Works Books

This book has the most awesome animal drawings I have ever seen. The fact that they are wood engravings is more than remarkable!

A present for my daughter-in-law and the illustrations were incredible. She is an artist and will make good use of this book.

Wow - the enormous numbers of animal life is astounding and the book clearly shows this. Unfortunately the images are quite dark and the book is very thick (you get your money's worth - image-wise), so scanning them for use in various artistic media is difficult. Therefore, I bought two of the books and plan to cut one of them up (that hurts to say for I treasure books of all types). This way I can control the scanning and modification using software to bring out details and highlight an image to my satisfaction. And finally, the classic images are impressive and I applaud the author for his selection of animals from all realms of life on earth.

Used several of these drawings in projects. Books like this are great for those of us designers who aren't the best freehand drawers.

This is just packed full of brilliant illustrations of birds frogs fish girafee spiders butterflies you name it , throughly recommended for any one who loves botanical illustrations or engravings , really good source material for artists or designers.very nice book but rember it is a paper back not that that matters to me.

This book contained a lot of advice that I already knew, and some that I didn't know or think about in the past. But reading it all one place gave me the motivation I need to get out of the cube!

If you've ever longed for the wide open spaces of a self-directed career, this gem of a book is for you. Whether you want to pursue a hobby/project on the side or do a complete career 180, Michelle Goodman's book will give you the roadmap. It's chocked full of practical advice on the range of questions that inevitably pop up on a such a journey (What do I really want to do with my career? How do I prepare financially for a transition? How do I stay connected to the world at large? Where do I get started???). Yep, she answers them all. If you've got the urge to "flee the cube," the THE ANTI 9 to 5 GUIDE will lead you out into the light.

This guide is a great way to think through all the ramifications of "living outside the cubical" BEFORE you commit to that lifestyle. The advice is concrete and practical, and extremely helpful for taking your dreams out of your head and putting them into reality.

In making the transition from a full-time job to starting my own gig, I found this book very helpful. Not only did it explain different options for making the leap, but it helps those who don't know what they want to do outside of the cube figure it out. I found the conversational tone of the book to keep the pages turning while offering credible, sound advice.

This book was kind of fun to read. I liked the author's frankness and humor. But I wasn't particularly impressed with how the title of the book was matched to its content. The book totes itself as a supposedly helpful career guide for young women just out of high school or maybe college who work in a cubical in an office environment. And it explains how young women can do some investigating and networking to learn about opportunities outside of a cube. But many of the opportunities discussed in this book were 9 to 5 JOBS. And the title says it is against such career moves.

I would have liked the book much better if it had stuck to explaining how to get out of a cube and make the transition into self-employment. Or if the title were changed, I would have like the book much better if it had only explained how to escape a cube into a more meaningful and lucrative job with an office or a company car. Of course, I wouldn't have pulled this book from the bookstore shelf if it was about the latter because I pretty much just review books that relate to my volunteering for SCORE, the small business coaching nonprofit.

The part of the book that I enjoyed the most was the author's story of how she had found herself stuck in a cube at age 24 and not doing what she wanted to do with her life - which was to do freelance writing. She decided to quit her job and start her own freelancing small business. And she found she couldn't make money at it at first - but she was resourceful and started temping in order to pay her bills while she got her business off the ground. Of course, I would have liked her story better if she were to have said she got her business WELL off the ground within a year or two. But unfortunately she says she continues to dabble in temping jobs from time to time to make ends meet. That doesn't sound like she has really accumulated enough of her own success to be writing this book, but some company did publish it and there are quite a number of positive book reviews posted on Amazon for it. So who am I to judge?

My favorite chapters were "I want a more flexible work schedule" (4), and "I want to be my own boss" (6). These two chapters were right on point when it comes to dumping a day job and starting one's own business. And in the book's appendix I very much liked "A Temp's Survival Guide" and "Boss in a Box." The "Must-See Resources" section in the appendix also seemed to be fairly informative. The checklists at the end of each chapter were well-thought out, too. 4 stars!

