to understand how they actually succeeded. The monstrosity of the crimes becomes even more perplexing by understanding the gradual shift in time and place from mass-deporting and sorrounding the victims to mass-murder. What could have been expected from a sick brain like Himmler's, who had been a large scale chicken breeder in Bavaria before?
This book is an outstanding achievement. !Principiis obsta!

This is a most commendable work from Browning, an internationally repescted Holocaust researcher who conclusively demonstrated that Hitler, while desiring of the cleansing, ie, forcible expulsion, of the Jews from German dominated Europe, in one way of another, had never decreed that the Final Solution , as coined by Himmler and his deputy, Heydrich, should end in the death camps and gas chambers.

The radicalization and escalation of measures against the Jews mostly originated from his underlings who competed for brute power in a polycratic, darwinist bureaucracy, and who sometimes paid little attention to Hitler's expressed wishes, unless they were set down as written directives.

On wonders all those counter factual arguments puit forth by the Intentionalists that Hitler, mindful of the adverse consequences (!) of a written directive putting Jews to death, was careful not to lay down a paper trail leading to him as the main culprit, when Hitler himself signed a directive for the forced euthanasia of crippled , mentally handicapped, and deformed GERMAN babies and old people (what would cause a greater outcry amongst the Germans, should a directive be found, one for disposing of thier own kin and the other of the despised Jews?).

As from 1939, Hitler, as evidenced by all the OKW/OKH/OKL/OKM dairies as well as his so called table talk,concerned himself exclusively with foreign diplomacy or his campaigns, and never gave much thought about domestic politics or internal administration, thus leaving a void for his cohorts to enagage in a free for all power grab, with to each his own interpretation of what Hitler mentioned as the end of Jewry in Europe, and each and everyone going for increasingly radical measures as justification for aggregating addtional power/authority to oneself.

All in all, this is a sad book to read of the fate and treatment of the Jews by their persecutors, tormentors and executioners, be they Germans, Lithuanians, Estonians, Latvians, Hungarians, Romanians, Bulgarians, Dutch, French, Italians, Russians, Slovaks, Czechs, Serbs, Croats, Albanians, Belgians, Greeks....

This is one of the best books on the market that explains the political development of the Holocaust inside the Nazi power circle. It provides a strong argument that the Nazis did not originally plan to exterminate the Jews in Europe, but rather export them from Germany. Browning's thesis is a challenge to the slippery slope fallacy, which suggests that just because a person steps a foot in one direction doesn't mean he'll step a mile. The Nazis clearly started out w/ a 'Final Solution' plan of sending the Jews to a place like Madagascar (which was on the table as late as the Battle of Britain), but after the invasion of Russia this 'Final Solution' snowballed into a landslide of killing Jews via gas chambers (not that the Anti-Semitic rhetoric of the early 30s were justified in any way, whether pro-genocide or pro-expulsion). The Nazis took a step in a bad direction, and then they walked a mile along that evil path. This would give logicians a nightmare.

Most people assume that Hitler ran on a genocide program in 33. This is a dangerous assumption, for two reasons: 1.) it tends to view the Nazis as a supernatural party of evil. Make no mistake, the Nazis WERE evil, but they believed themselves to be do-gooders who provided solutions to the problems the average German faces. Did the German people know what they were getting into in 1933? Sure, they were willing to view Jews as the scapegoats for the Depression, but did they hate Jews enough to kill them? This book challenges the "Hitler's Willing Executioners" theory, because although Hitler touted a Final Solution in Mein Kampf, that wasn't interpreted by him or his companions as outright genocide until 1941.

And 2.) Holocaust deniers use this fact, that the "Final Solution" in the 30s meant population dispersal rather than genocide, and then they play the "Well, if you were lied to in high school about the original intentions of the Nazis, what else were you lied to about? (hint hint, you were lied to about the Holocaust period!)" card to gain confidence w/ the unsuspecting listener, and then convert this person into a Holocaust denier. It is important that we know the facts about the Holocaust, so that the uninitiated in deep WWII history won't be hoodwinked w/ "gotcha" facts by Holocaust deniers.

