Henry James Books

Any serious student of food and food history
will find a lot of errors and inadequacies in
this book. Sometimes the material is just plain
wrong. More often, the brief comments are just
over-simplified: the section on Italy's D.O.C.
laws is an example.Most of the problems are
questions of emphasis: there are 25 entries for
'pasta' and none for 'soba'. None of the entries
about wine mention the development of bottling,
which is surely one of the most important innova
tions. As other reviewers have observed, there
is a disproportionate emphasis on America and
Europe and the curious inclusion of many short-
lived restaurants.

So with all these cavils, what's the point of
this book and why does it rate three stars?
This books great virtue is as a corrective
companion to all those histories that ignore
food. If you believe that people follow their
food and that nutrition and gastronomy often
lie beneath the big topics in history, this is
your book. What was going on in the world of
food in 1776? 1812? How did salt cod and lime
juice change the course of the European
exploration of the rest of the world?

This is history in a blink-without much
sense of context and no report of the ideas
about food that lurked behind the events.
But it is a valuable dose of perspective and
an excellent starting point. It is also, for
those times and places where a quick browsing
read is desireable, irreplaceable.

My copy sits on a shelf near the rocker in
my kitchen. Another chef of my acquaintance
keeps his in the bathroom. As with so many
things, this book is a pleasure if you know
where it belongs.


Lynn Hoffman, author of The New Short Course in Wine
and the forthcoming novel bang-BANG from kunati press.

I'm told that Mr. Trager's book states that the first Thanksgiving was celebrated in 1621. The first Yankee Thanksgiving, perhaps. Others suggest that the first Thanksgiving was near EL Paso TX in 1598 by Don Juan de Onate and about 400 Spanish colonists after they traveled north across the desert and crossed the Rio Grande river. It was celebrated a full 23 years prior to the Pilgram Thanksgiving in Plymouth MA.

Utterly comprehensive, fantasically informative and an utter delight. If you like food, you'll love this! How anyone else gave it less than five stars I can't imagine

The reviewer from Japan was right in noting mistakes. This book is riddled with them, especially typos, skewed facts and sometimes real gaffes. (But begging your indulgence, fellow reviwer, eggplants are not from the Americas.)

I agree with other reviewers that Trager's book contains numerous errors. Nevertheless, there's nothing I've read quite like it for breadth of coverage of food history. The book is a resource for food writers like me, or anyone who wants a good source of ideas about food. I can check my facts elsewhere. I particularly enjoy Trager's treatment of food processing and industrial food history, as well as his analysis of food and nutrition fads over the past few centuries. His coverage of food-related and deficiency illnesses is also deep, and has spurred me to further reading. If you read The Food Chronology from cover to cover, as I did over a period of several months, you cannot help but be stimulated and enriched.

Food writer Elliot Essman's other reviews and food articles are available at www.stylegourmet.com

What frustrated and disappointed me was Robert Harlands sloppiness. Harland, a former British spy, was suspicious from the get yet kept making careless stupid mistakes over and over. That, after the first two, was inexcusable, imho. His sloppiness caused his sons death which reeeeally pissed me off cuz I liked Tomas Rath and was looking forward to a whole book with him in it. Grrrrr. Other than that I enjoyed reading this book and am looking into reading his 'Brandenburg Gate'. 'Empire State' sounds stupid so will skip it. Also will skip 'Remembrance Day' after reading the Publishers Weekly and Chris Fogarty's review.

I must agree with some of the other reviewers that this one is good, not great. Parts of it are too implausible, and other parts dragged on way too long. Halfway through I had to put the book down for a few months and regain my strength before finishing. It was only pure perseverance, not enthusiasm, that made me finish it. The end was actually well done, but it took far too long to get there.

However I do not read an espionage genre on regular basis, more exactly - I read it very rarely, this book has got me totally. Thrilling from the very first paragraph it has consumed my entire weekend. I simply could not leave it and let it be a bed-side reading. I have picked it randomly from a box of english books I have received from someone leaving my country back to the US and every other book I have picked up afterwards was a pure disappointment in a comparision with this one.
The plot is great and refreshing, the style is dynamic and the construciton of book is thirilling. Beside being an enormously convincing post cold-war espionage book, I have appreciated the job the author has done as for the local specifics described in book. As long as I come from on of the countries the book takes place in and as long as these central-european countries are usually described in a ridiculous, far from reality way, Mr. Porter has bothered himself to do a research, to check the probability of local names and places (authors, when writing about the post-communist countries often tend to name their heroes Boris and Yelena, forcing them to live in towns sounding like in XY-kovo and let them standing all their days in the queues to get a bread and potatoes, thinking that giving the contex a typical russian coherency of the 70ties spices the book with the sprinkle of authenticity) and together with the plot he has made the book so persuasive I have started to look over my shoulder to check whether or not I'm being observed by a spy.
But first and foremost he has convinced me the espionage genre (and the espionage itself) has not died with the end of a cold war.

Spy's Life is a very enjoyable espionage thriller. Robert Harland, a former British spy, begins the novel by surviving a plane crash only to realize that this is the least of his worries. Key events in this spy's life have come back to haunt him and now he is not only fighting for his life, but the lives of his loved ones. Great political intrigue, I especially liked the use of the United Nations in the novel.

Can't wait for the sequel 'Empire State'.

A very good spy story with lots of twists and turns, a love story and the up turning of an unknown son. There is lots of shooting and death for those with a bloody bent and an airplane crash that is the centre of a sabotage investigation. The plot line centres on the competition amongst spy organizations in different countries in the investigation by the UN of an ethnic cleansing burial site in the former Yugoslavia. A nice twist at the end, a believable protagonist in Robert Copeland and a ruthless sadistic enemy that stretches Copeland's many talents.

While I enjoyed most of the book the last 100 pages tended to drag and the involvement of the various good and bad guys got very complex. 3.5/5

Too many losers and I do not mean weight. I deal with crisis everyday in the emergency room. I like to read books that are more entertaining and uplifting.