This is an excellent description of a family, noted for their involvement with the steel industry and especially the manufacturer of arms. They struggle with Germany's economy and influence Germany's foreign policy covering about 400 years between 1587 and 1968.

It looks like a lengthy volume however it is over just as you are getting started. A side benefit is the technical information added helps you imagine what is like to design and sell the arms.

In some cases arms were almost given away for a cause. At other times they mercenarily sold arms to may conflicting countries on both sides. This story parallels other books on history and makes the world seem that it is made up of people not just historical facts. Speaking of historical facts, one of the things I like to do is to read books that become movies and movies that are novelized. This would have to be a mini-series.

Notice that in the book; interestingly enough William Manchester mentions that George Bernard Shaw actually based a play on the Krupp family, "Major Barbara" which consequently was made into a movie with windy Hiller in 1941.

This is quite a book. Since it is over 900 pages you must put it down but I read it straight through. There are some very keen insights into the armament industry and its power over nations and governments - even over Adolf Hitler. If you think Hitler answered to no one, you might want to read this book. My tendency is to tell you many of the shocking facts contained in this work. But Mr. Manchester spent a lot of time building his shocking facts into a reasonable and established context. This is a very important book and I am very, very surprised that I am the first to review it. This is another one of those books that should be a college text. Buy it! This book is a bargain, believe me. No price could repay Mr. Manchester for this type of research.

This is an excellent book about a family's, noted for their involvement with the steel industry and especially the manufacturer of arms, struggle with Germany's economy and power covering about 400 years. It looks lengthy however it is over just as you are getting started. A side benefit is the technical information added helps you imagine what is like to design and sell the arms. In some cases they were almost given away for a causes. This story parallels other books on history and makes the world seem that it is made up of people not just historical facts. Speaking of historical facts, one of the things I like to do is to read books that become movies and movies that are novelized. This would have to be a mini-series. Notice that in the book

William Manchester mentions that the movie "Major Barbara", the play was actually written by George Bernard Shaw and was modeled on the Krupp family.

"The Arms Of Krupp" is the incredible biography of a powerful and incredibly rich and powerful family that was central in the advent and progress of European history for the more than four hundred years they presided as an almost imperial force within the boundaries of what is present-ay Germany. Certainly no other non-royal dynasty engenders such controversy and hotly expressed differences in opinion than does the multiple generations of this critically based family so critical to the development and technological capabilities of the German war machine. Of course, no one could do a better job at providing a definitive historical biography of the Krupp family than William Manchester. This is truly a magnificent book, a spellbinding story splendidly told by a master of English prose, rendered in a flawless, comprehensive, and objective treatment of this fascinating, often outrageous, and sometime imperious string of Krupp family member who ignited the wars raging in Europe in terms of their ability to provide the motherland with such complex, ingenious, and technically superior weapons of war.

This is, in fact, considered a masterwork of history, an eminently readable and elegantly stylish work by Manchester, a master of the trade. Manchester, a retired history professor at Wesleyan University in Connecticut, is widely regarded as one of this country's preeminent biographers and historian. The Krupp dynasty was extinguished in 1967, when the last surviving family member passed away. With his death the legacy of a four hundred year span of contribution to the European armaments industry came to an end, and so brought to a conclusion a tradition spanning wars and quite profoundly influencing outcomes of European history for centuries. The Krupp Arms conglomerate was technologically innovative, devising new weapons such as a superior cannon to an anti-air vehicle weapon designed to counter the reconnaissance capabilities of aerial observation balloons to exotic and much more capable submarines, which they then built for over four decades.