The mystery of how the Final Solution became the Final Solution will never be truly solved, that is lost to history, lost within Hitler's mind. Christopher Browning explains some of the forces and events that sped the Final Solution along. Browning may be the most eminent Holocaust scholar in America today. He has been looking at the whys and hows and wheres, mainly of the executioners, where motivations are still not crystal clear. What I saw as a reader was that the road to the Final Solution was almost an organic event. Poland was the first step, ethnic German resettlement next,then the necessities of occupation and finally Russia. Not one decision, but as you will see, decisions and choices dictated by events as much as ideology. This story will carry you along with fascination, with horror, and with a chilling understanding, not justification mind you, but understanding.

After reading Jaffer Ali's "Palestine and the Middle East", I realized that there is no `other side of the story'. Mr. Ali goes beyond propaganda and spin and shows us that the conflict raging between Israel and Palestinians is a matter of basic human rights denied to an indigenous people by a military occupying power. In dozens of short essays, we are shown that the desperation created by Israeli oppression has pushed an unarmed population of Palestinian civilians to stand in the street and futilely throw rocks at the tanks and armored assault vehicles of the Israeli army. I repeated the same question to myself as I read every different form of abuse carried out by Israel: "What would I do if I had to live under these conditions?" I commend Dandelion Books for having the courage to publish this book in today's climate.

Tom Zegar

This thoughtful, provocative book is a must-read for anyone wanting to know the truth behind the turmoil of the Mid-East. Ali is not a radical, he offers the point of view not seen in American media. As with all conflict there is another side - Ali offers this to us, as well as a more believable reason for the invasion of Iraq. Our current leadership has an agenda - one that does not set well with the rest of the world, and might not set well with the American people if they KNEW what it was. Read this book - it's a real eye opener.

Jaffir Ali takes us on both a very personal journey of what it means to be Palestinian in both the land of plenty and the land of desolation and humiliation and offers succinctly explanations for the conflict, explanations not redily offered in the mainstream media, media that is complicit in the web of obfuscation and silence. This is an eminently easy read, far from the thickly layered writings of Noam Chomsky or the intellectual depth of Edward Said's "Orientalism" , Jaffir Ali's quick fire essays are a perfect introduction to the Middle East/Palestinian crisis for readers who are only now beginning to realise that "there's something wrong with this picture" and is an excellent springboard for any wishing to learn more about the machinations of post WW2 colonial aspirations. Jaffir Ali's "Palestine and the Middle East: A Chronicle of Passion and Politics" should be required reading in at least Political Studies 101. Reccomended further readings: "The Fateful Triangle" by Noam Chomsky Black Rose Books...ISBN: 0920057-21-7. "Orientalism" by Edward Said available from this website. For continued updates on the Israel/Palestine situation subscribe to the excellent internet newsletter Viewpoint edited by Jaffir Ali.viewpoint@gophercentral.com

As an American of Palestinian decent Mr. Ali guides the reader through the passion that motivates and inflames the political issues of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. He is clearly anti-violence and committed to peace---a peace that is only possible through empathy and accountability. Mr. Ali illuminates the reasoning of desperation without validating it. He demands a worldwide even application of standards concerning occupation, in particular in Israel.

Mr. Ali's essays swing from erudite political treatises to gut-wrenching, emotional, and deeply personal testimonies. Whether he is analytical or impassioned he is always, and consistently, honest to the information and to the reader. After reading "Palestine and the Middle East" you will never be able to hear "the news" without hearing the bias.

Must reading for anyone who wants to understand failures and create the dialogue that will bring peace in the region.

I was born in 1945, so I do not remember the creation of the state of Israel and all that went into that. I do know that I was raised only hearing one side of this issue and I do know this. One side is NEVER the WHOLE story. What the author does is CLEARLY give the other side to this contentious issue. Is there a solution to the problem of the Middle East? It will take someone FAR smarter than I to answer that question - but I will say this. A START to the solution is for the world to see both sides of the issue - presented in a thoughtful intelligent manner. This book does this - who knows? When history looks back on what happens over the next century, this book may be responsible in great part for something we never thought to see. When I was a teenager - and much older than that - we never thought to see the Iron Curtain fall. Maybe Mr. Ali has contributed to a happy solution to a vexing - and world threatening - problem. As a devoted reader - maybe 2000 books at home, most of whom I have read - this is one of the most seminal books I will EVER read

This book is a tied summary of the philosophical wisdom through different epochs and regions. It covers both Western and Eastern system of thinking and goes from the Pre Socratics to the Postmodernists. It is an excellent book, easy to read and understand. I will recommend this essay to all those who are concerned with transcendental things, knowledge and morals.