Despite (or because of) the success of their diet club, the Flab Five hit a diet plateau of boredom that has them eagerly signing up for a "fix and freeze" cooking class to learn how to prepare tasty and spicy meals. Also attending the class are the glamorous twins Parker and Kinsley Willis, transplants from New York City. The beautiful veterinarian and teacher whip up their share of emotions among the Virginia Blue Ridge Mountain natives, and when one of the twins is murdered during a school field trip suspicion immediately falls upon Flab Five member Lindy, whose jealousy of Parker's attentions on the school principal had her making unfortunately overheard death threats against the woman . Determined to prove his fellow diet club member's innocence, librarian James Henry teams up with reporter Murphy Alistair to determine who could have wanted either twin dead. Also complicating James's life is the accidental deposit of a winning lottery ticket in the library's bookdrop that presents both investigative and ethical complications.
The joy of reading this series comes from following the diet club's physical and emotional ups and downs as they cope with their personal and diet issues. As James's relationship with deputy-in-training Lucy Hanover falters as a result of her obsession with both her physical fitness and her training partner, James's attraction to the sexy reporter definitely grows. The librarian's relationship with his acerbic and diet-sabotaging father as well evolves as Jackson Henry's new career as an artist has him focusing his attention towards new directions. Readers will relate with the diet club's frustrations, James's discovery that new health problems seem to make every food taboo, and the romantic complications of the entire group. Fully of humor, recipes, and extremely likable characters, this continues to be a very enjoyable mystery series.

Librarian James Henry and his friends in the The Flab Five supper club decide to join a Mexican cooking class at the suggestion of Lindy, a local schoolteacher. Class heats up when a Murphy, a local reporter, and her friends, gorgeous twin sisters, enroll. When people start turning up dead, the evidence appears to point toward Lindy.

Things don't seem to be going too well for James and Lucy as Lucy works harder and harder to pass the sheriff's test. As they continue to drift apart, Murphy steps in. James is unsure as to his feelings but isn't willing to just sit around either.

Knowing Lindy can't be the killer, The Flab Five step in. Can they find the killer before anyone else dies?

I thoroughly enjoy this series. James and The Flab Five are fabulous. I really like the dieting tips and hearing how they struggle with it. I especially like the Fitzgerald twins at the library. They are so ingenious and engaging. The small-town setting in Virginia is great as well. I recognize a lot of the area landmarks.

I can't wait for the next installment in this series. I highly recommend this book and the whole series.

Plot initially seemed interesting, but ending was confusing. One dimensional characters, people I wouldn't be interested in knowing. Something about it reminded me of Nancy Drew, which I loved when I was 12, but I'm not 12 anymore. Although I could probably reread Nancy Drew and get more out of the books than I did with this one. Not interested in buying/reading another in this series.

J.B. Stanley once again teases our taste buds and sates our appetites with Chili Con Corpses, the third installment in her utterly delicious Supper Club Mystery series. On this occasion, we bump into two supper club members, James and Bennett, working hard at the gym when Murphy Alistair, the editor of The Shenandoah Star Ledger, walks into the Y, accompanied by two drop-dead gorgeous strangers - twins Parker and Kinsley Willis. Later, while James and Bennett are rewarding their hard work at the gym with a treat from the Custard Cottage, Murphy and the twins show up again, and introductions are made. Parker is a vet who attended Virginia Tech with Murphy, and Kinsley is her quirky twin sister from New York.

The supper club members, a.k.a. The Flab Five, are five Quincy's Gap, VA residents with very different backgrounds and interests, who get together on a regular basis for friendship and moral support in their quest to lose weight and improve their health. Since they have all made great strides toward their goals but are getting a bit tired of constantly dieting, Lindy suggests they try something new - so the club members all sign up for 10 Saturday cooking classes at Fix `n Freeze - to have fun and allow themselves to splurge on Mexican cuisine once a week.

James Henry, local librarian and supper club member, figures prominently in this particular supper club mystery. He's having some health issues, is having some problems in his romantic relationship with fellow supper clubber, Lucy, is worried about his father, is trying to resolve a dilemma dealing with a lottery ticket left at the library, and is unfortunate enough to stumble upon a very dead body while serving as a chaperone at Lindy's behest on a school field trip. When things start to look really bad for Lindy, the supper club members decide to do some sleuthing on their own. They are actually downright clever and come up with several ingenious ways to ferret out information about the possible suspects, although it isn't until all five of the club members are involved and working together that things really start to heat to boiling.

This is a thoroughly delightful cozy mystery, with a wonderful cast of realistic main characters, any of whom this reader would enjoy meeting in person, enough suspense and action to keep the story moving right along, and, as if that weren't enough, there are also several scrumptious Mexican recipes included! All in all, Chili Con Corpses is a very satisfying read, and I'll be waiting anxiously for J.B. Stanley's fourth Supper Club Mystery!

Carol Ann Hopkins 3/24/2008

This is the only collection of the ECF that you can get for this price. Even though there are protestant footnotes and as that other poster said "damage control"(and the footnotes can be ignored if you want) , it still can't be beat sold in this beautiful collection for this wonderful price. The weath of information is unbeatable and is probably the most important thing to buy for Catholic Study other than the Bible. It has all of St. Augustines books like his confessions, city of God, his doctrinal works, etc. It just can't be beat and is much better than buying one book at a time and pay a boatload. Why buy the single books when you can get it all in one package here?