In so doing, they became fabulously rich, and rose to become extremely influential and exceedingly conservative voices within the realm of German political circles. No German leader could hope to marshal the resources or the weapons of war necessary to mount a military campaign without first gaining the trust, confidence and support of the Krupp family, which then cleverly and cynically manipulated this influence to vastly enrich themselves. During World War One, their cannons helped to flatten the French city of Verdun, and at one point succeeded in lobbing projectiles into Paris from as distant a location as some eighty miles away, an unheard-of innovation at the time. Aiding the Third Reich in its secret rearmament effort after the end of the First Word War, they provided a much advanced tank design that eventuated in the Panzer tank, used subsequently so successfully in Hitler's blitzkrieg through France in the summer of 1940.

They were quite influential within the German society as well, having armed the forces of Kaiser Wilhelm for battle before World War One, and then surreptitiously backed Hitler financially in the so-called terror-campaign" of 1933. Incredibly, the Krupps participated in the war crimes of the Third Reich, even controlling and operating more than 130 concentration camps during the war. Afterwards, they help to rebuild Europe in the eventual development of the European Common Market. This is a truly fascinating book written with all of the usual style and substance one come s to expect of William Manchester, and it is certainly a book I can highly recommend to anyone with an interest in European history. Enjoy!

This is an excellent description of a family, noted for their involvement with the steel industry and especially the manufacturer of arms. They struggle with Germany's economy and influence Germaine's foreign policy covering about 400 years.

It looks like a lengthy volume however it is over just as you are getting started. A side benefit is the technical information added helps you imagine what is like to design and sell the arms.

In some cases arms were almost given away for a cause. At other times they mercenarily sold arms to may conflicting countries on both sides. This story parallels other books on history and makes the world seem that it is made up of people not just historical facts. Speaking of historical facts, one of the things I like to do is to read books that become movies and movies that are novelized. This would have to be a mini-series.

Notice that in the book; interestingly enough William Manchester mentions that George Bernard Shaw actually based a play on the Krupp family, "Major Barbara" which consequently was made into a movie with windy Hiller in 1941.

This book was exactly what I was looking for. It is great for a intermediate beader (which is what I consider myself). It goes briefly through the basics of many stitches (chevron, spiral rope, crochet rope, herringbone, peyote, and more), and then proceeds to show variations on each one. For each stitch there are several step-by-step projects, beginning with the simple to the advanced. It also shows galleries of works by otehr beaders. Also, there is an entire section on beaded beads. All in all, this book is fantastic, and I would highly reccomend it to anyone who wants to move beyond the basics and advance their beadweaving.

One of the best beading books I have seen to date. Wonderful beaded beads featured which I have already made. Well presented with lots of detailed descriptions to follow. Extremely happy with purchase.

This book is absolutely inspiring! It is wonderful what sophisticated designs can be created with these techniques and simple beads. The author is a woman after my own heart (she asks, "Can any one person own too many beads?"), and her knowledge and passion show in her writing. I think this book may overwhelm someone who is an absolute beginner, someone who has never done any beadwork before. To get the most from this book, I think you need a little experience. But her illustrations are the best I have ever seen, and her instructions are very clear. This book is worth the price just for the gorgeous color photos of projects. Another thing I like about the book is the fact that she gives many pointers for variations in the techniques, and encourages you to take off on your own. If you like seed beads and want to get beyond stringing, this book is essential.

There is only 1 other book at this level and that is the author's Creative Bead Weaving. Buy either one or even better both. Not only are the instructions excellent but the pictures and the projects are creative and inspiring. Please - when is your next book coming out.

Great book for instructions for all types of bead weaving. The beads are numbered so you have exact directions on where to go next. A "must have" book for any beader.

With its clear graphics and its wonderful illustrations, this version of the Art of War adds the element of the various interpretations of the text, set up much in the way that the classic Talmudic texts read. An important work in the history of military strategy and philosophy, this book has much to teach to anyone.