A Passion for Wisdom is a well written, concise history of philosophy. My only complaint and reason for 4 rather than 5 stars is its biases towards political correctness

This book is perfect for those looking for, a the title states, a very brief history of philosophy. Solomon and Higgins do a great job of incoroporating Eastern philosophy as well as the usual Western philosophy. The explanations put forth in this book are thorough but not to specific-intensive - that is to say, a newcommer to the study of philosophical history could easily follow the text. I recomend this book to students and teachers alike, as well as anyone looking for an informative read.

This is a "concise version" of Solomon and Higgins's A Short History of Philosophy (1996) which wasn't all that short at 329 pages--well, for a history of philosophy actually it was kind of short. As the authors point out, a "short" history of philosophy (in German) by Hans Joachim Storig, runs to 750 pages, and Bertrand Russell's famous popular opus from 1945, A History of Philosophy was 895 pages long. What the authors have done here is to distill the essence of their larger book, mostly by judiciously pruning. The result is a witty, pithy and very well edited introduction for almost anybody interested in knowing what philosophy is all about.

Speaking of Russell, the authors's treatment of him is characteristically sly: Noting that Russell turned his attention to more worldly matters after his youth (and the Principia Mathematica), they add that "he wrote an elegant and impassioned autobiography, conclusively documenting his political commitments, his love of philosophy, and what we might politely call his love of love. He also declared--as the First World War had clearly shown--that 'the world is horrible.' Formal philosophy, by comparison, seemed both a refuge and a waste of time." (p. 115)

Solomon and Higgins cover Eastern philosophy (which many Western books do not), and they bring us up to the postmodern era, although they scrupulously avoid discussing philosophers still living--a wise decision no doubt since most of us are still trying to cope with what happen to philosophy after the logical positivists got a hold of it early in the 20th century. Solomon and Higgins also address religious philosophy, which again is right, especially when you consider that most of Western philosophy since the Greeks has been strongly influenced by Christian values and ideas--and of course, the Eastern "philosophies" from the Vedas, the Buddha, Lao Tzu, etc., cannot really be separated from religion.

It is good to compare this to Russell's best-selling opus since Solomon and Higgins do very well exactly what Russell did very well, that is make philosophy interesting and even exciting for the general reader; and like Russell they write with unusual clarity. Unlike Russell however they refrain (mostly) from taking sides in the various philosophic disputes and they don't reveal who their favorites are. I guess I could say that Russell's approach was a critical one as he found fault with many of the icons of philosophy, even--or perhaps especially--Plato, whereas Solomon and Higgins try for a more descriptive and informative approach. I love Russell. He was a delight to me when I first read him as a teenager, but I must say that the approach of Solomon and Higgins is the more judicious.

Philosophy is like history in this respect. We cannot adequately critique the ideas of today because we are so completely immersed in them that we have no real objectivity. As the authors put it so very well on page 113, "Philosophy is never isolated or immune from its time and place, no matter how abstract it may be or however 'eternal' or 'untimely' it may declare itself. Philosophy may be prophetic, it can be nostalgic, or it can act as a mirror, a reflection of a culture. But more often than not, it expresses in abstract terms the ideals and aspirations of society."

This follows their observation that Nietzsche had predicted the horrible wars of the 20th century. Their treatment of Nietzsche (and virtually all of the philosophers) is generous although there is just the slightest hint that his ideas may have been in some part responsible for the rise of the kind of mentality exhibited by the Nazis. They recall Nietzsche's "incredible suggestion that human beings...[are] nothing but a bridge between the ape and the Ubermensch ('superman')" Personally, I am not a big fan of Nietzsche; nonetheless it is striking to consider that he may be exactly right: the science of the 21st century may fuse us with our machines, and through genetic engineering allow us to become something "more" than human.