In this series an indescribable wealth of primary sources will be found, which consists of apologetic, theological, philosophical, exegetic, ethical, dogmatic, and historical writings. Many documents and decrees, early church liturgies and hymns, along with an abundance of letters and tracts from the most illustrious and prolific authors of our Christian past are preserved here as well in a complete and clear turn of the century English prose translation. Moreover, this 38 volume set includes the principle writers of the Church from St Clement of Rome, a contemporary of St Paul, to St John Damascene, the last of the Eastern fathers who wrote during the 8th century AD. In the West, Pope Gregory the Great's works are the last included in this series, since the end of his pontificate essentially marks the West's shift from the world of late antiquity into the dawn of the Dark Ages. Arguably, some works by Latin authors like St Benedict, Isidore of Seville, Prudentius, Sidonius, and Rufinus of Aquiliea should have joined the ranks with other Western fathers, since the editors saw it necessary to place in the works of John Damascene, who wrote well over a century later than Isidore, the latest of the authors listed above. However, the editors judgement to place St Gregory the Great as the last of the Western fathers may be vindicated, although to leave authors like Prudentius, Rufinus, Sidonius, and Benedict out, who all wrote and thrived before Gregory's birth, may be open for scrutiny. Also, these works are all translated and edited by Protestant scholars and divines, so the footnotes, prefaces, and profiles of these Church Fathers and their works tend to be shrouded with Protestant leanings. Although, Catholics--and anyone for that matter--will nevertheless find this series to be the most complete and reliable source of early Christian writings. The Catholic University of America currently has many of the Church Fathers writings available, which are definitely worth checking out as well.

...This is an excellent resource, no two ways about it. I find myself using it all the time, looking up things I find quoted in books, tracts, etc. I found it very convienent to be able to get the whole set at once, and I might add, for a very good price ....

Just a caveat: this is not, and does not advertize itself as a complete compendium of the writings of the authors represented in this set. For instance, Origen, Jerome and Athanasius are given particularly brief treatments, as are most of the writers presented in volumes 25-38.

... This is a great resource, but some 120 years after initial publication, the body of manuscripts and scholarship used in translation has been improved upon. This cannot be looked upon as an intrisic weakness in this series, but rather an effect of aging which falls on all older works which rely on a body of historical writings which are under constant study.

Regarding the introduction essays, I don't have a huge problem with them. Not all of them are openly polemical. This was compiled by Protestants, so one should not be surprised to find pro-Protestant essays therein. One cannot possibly confuse these with the writings of the Fathers themselves, and can be easily skipped.

However, I did pick up a fair amount of attempted "damage control" in the footnotes, i.e. the footnote on Irenaeus' Against Heresies 3:3:2. Other examples could be cited.

In any case, I am not citing these things to "unpromote" the work, but simply discussing the points .... I am aware that there are newer translations of these writings available, but are only available piecework and for much more money.

This is indeed a great place to start, but people wanting more complete writings and/or more current scholarship might want to consider the Ancient Christian Writers series.

The study of ecclesiastical history and the writings of the Saints are a necessity for a proper appreciation of Scripture and its interpretation. Philip Schaff's Church History is one of the few complete ecclesiastical history collections available. There are more modern and reliable translations of the ancient Greek and Latin texts (Ancient Christian Writers and Fathers of the Church Series), which abstain from sectarianism; unfortunately, the publishers have not yet gathered these works into a single collection. Despite the shortcomings of this edition, Philip Schaff's Church History is notable, if only for its presentation of the Reformed perspective on the development of ecclesiastic doctrine.

Schaff was guided by a number of principles in his History. He was convinced, for example, that other church histories conformed to a "dry, lifeless style" that failed to probe the "main thing in history, the ideas which rule it and reveal themselves in the process." Most church histories -he believed- failed to foster a sense organic development, leaving students unable to understand their movement's place in the overall history of the church.

Following philosopher G.W.F. Hegel, who posited that cycles of thesis, antithesis, and synthesis raise what is preserved to a higher level, Schaff maintained: "spiritual growth is likewise a process of annihilation, preservation, and exaltation." An example of this process in Christian thought and practice was -according to Schaff- the emergence of the Protestant Reformation out of the medieval Catholic Church. "The practical piety and morality of Roman Catholicism," said Schaff, "is characteristically legal, punctilious, un-free and anxious; but distinguished also for great sacrifices, the virtue of obedience, and full consecration to the Church." The Protestant Reformation brought a needed corrective through a faith that "is evangelically free, cheerful and joyous in the possession of justification by grace."

In effect Schaff presents Protestantism as the heir of catholicity at the expense of the Roman See (his description of "the Papists" is outrageous), liberating doctrine from the "constraints" of ecclesial authority. Yet he conveniently minimizes the shortcomings of Protestantism, namely its fractious nature and the replacement of Apostolic Tradition with the tradition of subjective interpretation of Scripture. Fortunately he recognized the need for union, envisioning the emergence of a synthetic "evangelical-catholic" Christianity in the future.

Schaff utilizes heavy editorializing to present the writings of the Church Fathers as representing his viewpoint; this unfairly forces the reader to accept his overbearing perspective at the expense of the Church Fathers. If you are approaching this work from a non-Protestant background, you might find it necessary to skip the introductions and the footnotes. Despite the sectarian presentation of Church history, I recommend this work, as it makes the works of the Apostolic Fathers accessible at a reasonable price.

This 38 volume set is a treasure chest of the writings of the early fathers of the Catholic Church (whatever your theological position may be about the word Catholic, there simply is no doubt that the church of these fathers was but "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic".)

What we needed is a set that did not try to prove that these Fathers of the Church were Protestants. They are not. We would need even less a set that would try to prove that they are 100% "Roman Catholic" in their thinking. They were not this either. It is the task of the exegete, bible student, and scholar to decide this by looking at these primary sources for themselves. We did not need the editors to tell us what the texts said. Due to this clear flaw in the notes, the texts themselves become suspect, and extra scrutiny must be used to ensure we are getting a faithful translation of the text. While this set is a "cheap" way to get the works of the fathers, the newer Newman Press texts are much better, based on better manuscripts, but also much more expensive. The volumes here have its merits, and it would be well worth anyone interested in what these Christians had to say to own them no matter what their theological leanings, but we must keep a careful eye on what is being said in the text.