I cannot rave enough about this book. As I'm sure most translators or more authoritative people will point out, the translation quality here is superb. But, from the angle of the guy who knows almost zilch about that, the book offers guidance and discipline. While the original is short and to the point, this book offers a more 'warm' (if I can call it that) feeling, with photographic, smooth paper and various related pictures from the time.

That being said, this book also features commentary by other guys from the time relating to their opinions of Sun Tzu's words. It's definitely interesting to get perspectives from them and not just the author or translator. I felt that was a unique addition that really added to the book. You can read the whole thing of Sun Tzu's words in a couple days or so, but the deep discussion behind it offers a whole 'nother book in and of itself.

book arrived on time and in condition described

This edition makes for a terrific gift for the college graduate. The illustrations and photos add visual interest; the text layout makes for "easy" reading. Although we already own several editions of this classic, this will be added to our personal collection.

This is a classic work on what works and doesn't work it war. It is from the 3rd century BC and cuts through the BS of modern war science. Must reading for all future Presidents, Secretaries of Defense and General Officers.

This is the most update book I have seen. I love the charts and the chapters. It is extremely well organized.

This book is by far the best book that I have read on miscarriage. It helped me to truly understand what was going on with my body during a very scary time. It also gave me hope for the future. It combines real life stories with the scientific data. I recommend this book for anyone the is miscarrying, has miscarried, is pregnant, or wants to get pregnant. 2 thumbs up!!!

This is the book for women who want to take control of their fertility life. This book explains what causes miscarriages, how to test, and what your probabilities are of having different diagnosis or future miscarriages.

Even if you are just wanting to be able to ask intelligent questions to your doctor or fertility specialist, this enables you to have your research done.

No place online - No other book - Nothing I have read has enabled me to feel in control of this situation giving me a direct way to help diagnose myself (to an extent) and give me freedom and ability to question the - "Just go try again." line that you get from doctors.

Strongly recommended to anyone who has had an unfortunate multiple pregnancy loss such as I have.

I was initially a little apprehensive about this book, wondering if it was going to leave me feeling more worried or be full of information that I could do nothing with. It doesn't. This is one of the best books I've read so far and it is so full of up to date information. The author makes it so easy to read, even though it is primarily medical info. The stories that precede each chapter are touching, and a great way to add a personal experience you may relate to. In short, great book, worth every penny, wonderful information. You truly will feel armed with the info you need to confidently experience pregnancy again.

I recommend this book to anyone wanting to have a baby. I wish I had read it before we had a miscarriage and then an ectopic pregnancy. It is reader-friendly and is packed with invaluable information about every aspect of pregnancy loss: physical, emotional, relational, medical. The author speaks from personal experience as well as the experiences of many other couples. Armed with the information in this book alone, I feel confident that we will realize our dream of a healthy pregnancy. I now know what questions to ask, what medical support to request, and when to advocate for my self and my baby.

As a beginer I fould this book priceless! There was a section on basic blacksmith tools, another on some art tipe work, and a lot of have to know about the forge and fire. I would highly recomend this book if you are starting out.

I took this book to the local 'smith meeting in Woodville, Tx. I think everyone there has a copy or is looking foward to getting on.

Thanks to the the author for producing a great book. Looking foward to the next one.

Gary Antley
Possum Walk Texas

This is a great book to add to your collection. There is lots of information and pictures. I bought this book for my husband who has done a little blacksmithing and is wanting to set up a shop at home. He has several other blacksmithing books and really liked this book.

A good beginners book, But as a working smith I enjoyed it and found some good tricks, and ideas for my own work.
Great illistrations, good projecte.

This is a good beginner to intermediate book to help someone understand and start blacksmithing. The suthor is well versed in her art and provides good pictures for students to better understand the forging process. Like most books of this kind, however, a student is best served having taken a ahort course in blacksmithing to better understand the terminology.

Although I am very familiar with working with Metal, and many other forms of crafting, I knew little of Blacksmithing. I have always been interested in Blacksmiths since I was a child, but knew nothing of their background, history, and the tricks of the trade so to say that they used to form beautiful and more importantly, useful items that they created.