The book is in three parts, Part I: "Is There Ultimate Truth?"; Part II: "Faith and Reason"; and Part III: "From Modernity to Postmodernism." I think this is just perfect. The search for what is true and/or to what extent we can know what is true is at the very heart of the philosophic urge. And the struggle between faith and reason rages on today as it has since before the Greeks. And what we have experienced in our lifetimes is the rise of postmodernism which is a serious critique of the self-satisfied modernity that grew out of the Enlightenment.

I guess what I like best about this book is a sense that it is a return to the kind of philosophy that I loved as a young man. As the authors put it, while they are excited "by the bewildering variety of ideas" that we have today in philosophy, they are "at the same time...disturbed by the fact that the old ideal of philosophy, as a search for wisdom rather than a peculiar professional skill or a merely clever game, has gotten lost." (p. 128)

This book brings some of the excitement back.

Taken from the Preface: "This book is a more concise version of our "Short History of Philosophy" (Oxford, 1996). We have omitted many of our editorial comments, and we are rather brief here on contemporary philosophy. As in our previous book, we have adopted a prudent poicy of not discussing any living philosophers."

This is a great book! It reads easily and it "captures the global nature of philosophy as a (more or less) universal human attribute."

Enjoy!!

This flowing book of poetry is so enjoyable that you might want to read it in one sitting. The beginning has the beautiful language of pomegrantes, figs, and nature. At "Bach's Concerto No. 1 in C Minor" (210) the true feeling that this is great poetry dawned on me. And the poetic craft became better, too, through "The Bees" (217), "Straw-Blond" (243), and "Things I Didn't Know I Loved" (261). These poems progress through decades of his life and reach their peak in his maturity.

I was introduced to Hikmet through his poem, "Things I didn't know I loved". On the strength of this poem, I picked up this collection. I was tremendously suprised to find that there are many, many more poems that beautifully and powerfully express Hikmet's relishment of life, of love and the constant frustration he experienced as an exile.

His politics are a constant thread throughout many of his poems, as is his optimism in the future - in spite of being imprisioned and separated from his wife, his son and eventually his country. It is his passion for living, however, that struck me most powerfully. "Because of You", "On the Matter of Romeo and Juliet" and "This Journey" are among my favorites (and are among my favorites of ANY poet.)

If you own only two books of poetry, this should be one of them. (The other, in my opinion, should be anything by Rilke, but that is my taste.) Hikmet's words are exquisite and sublime. Highly recommended.

A poet of great humanity, great compasion, a believer in the human race in spite of having been in jail from many years, as well as been exiled by the Turkish leaders. refreshing and immediate, poetry for everyone, simple and strong.

It's hard to express in words just how wonderful and beautiful Hikmet's poetry is - intimate, honest, uncompromising, gently humorous, filled with longing and hope and refusing to let despair triumph in spite of outward circumstances. In other words, profoundly human.

I don't think he'd mind if I quoted his poem "Hello":

HELLO

Nazim, what happiness
that, open and confident, you can say "Hello"
from the bottom of your heart!

The year is 1940.
The month, July.
The day is the first Thursday of the month.
The hour: 9.

Date your letters in detail this way.
We live in such a world
that the month, day, and hour
speak volumes.

Hello, everybody.

To say a big
fat "Hello"
and then, without finishing my sentence,
to look at you with a smile
- sly and gleeful -
and wink. . .

We're such perfect friends
that we understand each other
without words or writing. . .

Hello, everybody,
hello to all of you. . .


(translated from the Turkish by Randy Blasing & Mutlu Konuk; published by Persea books)

Thank you, translators, for bringing this wonderful poet to English readers. From the bottom of my heart - thank you and hello!

Does not matter how good the translation is, it is not comparable to the original work. Nazim Hikmet is world's one of the great poets, but what makes him special really is the way he uses Turkish.

As one reviewer notes, Robert Williams name is not noted in other books about this era. This is a great loss to history. Also reading "Blood Done Sign My Name" will give readers a more complete picture of life for Blacks in the South in the 60's & early 70's.
However, as Timothy Tyson told me in February, "desegregation is not complete". "Blood Done Sign My Name", is in production as a major movie at this time. It is being filmed entirely in North Carolina.