This book is a good book to learn basic drafting pratices. It is also a good referance book to keep in your bookcase beside your desk.

This book is an excellent reference for anyone needing an introduction to or a reference for technical drawing. Most of the content concerning machine component drawings are geared (no pun intended) more toward traditional methods for technical drawings (i.e. compass, ruler and pencil), but the methods given are well suited to modern computer-oriented methods of solid modeling. Engineers in the manufacturing industry will find it especially useful, as it can be a helpful reference for weldment drawings.

The thing this book does best is demonstrate the inferiority of 2D drafting when compared with 3D modeling. In several parts, the 2D documentation of the parts glosses over some of the more complex implications, and simply leaves it to someone else downstream to figure out. If you try to build some of the example parts in 3D, you see that the dimensions in probably 40% of the parts I worked through simply don't add up.

Shouldn't the book at least describe the concept of draft on example parts that are for the most part cast and forged parts? Some of the example parts become extremely difficult if you consider draft.

Also there is the combination of some very dated material with some semi-modern entries, especially when covering computer hardware. This kind of thing is almost impossible to cover in a published hardcopy because the computer hardware has gone through two generations between writing and distribution of the book.

On the plus side, it does have some nice examples, but this is far from complete if it is being used to prepare college students for jobs in the 2000's.

I can only speculate that this book is, as was one of the previous editions I've read, used and loved, is bound to provide an exceptional foundational education in the skill of technical (engineering design) drawing/drafting for those with the natural aptitude for freehand drawing. Readers will indeed learn about and develop precision drawing skills--whether drawing with instruments or computer.

The true value of this book is in its ability to guide and therefore transform the natural artist's raw talent into that of a professional grade design artist--capable of rendering technical depictions, representations, or designs, at any time, with little effort, and without error. As with learning to walk, this of course takes time, patience, and practice.

I have personally witnessed the struggles of many whom, having necessity to complete a course of study based upon this book, were ill-suited by their own admission for the discipline required of the eye, hand, and attention (or mind) as demanded by the capable sketch artist--to say nothing of the trained detail design drafter.

If realizing the instructional value of Technical Drawing, 12th edition, seems to come at great pain and effort, the obvious question clearly becomes one of aptitude for drawing. However, while the aptitude for drawing is extremely beneficial, proficiency in technical drawing can still be achieved by sheer tenacity.

Technical Drawing, 12th edition, as with previous editions, is therefore highly recommended for the tenacious engineer, designer and drafter. It has stood the test of time as a solid component of engineering design instruction in this nation's premiere academic institutions.

.: edit, June 30 2007 :.

New rating: 3 stars

I wrote the original review in 2005, after several hours of trying to decipher this book and find misplaced information within it so as to complete a class assignment. Discovering that one of its specific textual errors made my specific task impossible, I wrote the following.

If Amazon let me increase my rating, at this point I would, but I maintain that it is unpolished and desperately under-edited.

.: end edit :.

As a freshman engineering major, I have been compelled to use Technical Drawing for a graphics course. This has been a profoundly frustrating experience. It seems that the authors, in their zeal to attain unto the dry, lifeless style characteristic of most professional engineering publications, also unintentionally created a text which is superlatively unclear.

I am recurrently astonished at the utter incomprehensibility of entire paragraphs. I will read a section, cynically assert that it communicates nothing, read it over a dozen more times, show it to others who in turn read it a dozen times, only to have my first conclusion affirmed.

There are extremely blatant contradictions.

Terms are used at the beginning of a chapter and not defined until the end.

It speaks voluminously about how critical it is to follow the prescribed techniques, only to devote less-than-the-bare-minimum amount of space to the actual descriptions of those techniques.

The review questions are frequently unrelated to the content they are supposed to be reinforcing, or are simply placed in the wrong chapter.

This (expensive!) book is a conspicuous example of "writing by committee." Technical Drawing may well be a decent-enough reference book - useful if you need a reminder about material you already know - but expect to get angry at it, especially if you're learning the information for the first time.

The material of this book may be excellent, but the editing of it, including making it up to date, is nearly thoughtless. I really recommend that no one buys this book. The binding, printing... it seems all phases of the production of this book, are shoddy. I bought it, but I don't trust it.

This book was extremely advanced in language dynamics and usage, and personally taught me much about how to use the English language the way it really should be used. It shows in good detail how writing can be used in everyday usage to good effect, there are so many books that fail in that regard. Too many works today fall short of the style and quality that this book holds. I would recommend this book to anyone, it is a great resource.

I thought that this book, which I had to read for an English composition class, was interesting in that it had a good amount of advice from a variety of notable authors. Often with these style books it only has one, or two, authors in them, but this one had many.

I particularly liked how the book started with William Strunk's work, which is a good guide to begin the hard work of writing successfully. The other writers often are rather dense with their material, and can be difficult to understand if you are quickly reading over their articles. Strunk's work is much more read-on-the-fly material, as a reference work.

The book was a little smaller than I had thought that it would be, and I felt that possibly the cost of it is a bit much for what you get. However, much of the material is very well written, and I would recommend this book to others, if you have a few extra dollars.

No, this book isn't perfect, but it does give the readers a great understanding of what these famous American authors stood for, and what they considered greatness. It clearly shows what motivated these American authors, what pushed them to write and create in a way that has made them notable long after their demise.

I did appreciate the small biographies that that are near the front of each article, they give a brief overview of the writer's life, their major achievements, and what their major contribution was to our literary culture. Some of them also have photographs.

I believe it is really difficult to quantify what great writing really is, and I feel that that is what this book is attempting to do: to show us what excellence in writing is supposed to be. It is true that the editing of the book is a little confusing, but I think that it is due more to the complexity of the material, and how it is to be properly organized.

From what I can tell, the American Academic Press hasn't had many books out, and they appear to be a rather new company (because I can't find any more on them). However, this book is the first edition of this title, so I don't suppose it is to be completely perfect yet. I do wonder, however, whether in time it will become a collector's piece, much like that of William Strunk's book that he had made for his own students? I am not really sure.