I recently had the opportunity to work in a blacksmith shop, but I had to do so alone, as the former blacksmith had moved on. Hence I purchased several books to learn of their ways.

I was very interested in this book for one just because it was written by a female blacksmith, something I found to be unheard of, as I never in my life saw a female blacksmith working any forge I ever encountered. I felt that I had to have this book over all others as it would give me not just knowledge of blacksmithing, but a woman's point of view on it, which I felt could be very enlightening.

I could not have been more correct. This is so far the best book I have purchased on blacksmithing, and I have purchased 8 here through Amazon. This book is very well written, depicted, laid out, and explained. I loved the mixture of some of the history, and more so the insight of the craft. For example a simple account of how you will keep getting burned, I laughed over for some time, and yes, so far, I have gotten burned twice. Yea, I'm a newbie, read the book, you will laugh and only then really understand this statement. Also how the Blacksmith bug will bite you and you know it has if scraps of iron start to almost call out to you, grabbing your full attention since as you look at it, you depict in your mind all the things you could make that piece into. I for one remember that line in the book since I have already noticed that the Bug has fully bitten and infected me.

Out of reading the whole book, I was only left with 2 or 3 items that I didn't understand, and that may have been that I missed something in my reading of it, since I did so in a hurried piecemeal fashion. In other words, when I had to put it down or get fired from work, I hurriedly picked it back up as soon as I could to read more!

This is an awesome book. If you are to buy only ONE book, then make it this one. Even the projects in the back are as good as or better than a Project book I purchased. LOL... Enjoy!

Received it as a gift and it sits on my coffee table (always viewed by guests). I bought it for my stepdad who said "It's a great toilet book--I read an entry every day."

I purchased this as a gift for a friends 15 year old daughter (who has become a huge Beatles fan). When she opened it up, her eyes said it all...she absolutely loved the photo's and the captions for each picture. I thought it was literally one page/ picture for each day of the calendar year...so I went to look for June 15...and it wasn't there, but there were about 4 pages on June 8. So it does add up to 365 days and crosses the years from 1964-1970, but if you are like me and wanted to see what the Beatles were doing on your birthday, you might not get to find out. But it's a great book and a great gift.

Absolutely stunning! Beautiful and personal photos that covers all four with stunning acuracy.

This book is an absolute treasure and worth every penny of the steep price I payed for it.The pictures are large and extremely high quality and most of them are in vivid color.Another wonderful thing is the fact that they are in chronological order,almost day by day from the end of 1962 to 1970.This is perfect for students of the Beatles because it gives an accurate visual history of the band to suppliment all of the written histories.This leads me to another important point.Anyone with eyes knows that not only is the music great but The Fab Four were indeed VERY nice to look at!And I don't think you have to be a woman,as I most certainly am,to notice that!This book is alot of fun.Because of the date order you see that Paul is wearing the same shirt almost two days in a row on their 1966 American tour!Wonder what happened?! Didn't Neil get to the local cleaners?No clean shirts left?I bet Paul was less than thrilled.To see their clothing styles change every 6 months or so is also interesting.The pictures of the concerts are fantastic especially the color ones.Some of them are large closeups.It also includes some of Bob Whiticker's beautiful photos.He took some of the best pictures of the Fabs and I don't mean the silly Butcher shots.This book should be in every Beatlemaniac's collection.

Excellent book with hundreds of rare photos.
High quality paper.
Recomended.

Written by a hard core Blythe fan, this book contains many full color pictures of the Blythe doll in real-life settings. The doll becomes more interesting as you look at the pictures. While I am NOT a fan of the Blythe doll, this book showed me why so many doll collectors have found her so fascinating, leading to her being re-made in Japan and gathering many more fans through out the world. This book was a labor of love for the photographer/author.