A compelling look at a fascinating figure of the modern American civil rights movement whose story continues to be relevant. Particularly interesting is the nuanced and thoughtful treatment of the complex dialogue and tension between "nonviolence" and "self-defense" in the history of the Black freedom struggle in the US.

The period of Williams's life following his exile is only very tersely outlined (as the author himself admits), giving the book a bit of an abrupt end. More analysis of Williams's decision to renounce public life, of his scepticism about the later direction of the "Black Power" movement that had claimed him as one of its icons, and of his decision to seek an "understanding" with the US gov't enabling his return from exile, would probably make for most interesting reading.

Mainstream history seemingly gets real nervous about who is carrying a loaded weapon and who one associates with. Combine the two and it will take an outstanding historian like Timothy B. Tyson to bring to life the tireless work and controversies surrounding civil-rights activist Robert F. Williams.

Williams brought the element of armed self-defense in seeking equal rights, especially in his hometown of Monroe, N.C. Though Williams, a military veteran, stressed that the specter of self-defense was necessary - and proven successful in confronting the KKK and other racists - his stance drew the ire of the NAACP's national office, the FBI and other government agencies & those in the civil rights movement who stressed non-violent actions no matter what the situation.

The book is more than a biography on Williams. It shows how his demands for equal rights meant something different to various individuals and groups, though Williams would not politically "fall in line" with any movement. It was the perceived idealism that drew many to Williams, but it was such a coalition - including Malcolm X and the Socialist Workers Party - that made him particularly dangerous in the eyes of federal officials.

While in exile from the U.S. after being erroneously charged for violating several federal laws, Williams was in Cuba after the revolution, North Viet Nam during the war, China as the Cultural Revolution caught fire and travelled to Africa. His independent thinking got him in trouble in Cuba; a radio show he conducted to the U.S., Radio Free Dixie, along with public comments he made, found Williams facing the wrath of Cuban government officials and ultimately led him to China.

The book also shows how his wife, Mabel and women in Monroe & in other cities not only demanded civil rights, but were willing to defend themselves and their families from violent attacks through the barrel of a gun. Mabel Williams was also an important person in the writing, editing and publishing of a newsletter that gained national and international attention.

Williams was an important catalyst for Huey Newton and the Deacons for Defense in their quests to skillfully confront the haters on the streets. In yet again another example on why we must continue to look past the history as it is written in textbooks, Robert F. Williams showed what can be accomplished when the intimidators become the intimidated while trying to perpetuate the myth of white supremacy.

The civil rights movement was not created by, lead by, or moved forward by the dozen or so media heros whose names we all now know. The civil rights movement succeed because so many ordinary people decided that they could no longer stand to live in the midst of injustice, and decided to step out of their daily lives and do something about it.

Robert Williams did just that. An ordinary working class guy, he used his people skills to form a network of working class black people who did not have the patience of the old line leaders of the local NAACP chapter in his hometown. He got himself elected president of the chapter, and backed by dozens of local people, formed one of the most activist chapters in the country. The national NAACP never was comfortable with Williams or the work of his chapter, and at best held them at arms length.

Inevitably, Williams' hard pressure on local structures of racism lead to a backlash. When he was attacked and his family threatened with death, the local police did nothing. When he and his community defended themselves, by taking up arms to combat the armed violence of the white racists, he was charged with murder, and became the subject of a massive FBI hunt. Escaping to Cuba, he operated a radio station, beaming the "truth" along with progressive jazz and blues which would never be played on corporate radio in the south, to Dixie.

Ultimately, Williams' stance of self-defense was taken up by Stokley Carmichael in the South, and by the Black Panther Party in Oakland, and is now well known as the "Black Power" movement. But at the time, it was simply a slightly more hardline version of the NAACP. Local chapters of the NAACP, building on long traditions of mutual support in black communities throughout the south, supported by thousands of ordinary people, formed the backbone of the civil rights movement. Anyone who thinks otherwise should read the statements by Bob Moses and the other SNCC organizers, who readily admitted that they could never have accomplished anything at all if not for the decades of groundwork done by the local NAACP chapters throughout the south.