I think that if you do have a good eye for writing well, and you would like some guidance on how to improve, it would only make sense to look at how writers of our past did their work.

This book is an outstanding resource for anyone who aspires to write solid, compelling, and thoughtful bodies of work. Unlike other writing guides, which only contain the perspective of one or two authors, The Classics of Style contains the thoughts of several authors, including some of America's most celebrated scribes: Ralph Waldo Emerson, Edgar Allen Poe, Henry David Thoreau, and Walt Whitman. Some of the works contained in this volume are extremely rare and out of print; The Classics of Style does modern writers a great service by taking the best from these writings and assembling them in an easy-to-read form and by introducing modern writers to the writings of lesser-known individuals such as Edward Sapir.

I also appreciated the fact that The Classics of Style guides readers on both grammar AND stylistic matters. The inclusion of both types of content reflects the publishers' awareness of the fact that exemplary writing is both grammatically correct as well as compellingly written. Some writers are mechanically sound but lack the creative spark that is found in the works of America's most hallowed writers. Other writers spin a creative and compelling yarn; however, their tortured nature of their prose prevents the true genius of their work from being truly fleshed out. Much to my delight and satisfaction, The Classics of Style addresses both of these matters, providing insight and counsel that enables holistic development of writers.

As part of my position as a high school social studies teacher, I am often asked to provide writing advice and assistance to my students. In the future, The Classics of Style will definitely be the book that I will assign to my students for writing guidance. I recommend it wholeheartedly to all who seek to improve the quality and clarity of their writing endeavors.

A book like this is a worthwhile investment for any student of literature. It contains a plethora of information and writing advice from the greatest of American authors, compiled in a way that makes it both accessible and engaging. Using a book like this as a writing guide is like learning about cooking from Emeril--you are drawing information from the best in the field.
I teach English to high school students in various grades, and believe that this book could be integrated into many of the classes, from punctuation basics all the way up to advanced writing techniques. The Classics of Style would have been a great resource in the college courses I have taken as well. This is the type of book I wish I had purchased my freshman year of college. Quite frankly, it is the only style guide I have ever owned that I actually wanted to continue reading after finding the answer to my question.

There is no question that how this book sits with the reader will depend to a great degree on the reader,s background knowledge.In the last 15 years or so,I have read 8-10 biographies about Audubon and have another dozen or so books about him and his travels and art along with several different
"Birds of America". A few of these books are huge and include all his paintings.
I've noticed this book on the shelves for some time,but passed up on it for a couple of reasons. The main reason being that from the cover it appeared to be a novel about Creation by an author I've not heard of.The other day,I picked it up again ,and after reading the inside jacket flaps I discovered it was about Audubon and written by an author who lives here in Toronto.
I have been an avid birder for some time,very familiar with the 'birding community',local bird artists,writers,and people at the museums and libraries;so this author was a surprise to me.Needless to say,I had to buy and read the book.
So,I'm writing this review from quite a different viewpoint than someone who is unfamiliar with Audubon and is reading it simply as a novel,or an adventure story.
Being a seasoned Birder,we always keep a list of birds when on a trip;so just for fun I wrote down all the birds mentioned in the book.This proved to be interesting, particularly since many of the birds mentioned are called by old or colloquial names of the period.I came up with a list of 101 species. If you are a Birder,I suggest you give it a try and see how your list compares to mine.I must commend the author for the map at the front,the several interesting pictures,although with the research
she did,I'm sure she came across many others that would have been interesting to have included.An index would have been helpful.
I did enjoy the experiences encountered by meeting the "Gulnare" and its Royal Navy Captain Bayfield and all the crews.I guess that part of the book was what makes it a novel.Also,the author tries to show us the deep seated and complicated personality of Audubon and relationships with family friends and one of the loves of his life Maria;that is if he ever had any other than the birds.This approach by the author certainly makes the story of Audubon's trip to Labrador a much more interesting read ,particularly for someone new to him or not a birder.Even for a Birder,I found it a good read,especially for someone who enjoys 'the human side of birding'.
I would further suggest you have nearby a copy of Audubon's
"Birds of America" as there is quite a bit of detail of his paintings and how he went about them;all the way from his field sketches to the finished products.
We are fortunate to have one of the complete sets of Audubon's Birds at The Toronto Reference Library ,here in Toronto and periodically some of them are put on view,and what a treat!To someone unfamiliar with the Audubon paintings;there is a lot of interesting things about who actually did what part of the work,conflicts about similarities with other artists,etc. This side of it is mentioned ,more in passing,in the book.
For instance,on page 67 when discussing his painting of the Golden Eagle some prints show Audubon crossing on the log while others do not.Also some paintings of his Ground Doves show 4 and others show 5.
Although a great read about America's most famous bird artist,I get left wondering what in the book is fact,what is legend and what comes from the imagination of the author.









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Katherine Govier's novel "Creation" offers a complete portrait of Audubon, one that is faithful to the life portrayed in the definitive biographies by Alice Ford (admirable and very readable) and Herrick (admirable, but not quite as readable). She slowly unwinds the story in something akin to an interior monologue, but in the third person. The result is sometimes odd and, at times, the pace slows to a crawl, but stick with it, she invariably comes to the payout moment.

Audubon was a complex character who fabricated his past so often and so intensely, he probably believed his own fiction. His relationship with his wife, Lucy, seems to have been best when they were separated, which was most of the time. He was either in the wild, following his passion, on in another country finding subscribers for his magnum opus. The Audubon sons were part of the family business, though at times, grudgingly so. Each had his own talents; each used those talents to serve Audubon and his work. Into this highly dysfunctional family stepped Maria Martin, spinster, small, not particularly attractive (like Lucy) and an artist in her own right.