I think I got into Blythe dolls after seeing so many of clothes and accessories made for them on etsy.com. I bought this book to get some ideas on how to dress up my dolls and I just thought it was so cute! Some of the outfits are really great and a few are just out there. Overall, this is a great book to flip through. I gave it 4 stars because I think it would be really cool if they showed us the process of creating the looks for these dolls.

This is a fine book. All of the images make you suddenly forget they are dolls; you start feeling like watching models displaying designer clothes.
If you like Blythe, this is a must.
The edition is excellent.
Mint item...!

If you love Blythe dolls -- or dolls in general -- you will certainly love this book. It's got really creative photos of Blythe dolls. Very imaginative and well-done book!

I own a Blythe doll, which just recently arrived here at home after a lot of research on my part. I know about face types ("superior and "radiant"), the different companies who are allowed to reproduce the dolls (which were originally released in 1972 for one year only, by Kenner), customization of Blythe dolls, and the best websites to read tutorials on that, and where to find outfits for my new, fantastic Blythe!

As you may have guessed by now I am a "reading-type" person! Because of this, I felt that it would be fun and important to also add the books which photographer Gina Garan had created, to my Blythe collection.

The way the story goes, Gina received an original Kenner Blythe doll as a gift from someone who felt that Blythe looked like Gina. Gina began taking her on photoshoots and practicing taking pictures using her as a model. Shortly Gina was never without her. Since that time Blythe has travelled the world with Gina, making each of them famous both in the fashion arena and in charity work as well. Many of the Blythes in this wonderful book are dressed by top couture designers, and were later shown off in Vogue Nippon magazine, ultimately to be auctioned off to support children's charities. How great! The introduction to this book explains how that came about and is written by Junko Wong, a lovely person who met up with Gina and really got much of the interest in the Blythe phenomenon to grow.

As a mother of two children with severe dsabilities (and five sons in total!), I am always gratified to read about events which raise money for children's charities of all sorts!
However, that is actually beside the point in one sense. This book stands on its own as an elegant testimonial to a fantastic, personality packed creation...the doll who is Blythe.

Blythe dolls have four different eye colors! What you do is pull a string on the back of her head to make her eyes click to a different color. She has two "straight ahead" colors, then there is one which looks off to the right, and one which looks off to the left. One of the "straight ahead" colors is what is called the "main color". In the case of my doll, it is described as a "mysterious purple" color. I love all of her eye colors and they do change her expression and personality. Add a collection of doll clothes, such as the great ones you can get through Gina's own website, www.thisisblythe.com, which I thoroughly recommend, and you will be having the time of your life dressing up your own doll, photographing her, if you enjoy that, or just..loving her.

If you don't want to spend the money on a doll, buy this book instead! Or consider this other book This is Blythe, by Gina as well, available here on Amazon.com . Gina has captured every expresssion, every mood, every situation you might imagine coming up in a doll's daily life. She has accomplished it in a thoroughly charming, beautifully photographed manner!

If you have never seen Paris, see it with Blythe as your companion! Feel like a day at the beach? Blythe does, too!

Quiet times, dress-up times, visits to foreign countries galore; you will have a ball with Blythe at your side. I totally recommend this book and would not be without it. I love my doll, and I love Gina Garan for rediscovering the treasure that is Blythe!

I came to the novel "Captain" by something of a back door. Years ago I saw the screen version and loved it. As a matter of fact, I first read Prescott's history as a teenager and have been entranced with the Conquest ever since. In the last number of years I decided to write and, being a true aficionado of Mexican history, I explored the possibility of writing about the Conquest. Surely, I thought, there has been abundant English-language fiction written on this, one of the most phenomenal conquests in history. I was wrong. Except for Schellabarger, there seem to have been few novels written on the Conquest...from the Spanish point of view.