Great book, which everyone interested in the history of the Civil Rights movement, or just interested in the way social changes really happen, should read.

Ultimately, the notion of white supremacy and the so-called glory of the Lost Cause always devolved to the use of violence and intimidation against black people and any one who sided with them. Williams' is an amazing story of courage and determination as he challenged the KKK and assorted white rabble of rural North Carolina in the 1940s through the 1960s in his quest for racial justice.

Williams, a soldier during WW2, came back to Monroe, NC after the war and took on the clowns and goons of the KKK and the local and state white government. When they fired on his home, he shot back, upsetting the applecart of segregation.

Tyson's book is a powerful portrayal of a man quite willing to die for his rights, a man fed up with the violence degradation inflicted on him by southern society, and a man willing to kill to protect his property, his person and his family.

Tyson's realistic and entertaining portrayal of the stupid and inane actions of white southern racists in North Carolina is another reason to read this book. The local thuggery is almost comical, until one remembers they are well armed and prone to alcholism and violence. Tyson goes into great detail about a 1958 case where two black boys, 10 and 8 were BEATEN and IMPRISONED for kissing a white girl.

Williams and his wife are not well known heroes of the Civil Rights struggle. This book gave me a greater appreciation of the vicious hatred, violence, and stupidity they were fighting, and how disciplined and determined the Civil Rights struggle had to be in the face of overwhelming white resistance.

This book and CD are a wealth of knowledge. As a person of African descent, hearing how these persons were treated in a county supposedly for freedom and equality, not only was a horrified but very angry.
I will NEVER forgive this coutry for the ill treatment and hardship that racism and bigotry ahs and still is causing.

I am currently a high school student that read part of this for a Civil War class and let me say this is one powerful book. With people who were the slaves themselves tell you their stories, you learn alot about the antebellum period. I would recommend this book for any mature person due to the fact that some of these stories show the true horror of slavery.

This is a must have, must read, must hear book. With the sixty-nine minute recording of the actual slave interviews from the 1930s, we have the only known recording of the actual voices of actual slaves telling their story. Hearing their voices is like being tele-ported back in time. The book itself also examines those same interviews, primarily through "Weevils in the Wheat: Interviews with Virginia Ex-Slaves."

Teachers and speakers will want their students and audiences to hear these voices. They give voice to the voiceless and bring alive these heroic survivors.

Reviewer: Bob Kellemen, Ph.D., is the author of Beyond the Suffering: Embracing the Legacy of African American Soul Care and Spiritual Direction , Spiritual Friends, and Soul Physicians.

For several years I've been reading powerful thought-provoking slave narratives. This is probably the most moving due to accompanying tapes of slaves discussing their thoughts and conditions when they were slaves. This book and tapes should be used in every high school American and World history classes. I recommend this book to everyone above the age of twelve. If you want to begin educating your children earlier about American history, specifically slavery have them read K.J. McWilliams books; The Journal of Darien Duff, an Emancipated Slave, The Diary of a Slave Girl, Ruby Jo, and The Journal of Leroy Jones, a Fugitive Slave. They are based on slave narratives such as this one and include many interesting photos as well as additional information.

this is a Must for all to have.The Books&tapes show the RawNess and Emotions of Americas Worst NightMare that still Haunts Her.the Voices run Deep down your skin.until SLavery is Properly Discussed and Dealt with America will continue to be a Land of The Unknown.a Must Have Book.

Shippey walks the reader through Tolkien's lifelong fascination with and love and study of language, which is the golden thread of Tolkien's depiction of humankind through the mists of our earliest time on the planet.

This book is quite simply superb in every conceiveable respect. It is written by a scholar who understands and respects Tolkien's own scholarly passion for philology, the science and stories of the evolution of words and language. This is very different from the humanistic field of literary criticism, and Shippey explains at some length what a philologist can and cannot do. The close reader will end Shippey's book with a wistful feeling that some very wrong turns have been made in academia over the past one hundred years, and one of the reasons for Tolkien's greatness in his time was quite simply his refusal to accept or acknowledge that these wrong turns had been made. At bottom, a scholar of literature is, or at least ought to be, someone who loves words. We will always have a few of these people among us, and Tolkien's and Shippey's works remind us that no overgrown pathway is ever truly lost.