Govier takes as her premise that the relationship between Audubon and Maria is physically romantic. Perhaps. More likely, it was one of those prim Victorian romances that was exchanged on paper rather than physically. Even so, Govier presents a compelling case that the documented rift between Audubon and his friend and business associate, Bachman (Maria's brother-in-law), arose when the latter realized that the playful flirting between Audubon and Maria was actually something more. Perhaps.

The writing is lyrical, at times a little dense. As a portrait of a fascinating, sometimes beguiling, sometimes repellant man, this is excellent reading.

The deeper I got into this novel, if that's what it is, the more it seemed to me like one of those birds that Audubon pursued through the Labrador wilderness. It has great beauties - some of the descriptive passages are very striking - and Govier has I think done a wonderful job of bringing Audubon to life. But at the same time, the book has a habit of flying off in all directions, so that at one moment we are clambering with Audubon over the rocks of some islet, at the next we are somewhere in his past in Europe or America, and at the next with his son in an engraving studio in England. It is also a curious mixture of fiction and what might be called documentary. Similarly we are never sure that the author's voice, when she launches into some verbal play ("North is the negative of south. North is the nesting ground, the first feathers; south is full plumage" etc.) is meant to be reflecting Audubon's thoughts, or her own.

In the end, I wished that like Audubon I could pick up a gun and bring the book to earth, so that I could put an end to its flitting from bush to bush and get a good look at it.

Govier has done her research, so it is all the more surprising that one of her characters should seem to think that James Cook is still alive in 1833, when in fact he had been dead for over half a century. She has also been betrayed by her editor in a few places -- notably the use of "lie" as a transitive verb. (I sometimes think editors do a global search-and-replace for any occurrence of "lay", whether correct or not.)

P.S. After reading Andrea Barrett's Voyage of the Narwhal, I was struck by the similarity of the two books -- both deal with naturalists journeying north and the women they left behind, and they have a similar approach to the inner lives of their characters. If you enjoyed one, you'll probably enjoy the other.

It is easy to be put off by Creation in its early going. The intrusive narrator is a bit too intrusive and the reader (this reader at least) quickly wearies of the tactic and begins to consider whether the story is worth putting up with the style. Luckily, however, Govier soon leaves the authorial wonderings ("is it because he goes north and off the map? Has what happened . . . been ripped from the record?") behind and lets the two main characters, Audubon and Captain Bayfield, enfold us in their own personal stories and obsessions. Each of which in their own right is interesting enough, but it is the burgeoning relationship between the two of them, which is most captivating.
Govier takes as her starting point a "missing" point of Audubon's recorded life--his journey to the coasts along Newfoundland and Labrador. Here she imagines him meeting Bayfield, an English captain tasked with charting these same coasts. Both men, therefore, share an impossible job: Audubon to paint every North American bird, Bayfield to identify every island, every shoal, every inlet to make the waters safe for sailing. This similarity by itself is of little interest, however--who wants to read a novel full of conversations about "my job's harder than your job"? What drives the energy between the two men is not simply their shared determination to complete a monumental task, but how those tasks are in seemingly complete opposition to one another-after all, if Bayfield completes his navigation charts, allowing more men to sail freely through the northern waters, it only increases the likelihood of Audubon's chief fear--that he will never finish his work before his birds "disappear", killed by men sailing Bayfield's safe routes. The two men do not shy from conflict over this, and Govier handles their conversations skillfully, affording both men the chance to state their beliefs and without letting either slide into too-easy cliché or didacticism.
As the two men move in and out of each other's circle, their watery paths crossing and criss-crossing periodically, we move back and forth through Audubon's past and present, bearing witness to his many false names and lives, the effect of his obsession on his wife and sons, his inability to see the true worth of Maria--the woman who has replaced his wife in his heart, his shame at his origins, the self-contradictory nature of his work (killing that which he worships so he might capture its wildness on paper), and his fear for the future--both his and the wild's.
Through it all we are never left to forget for to long just what it his "great work" is--Govier brings us back again and again in superb detail to many of Audubon's specific paintings, reproduced in black and white for the novel. Some readers might find it, in fact, a bit too much detail and the same could also be said of the engraving process described toward the end of the book. These are minor complaints though and easily rectified by the reader who chooses to skim those same passages.
If there is a general flaw, I would say that sometimes Govier overwrites in the sense that she gives the reader, either through narration or, often, internal monologue, too much of what she has already skillfully and more subtly communicated to us via dialogue or description/action; she should have trusted her writing more. The same is true I think for her ending, where she could have done without the epilogue (though I understand the need some feel to tidy up just what happens to historical figures, to place the evens of the work in the historical context). Again, though, it is a minor complaint and the book as a whole more than makes up for these small flaws. Though Audubon's story and inner voice dominates the work, one derives as much pleasure from the moments we spend in Bayfield's mind or in Maria's presence or even, despite how minor a role he plays, in conversation with Godwin, Audubon's pilot. As mentioned earlier, the beginning of the book is somewhat trying, but the journey past that point is well worth it

From the forebiding shoreline of the Labrador Coast to the genteel homes of American gentry, Katherine Govier takes the reader on a journey that will never be forgotten. The subject is one of the most renown naturalists of the world, John James Audubon. Seizing the moment to write about his life unknown to many beyond his skilled illustrations, his 'Birds' the author skillfully introduces him as a man with a questionable past, who suceeds against all odds to fulfill his dream.

Audubon floats through this novel like a ghost, seemingly living both in the past; his childhood in France, to the present; watching his beloved son scale the cliffs for his one desire, birds. It is these birds that fascinate him from a young age, and inevitably draw him to his demise. As he becomes estranged from not only his family, but the world around him, he delves back into the lost events of his life, trying to salvage from them his future.

The sucessful journey through the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the Straight of Belle Isle is seen through many eyes; among them a young British sea captain, and cartographer, Audubon's former assistant, and also his wife. Not to be left out, the 'Birds' take many shapes in Govier's work, not only gracing the pages as part of the impressive story line, but also as carefully chosen prints.