Having decided to write on the Conquest and, recognizing that Schellabarger and I would necessarily be walking on the same ground and contending with the same people--and recognizing that my novel[s] must be entirely unique--I purchased his book and read it thoroughly and critically. I believe I succeeded and my novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God", are the result. Are my insights and is my writing as good as Schellabargers'? I obviously can't answer that question myself. It's up to the reader.

My lead character, Rodrigo de la Pena, is a far darker character than Schellabarger's Pedro. Rodrigo is no "Count of Monte Cristo" and his relationships with women and Hernan Cortes are more tortured and complex. This doesn't mean that I don't enjoy Schellabarger's tale. Quite the contrary, I love it and think it is one of the truly great novels.

Ron Braithwaite author of Mexican Conquest novels, "Skull Rack" and "Hummingbird God"

I'll be brief. If you're a fan of adventure, of swashbuckling, of novels like Dumas' "The Count of Monte Cristo" - this book is for you. It's a thrilling novel and a great story in history and Pedro is an extremely interesting character that you'll come to love, even through all the mistakes he makes. Buy it, read it, and I don't think you'll be disappointed.

I picked this book up for twelve cents (yes, twelve cents) at a used book sale, and it was by far the best twelve cents I have ever spent. I had previously read Shellabarger's Prince of Foxes while on a swashbuckler kick last summer, and so had reasonably high expectations for Captain from Castille. This book went well above and beyond my expectations. I find it hard to express just how good this book was. The reason I like the genre of swashbuckler books is that in them one finds the truest expression of the unbridled youthful imagination. From sword fights and pirates to code of honor and witty dialogue, this genre is the embodiment of the imagination of every young man. I have rarely, if ever, encountered a book which so stirs this sort of imagination as this book does. I think Shellabarger rises above even Dumas in this category. I am still amazed at the greatness of this book. How it is so unknown is beyond my means of explanation.

Captain from Castille is the account of the adventures of Pedro de Vargas, a young Spanish nobleman from Castille. He encounters the corrpution of the Spanish Inquisition, flees to the newly discovered New World, and joins Cortez in his war against the Aztecs. I have never read such an accurate depiction the journey of an innocent boy into a worldly-wise man as Shellabarger has created in this book. The transition is so smooth and seamless that it is not until the end of the book that you suddenly realize how far he has developed. It is only then that you can look back and see how incidents slowly shaped Pedro's thinking. In respect to innocence, Shellabarger seems to me to be exactly half-way between the childlike innocence of Robert Louis Stevenson and the crafty/worldy Dumas. Stevenson's books were born of the imagination of a young man confined to his mind by illness. Dumas' were the product of real-world experience. Shellabarger has sucessfully combined the two, managing to retain the innocent imagination of Stevenson along with the real-world practicality of Dumas. Pedro himself makes the journey from the one to the other in this book, and in the end rejects the latter for a newly-understood version of the former.

I really have little else to add that has not been said by previous reviewers. A few reviewers have been bothered by some of the chauvinistic remarks in the book, or by the justification of the conquest of the Aztecs. I think they have entirely misunderstood Shellabarger himself to be promoting these things. He was simply writing the book from the perspective of someone living in the 16th century. He actually spent a significant amount of time researching the people, places, and events he wrote about in this book (which is remarkably historically accurate), and what he wrote of those subjects in the book could easily have flowed from the quill of a 16th century writer. The fact that Pedro struggles with the morality of killing the natives, and in some cases tries to prevent it, shows that Shellabarger understood the problem, but purposely wrote it from the perspective of a Spanish man fighting the Aztecs. To those who decry the savage portrayal of the Aztecs as lying human-sacrificers: well, it's actually quite accurate. It is hardly fair to call Shellabarger culturally insensitive for accurately depicting the Aztecs.

In short, if you like swashbucklers in the style of Dumas, Stevenson, Sabatini, etc., you need to find a copy of this book. For a long time The Three Musketeers has reigned (in my opinion) as the best swashbuckling book, and the Captain from Castille is its first significant challenger. If Shellabarger's other books are nearly as good as the Prince of Foxes and this book, he well deserves to be enshrined alongside Dumas in the lists of great authors.