Tom Shippey has an intimate knowledge of the mind and creative processes of the late Professor J.R.R. Tolkien, perhaps nearly as intimate a knowledge as Christopher Tolkien himself. The degree of the schism between language and literature professors of his day was most startling, and how that affected the early critics' appraisals of his masterpiece was also not what I had expected. Tom Shippey's knowledge of JRR Tolkien's mind is most revealing and is encyclopedic, and his ability to explain how deeply the master philologist would see legends and myths in the most ordinary of names and words left me thunderstruck. I have read all five of the main Middle Earth volumes several times and have read some of the Lost Tales, but I had not gained any insight from previous volumes saying how Pr. Tolkien created his world. The authors of those books seemed to lack legitimacy. Tom Shippey does not have that problem, and his book demonstrates that he is Pr. Tolkien's bona fide pupil and linguistic heir. Fans of Middle Earth should be thankful for Tom Shippey's insight, an insight that could only be bettered by Christopher Tolkien, or Pr. Tolkien himself.

Tom Shippey is a profound student of Tolkien with a deep love of middle-earth and a deep understanding of it and its origins.

Unlike so many academics, he is a fine writer. He has style, insight and erudition. Professor Shippey succeeded to Tolkien's chair at Oxford and he has the feeling of Tolkien's world in his bones. He knows Tolkien not only as a fantasist but also as a philologist and understands - and can explain in simple and lucid language - how Tolkien's studies of words influenced his creative work. He has also written interesting critiques of science-fiction.

This is a most valuable book that will contribute proufoundly to any reader's understanding and appreciation of Tolkien's greatness without - and this is very important! - destroying the magic.

I know Tolkien's work well and cannot fault this book.

Shippey's "J.R.R. Tolkien: Author of the Century" places Tolkien in the context of his time. "The Road to Middle-earth" has the more scholastically challenging job of placing Tolkien in the context of his tradition. As that tradition is primarily philological and philosophical, these are his subjects. He tells us what Tolkien meant the words and names in his stories to mean; he tells us how Tolkien used modern language to convey modern and ancient styles and philosophies in contrast; he tells us how the Ring mediates two mutually exclusive concepts of evil; he explains Tolkien's complex narrative strategies; he dresses down critics who misunderstand Tolkien and blame him for not fitting into their concepts of literature; and he does all this with such a blistering display of erudition and general intelligence that the reader sits back amazed.

The book is discursive, and the opening theoretical chapters may seem heavy going, but have patience: they provide necessary context. Shippey has Tolkien's measure in full throughout. He explains what was important to Tolkien, what Tolkien thought he was doing, and - no less vitally - why it is necessary to understand this if one is not to bash Tolkien in annoyance for not accomplishing something totally different.

If you read Shippey, will you necessarily understand Tolkien? No. But if you don't read Shippey, and if you also don't have his insight and knowledge, you will not fully understand Tolkien.

Zeepvat didn't write anything short of an amazing book on the 19th century Romanovs. She really got into the intimate details of family life as well as writing of their political role. A must read book for all Romanov fans!

A delightful collection of stories starting with the first Nicholas and Alexandra in 1817, winding it's way to a story about the Tsesarevich Alexei. Many lesser known members of the Imperial Family are here, many who are quite interesting in and of themselves!

Very well written series of 'short stories' of different members of the Russian royal family at the turn of the 19th century, some obscure and not normally written about, which I found very refreshing. I am an avid collector of historical biographies, Russian royal family especially, but I have never seen such a comprehensive exploration of the Romanovs. Quite a few pictures I had not seen before also. All in all a great investment, and a very good read.

This book goes way beyond the normal stories of Tsar Nicholas II and Tsaritsa Alexandra Feodorovna. Charlotte Zeepvat leads us through the personalities in the Romanov family, and what part they played in imperial Russia and its downfall. Through these biographies the reader can understand the slide from a united family to the rival factions that partly brought about the Revolution and its aftermath. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who has ever wondered about the imperial house of Russia , and the fate that awaited them.

This is a well written book that covers the last century of the Russian Romanov dynasty.