I have read many accounting books but am using this one for my intro to accounting course because I wanted a refresher. It is the most clear and understandable that I have come across. I would highly recommend this book to people who aren't necessarily wanting to get a CPA but need to know enough accounting for say Financial, Planning and Analysis positions.

I'm in an MBA program right now and still refer back to this book for my intermediate accounting course. I'm a tough judge on books, coming from the UC system, and let me tell you - this is one of the best written textbooks I have ever encountered. Period.

hi i bought 2 books from these people for the first time in the past two weeks and i got the book on time and it was in great condition!
thanks

First of all I paid for 2 days express shipping. The book came after 5 days.Then I did not get your guide to an A which is a free pakage that comes with a new book.The point of buying a new book was just because of this pakage.I am not very satisfied with the service.

Best book so far for teahing accounting. This is the book for learning accounting.

I particularly liked the artwork in this Osprey work,the combat scenes are dramatic and realistic,not at all "cartoonish" as in some of these works.The Scots at Flodden decided to settle some issues with the English believing that Henry the eighth was overextended in his European campaigns. Apparently there were alot of border raids by both sides that seemed interminable and the Scots wanted to give the English a decisive defeat. The English however were to prove their power by defeating the Scots and at the same time fighting European powers on both land and sea.
This book has personality as well,the King of Scotland James the fourth comes off as a leader who literally led from the front.While some might see his bravery as wrecklessness one would have to admire his devotion to his cause.The quote,"nobly save or meanly lose" would apply here. The artwork reinforces this.At Flodden the Scots suffered more casualties than at all the previous Scottish vs. English campaigns combined.But for that "marshy dip",the English might well have been defeated by the pikes of the surging Scots.As it was the English bill triumphed.Great maps and displays of equipment.A great description of the battle without getting bogged down in the political causes of the conflict.

This is certainly the worst Osprey I have ever had the misfortune to buy. I should have had a better look at it first! I like the period so much I grabbed it anyway. Wow! Just drivel! Inacurate, poorly illustrated, muddled writing and worst of all; lots of photos of the author's re-enactment gear, all of which is poor quality and much of which is of the wrong period! He even calls a badly made Churburge 13 breastplate (Late 14thC) a munitions breastplate. JUST DON'T!
*Since writing this review I have softened in my opinion of the actual text and I would add a couple of stars (but it wont seem to let me!). I was angry at spending my money on it at the time... My opinion of the dodgey "facimilies from the Authors collection" and other faults etc. have not changed though!

Osprey Campaign 168, Flodden 1513 proves to be a well written and well researched book. Like all of Osprey Campaign books, this one got less then a hundred pages but the author uses those pages very nicely. The book gives a good background to the campaign, blow by blow of the battle and what happened afterward. For such a short book, it definitely summarized the entire incident very well. Illustrations proves to be useful and maps although not very clear, gave a good account of how the battle unfolded.

Considered as "Scotland's greatest defeat", Flodden Field appears to be one of the very few times Scotland had an advantages of numbers, equipments and supplies over their English foes. However, the author made it clear that the battle was sorely mismanaged by King James IV of Scotland who ended up choosing a battlefield unfit for his army who was using the new Swiss pike system tactical formations.

Overall, one of the better books from the Osprey Campaign series that covers the battle and the campaign very well.

Flodden 1513, #168 in Osprey's Campaign series, is an excellent case study in the effects of friction in operational warfare. Author John Sadler has written an informative and insightful narrative of the campaign that provides both sufficient detail and sober analysis. While some medieval military history suffers from a poor sources, there is sufficient material available for the author to get at the key facts without having to guess (which afflicts coverage of over campaigns, like Bosworth). The author is also very even-handed in his coverage of both the English and Scottish viewpoints, although he is perhaps a bit too forgiving of the battlefield conduct of Scottish King James IV.

In the opening sections, the author lays out how the Scottish and French made joint plans to deal with expected aggression from England's King Henry VIII in the summer of 1513. Everybody expected the main blow to fall in an English invasion of France and the French asked for a Scottish army to raid across England's northern border as a diversion. Scotland's King James IV reasoned that few English forces would be left to guard the border and that he could accomplish two strategic objectives in this campaign - namely, aiding his French ally and reclaiming several border castles that had been lost in previous warfare. Unfortunately for the Scottish, they did not reckon on England being able to raise a second army to deal with the cross-border invasion. Author John Sadler effectively describes the opening stages of the campaign, in which the Scottish army of at least 40,000 troops captured several castles before the English army of about 26,000 arrived in the vicinity. At this point, the author notes that the campaigning season would be over in another week or two and the Scots had accomplished both strategic objectives - there was therefore no reason to seek battle. Yet James IV decided to occupy a superb defensive position and awaited the approaching English army, a decision which seems perplexing and not fully explained herein. The author does suggest the kingly pride - a desire to win a battle in order to enhance his regal reputation - lies at the root of James' decision to seek battle.

As the author describes, the English took one look at the strong Scottish position and decided to outflank it in a night march (reminds me a bit of Chancellorsville, actually). The Scottish, confident of their numbers and position, failed to put out much local security or even watch the English army and were surprised the next day when the enemy started approaching them from behind. Flodden thus went from a set-piece fight to a meeting engagement, with the Scottish army scrambling to turn around and close up on the approaching English. After a brief artillery exchange - that the Scots lost - James IV ordered his three main formations to attack downhill toward the now stationary English. Although the Scottish attack initially went well on their left, the center with the King ran afoul of a small streambed that broke all cohesion. The English gradually gained the upper hand and the late arrival of their reserves precipitated a disastrous Scottish rout, with King James dying in close combat. At Flodden, the largest army even fielded by Scotland, was utterly crushed. The volume has three 2-D Maps (the Scots invasion route; the English flank march; the field of Flodden), three 3-D Maps (the armies deploy for battle; rout of English left; defeat and rout of Scottish army) and three Battle scenes by Stephen Walsh (the Scottish left early in the battle; the death of James IV; dusk on 9 September 1513).