Overall grade: A+

This one had a lot of promise. Written by a fairly reputable author, still in print after fifty years, a best-seller in its time, and with the Cortez conquest of Mexico as its backdrop, it seemed like can't-miss historical fiction. Well, it isn't awful or anything, but there is much, much better out there.

The story is about Pedro de Vargas, the scion of a Spanish nobleman. His family becomes ensnared by the Inquisition through machinations of the one-dimensionally evil Diego de Silva, and they must flee Spain. The father and mother make it to Italy, and Pedro goes to Cuba, where he meets up with and joins the Cortez expedition.

This, of course, makes up the bulk of the novel and as far as it goes, it's pretty good. You really can't go wrong with subject matter such as this; my goodness, this has to be one of the most thrilling stories in history. And Shellabarger gets the details right: there's Cortez burning his ships, there's Montezuma as a Spanish captive, there's Alvarado massacring the natives, and there's the Spanish retreat on the night of tears.

The problem is that there's nothing especially illuminating about any of this. The Cortez character is about what you'd imagine him to be, no more, no less. The same for Montezuma, the vacillating emperor. History shows that he was weak-minded. He's weak-minded in the novel. The Spanish soldiers lusted for gold and were devoutly Catholic; the Aztecs practiced human sacrifice and lived in the stone age. Just like we've all been taught.

In the meantime our hero has a book-long love affair with a cabaret dancer and a book-long faithful friend who suffers his triumphs and tribulations along with him. The tension comes from de Silva who follows him all over the place to give Pedro and us something to worry about, and also the pretty but empty-headed noble girl he left behind in Spain and whom he feels guilty about not marrying.

Again, this isn't a terrible read. But for adventure, Sabatini and G. M. Fraser are more entertaining; for fiction with this subject matter, Aztec, by Gary Jennings, is more imaginative; and for a strictly historical aspect, The History of the Conquest of Mexico, by Prescott, though a history, is frankly more exciting.

"The dream, not the realization; effort, not fruition; battle, not victory - these were life." -Fray Bartolome Olmedo (CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE)

The words of Father Olmedo fire the spirit of young Spanish nobleman Pedro de Vargas for glory, riches, fame, and honor in the New World in 1518. Falsely charged with the crime of heresy by The Dominican Inquisitor of Jaen, Father Ignacio de Lora, and the scheming and greedy aristocrat Diego de Silva, Pedro and his family are imprisoned and condemned to suffer unspeakable torture and certain death. From this exciting beginning of CAPTAIN FROM CASTILE we follow Pedro and his two closest friends Juan "Bull" Garcia (recently returned to Spain from the Indies with gold in his purse and adventure in his blood) and Catana Perez (a poor but beautiful dancer and servant girl at the Rosario Inn) as they leave the decadence and corruption of the Old World behind to explore the promise of the New World with Captain General Hernan Cortes and his small Company of Conquistadors. Along the way, from Cuba to the Yucatan Peninsula and then to the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan, they discover a strange world that is both enchanting and frightening, beautiful and savage, and forge the bond of friendship that will be severely tested in the coming years and will carry them through many harrowing adventures and confrontations with Aztec warriors and Spanish evildoers alike. This is an extremely well-written novel rich in history and full of excitement. I highly recommend it.

A few readers may be put off by the author's portrayal of the indigenous people of Mexico during the 1500s as being brutal and bloodthirsty. The Aztecs did practice human sacrifice by tearing the beating hearts out of their captors and then cannibalizing their corpses. One reviewer expressed a concern that Samuel Shellabarger condoned the thrashing of a wife by her husband. In the 16th century, women were considered to be chattel and fathers and husbands had the power of life and death over them. Mr. Shellabarger's novel brings to light the realities of the time.