The author has chosen a wide focus rather than a narrow one on Nicholas II and Alexandra. For once we get to meet the other family memebers, learn about their personalities and what events shaped their lives and the fate of the dynasty.

We also get to read in detail about the various palaces and estates the family used. These are often referred to in other books without any real background information on their history or importance to the family being described. This book fills that vacume.

If you know nothing about the Romanovs this is a fantastic place to start as all these people's live stories weave in and out of each other to create an amazing and true story.

I just finished the Poldark Saga (all 12 books) and can't recommend them enough!! I was able to secure 10 of the 12 from our local library system but had to buy the other two due to unavailability, and they are well worth their purchase price. I'm a lover of Brit lit and this series takes you to the Cornish coast and proceeds to envelop you into the lives of an engaging family and their friends and foes. Great descriptions of the coast and the weather, both of which figure greatly into the story lines, and the characters are indeed people you would enjoy knowing.

The quest for the 12 books was well worth the effort. Go forth and enjoy!!

These books have no equal in historical fiction. I have read them several times and am starting over again. The writing and character development are the best I've ever read. Start at the beginning and end with #12 - Bella Poldark - which was written a year or two before the author passed away. This series could provide a book group with material for an entire year!

I have recently been introduced to this series and started reading books which were originals from the 40's. It is a wonderful series and I have now read 10 of the novels and wish it would never end. Great piece of history and family. It is so nice to be able to read "new" books, even though I enjoyed the yellowed pages of the old ones I have. Don't miss it! Also have the BBC Video set which is in black in white, but interesting, none-the-less.

In 1783, Ross Poldark, the title character to the opening volume (published in 1945) of the magnificent Poldark series, the great undertaking of Cornish writer Winston Graham's ninety-three-year life, is first introduced to us as a young man in his early twenties, a de-commissioned infantry officer, recently returned from the brutality of the War of Rebellion in Colonial America. Given up for dead and in fact wounded almost to the point of death, Poldark returns to his native Cornwall, a scarred, limping figure, still spirited but aged and hardened by the horrors of war. Grimly, the adventurous risk-taker Poldark discovers his father, the local squire and something of a lothario, is dead, his fiancée, Elizabeth, believing Ross killed in combat, is now engaged to wed Ross' cousin, Francis, and that an ambitious family of rising commercial entrepreneurs, the Warleggans, are in the process of trying to persuade Ross's uncle to sell them the mines that would have been Ross's has his father's will been penned without the apparent tragedy of his son's death foremost in his mind. The story spreads like the branches of a massive tree and before the conclusion of this, volume one, we come to meet the sort of characters that will never be forgotten, and find ourselves witness to scenes and situations that stir the imagination.

What separates the dozen Poldark novels from so many other historical works is firstly the intricate, good-natured, involving plotline Graham sustained throughout the sixty years he was writing about these characters, but above that, there is within each Poldark work a sense that one is entering a past time, not merely reading of it. Life as Graham writes in any of these books is a near three-dimensional voyage two hundred years backward, and he leaves few stones unturned. When one reads these novels one learns about the mining industry of the era, the banking industry, social customs, warfare, and contemporary attitudes on an encyclopedic range of subjects. One witnesses the rise of Methodism, and grasps its role as an outlet to quell ill-will among the English lower classes, as nothing did among the violent-minded masses of 1780's France. Graham tells us what people in those times wore, ate, drank, what they would have felt, witnessed, heard, smelled, thought, and feared. He takes a modern person into what might very well be described as a psychological/sociological time machine. These books boil with the gamut of human emotion and passion, from hate to lust, to love, to desire for all manner of possessions.

Ross Poldark and the eleven other novels that follow it are storytelling at its old-fashioned greatest, and this book launches what I truly feel is the greatest historical saga in the English language.

This is the first Poldark novel introducing Ross Poldark, Cornwall mining owner/farmer/squire and his extended family.

I especially enjoyed listening to the audiotapes narrated by
Tony Britton; his chararcters' accents are humorous and entertaining. I love the Poldark series and after I read or
listen to all the novels I'd like to see the videos.

Wonderful stories and characters, highly enjoyable. Hard to
put down.