The author tends to be a bit too excusing for James IV's behavior, noting that, "he failed as a captain, but not as a knight," and saying that the King's early participation in the ground combat was good for Scottish morale. Certainly James IV died a `heroic death' that is the stuff of legends, but his gambler's behavior was not that of a head of state or the commander-in-chief of a major army. Since Caesar's time if not before, the primary duty of a commander on the battlefield is to properly employ the reserve at a critical time, not to unnecessarily join in hand-to-hand combat like a common soldier. While James' body was already getting cold on the field, his reserve that might have made a difference was wasted and this opened the door for the catastrophic rout that followed. Suffice to say, the evidence pretty well indicts James IV as a poor operational commander, which is not redeemed by futile battlefield heroics.

This volume is an interesting study in friction in warfare. First, the Scottish attack probably would have succeeded, were it not for the unanticipated stream obstacle. Second, the Scottish adoption from Pike tactics from the French potentially gave them a big tactical edge over the English, but due to a variety of minor factors, the pike tactics were a failure. Third, the late arrival of the final English contingent was worse for the Scots than if they had been on the field from the beginning. Indeed, the battlefield friction worked far more against the Scots than the English and stole victory from them. There was at least one other factor that seemed to work against the Scots, which was the lack of a balanced force. While the English army had a cavalry reserve, light troops, archers and mobile light artillery, the Scots seemed to have no significant cavalry or archer forces and their army was primarily a huge block of infantry. John Sadler's well-written account of this military catastrophe should provide lessons that are still relevant for modern military readers.

On 9 September 1513, Flodden field was the site for one of Scotland's most famous battles, often termed their "greatest defeat". The Scottish Army led by their courageous king, James IV, was strong in artillery and trained in new tactics from the Swiss doctrine, whereas the English Army they faced still favoured traditional tactics. Despite the strength of the Scots, the English men-at-arms fought ferociously. By nightfall, the field was strewn with the bodies of the Scottish nobility, and tre tragic figure of their king. This book examines the strategies of both armies and the significant effect of the weapons used, including the longbow and artillery.

John Sadler is an excellent author and Stephen Walsh a marvelous illustrator. I don't often buy the Osprey series of books but this one is just too good to pass up. Weither you are a student of Scottish or English history or just of military history this book is one to get.

For the first couple hundred pages, HJMS was completely engrossing. Had (rhetorically speaking) the story ground to the same conclusion that it eventually reached, I would have given it 4 stars (shy of a 5th for an overall weak ending). As it stands, the novel plods along for an additional two hundred pages in which further character development is minimal and the underlying 'murder mystery' barely progresses. As a historical novel (set in fin-de-siecle Vienna, and featuring, among other notables, Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, Edith Wharton, and Henry James) HJMS is a decent effort. De Chellis Hill writes well, and she has clearly read a great deal of literature from the period and secondary history about it. Though it does convey some flavor of the times and personages, however, HJMS feels rather superficial, more like a skilled creative writing exercise (at the hands, one must concede, of a very capable writer) than a work of particular historical or psychological depth. As an introduction to Freud, Jung, Wharton, and James, HJMS is pretty shallow stuff. But then, HJMS is a work of fiction. What makes it a rather disappointing work of fiction, in the end, is the fact that the 'murder mystery' at its core is so uncompellingly developed and so anticlimactically resolved (or not, as the case may be). A 445 page read merited a much better ending. HJMS had the makings of a very good novel. In the end, I found it a bit tiresome.

Black horses gallop through the streets of Vienna in the dark of night.

The Countess Bettina Von Gerzl proclaims "I do not want to lead a tragic life."

A young girl yearns to be portrayed in a Henry James novel.

A body is discovered in and then goes missing from Freud's sitting room. Could it be Hysteria?

Black horses gallop in the dead of night.

Edith Wharton takes a journalist as a lover.

Carl Jung takes a patient as a lover.

Henry James strangles his cat?

[clip clop; clip clop; clip clop; CLIP CLOP]

Emperor Franz Josef broods about why the women of Vienna seem to be killing themselves. Murder? One? Twelve?

Galloping black horses. Deceit. Vengeance. Scandal.

"We are not who we pretend to be."

"Oh I AM someone. I am. I AM someone."

Fin-de-siecle

This book takes you in and interweaves you inside a complex mystery in which no one will ever really know the truth. Questions our notion of mastery and delivers the unexpected. Read this!

This is an amazing fictional exploration of a very explosive, talented, and contradictory era and place. That is Vienna, Austria at the turn of the century. Hanging over this whole novel is the question of how a city of beauty and imagination could have also been a hotbed of rampant and violent anti-semitism. But what truly sets this novel apart is its brilliant re-creation of the figures of this age: Henry James as a secret reader of potboilers; Edith Wharton the secret writer of pornography; Carl Jung's indiscretions with female patients; and Sigmund Freud's early failures. The author Hill, is at the top of her game though in inverting the Freudian theories of "female hysteria" and the women characters are strong and appealinq.

I wasn't too sure what to expect when I picked up this book at a friend's recommendation. Not having been a Henry James fan, the title simply turned me off. As soon as I'd finished the first two pages, I knew I wasn't going to be able to put this book down without some sort of physical threat to my well-being. Aside from being an exquisitly written novel, it's filled with factual information and characters, social commentary (as applicable to our time as to turn of the century Vienna,) and truely haunting suspense. Plus, it's a bit difficult these days to find a book with truely likeable characters. Hill creates colorful portraits of sometimes bleak historical figures (i.e. Sigmund Freud, Edith Wharton, Carl Jung, and of course Mr. James) with a fabulous array of (possibly) fictional characters that you can't help but feel admiration, adoration, and/or sympathy for. Hill's range of styles and points of view are wonderfully displayed in this fine work that you could read again and again, learning something new everytime.